The verdict is in.

I called Dani before I left for work this morning to wish her luck with her court appearance for her Halloween trespassing ticket. She was nervous which I suppose any kid would be, but I told her it really wasn’t that big a deal and not to expect some big courtroom scenario like a trial or something. Tried to make her feel a bit more relaxed before going in there.

My daughter called me when she got out of court, feeling properly chastised and with a renewed sense of respect for the rules.

A $250.00 fine will teach just about any college student with only vacation employment that it’s not a good idea to buck the establishment when they have the power to reach into your pockets. She also got 6 months court supervision, which will be removed from her record (but not the Internet) as long as she stays out of trouble during that time.

I told her she should have told the judge she has a 4.0 grade point average (I’m not bragging, really) but I doubt it would have helped. She said the judge was very nice and seemed somewhat amused by the young people he had lined up, but it sounded like he had a standard way of dealing with this particular issue. Dani, as well as the other 16 kids who were lined up, all got the same fines. The county sure made some money on Halloween, didn’t it?

On the way out one of the girls who was there for the same offense saw an interesting spiral staircase in the courthouse and wanted to explore. Dani quickly said something to the effect of – “Oh no – we’re not going up there! We’re not going anyplace we don’t have permission to be!”

Good girl! Lesson learned.