South County : 39 Clear Up Tickets at No Extra Charge

Thirty-nine people who had been ignoring warrants issued against them for failing to appear on minor traffic and other violations took advantage Monday of a moratorium declared by South Orange County Municipal Court and saved themselves a total of $3,377.

“They came in and paid the fines on their original charges,” said Margaret A. Hamlin, administrative executive for south county courts, “but the failure-to-appear warrants were dismissed under the amnesty we have set up to run from today through June 19.”

However, those who did appear represented only a fraction of the violators for whom warrants have been issued after they ignored their original citations, she said.

“I was told today there are 22,000 warrants outstanding in the south county,” she said.

Although response to the amnesty offer was meager Monday, Hamlin said, “We were pleased anyway, and I think it’ll build up as time goes on and more people become aware. We’ll be happy if we can clear up 25% of the cases.”

She said the amnesty applies only to minor violations of city and county ordinances and not to major offenses such as drunk driving. Most outstanding warrants involve traffic citations, but a few were for such acts as littering beaches.

The amnesty period, according to south county Presiding Judge Pamela L. Iles, could save the courts the cost of servicing many warrants while collecting numerous long-overdue fines.