A Long Afternoon at the 29th District Court

Probation and traffic tickets were on the docket March 4 at the 29th District Court, Wayne.

Sarah Vandyke was sentenced to a year of probation for disorderly conduct and a minor in possession.

District Judge Laura Mack ordered Vandyke to do the following as part of her probation: attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings, abstain from drugs and alcohol for a year, obtain a GED and complete five days of community service or spend five days in jail.

The two charges cost $928, which caught Vandyke by surprise.

Vandyke currently works as a bartender and lives at home with her parents.

Vandyke was 20 years old when she was arrested Dec.18 for the disorderly conduct and the minor in possession charges.

After the sentencing of Vandyke, the rest of the afternoon dealt with traffic tickets. Two of the traffic violations were dismissed by a member of the court.

Jason Brock had his ticket for driving without a seatbelt dismissed by Assistant City Attorney John McKinney because of a receipt. The ticket was written Feb. 16 and would have cost $65.

During the informal hearing, he showed the receipt to McKinney for the part to fix the broken seatbelt in the Explorer.

“I showed Police Officer Kian O’Donohu a receipt and that my belt was broken,” Brock said. “The officer indicated that he understood and that he was going to give me a fix it ticket instead of an infraction ticket.”

Brock was a quarter of a mile from his house on Hayes Street in Wayne.

The replacement part was purchased at Bishop's Auto Wrecking.

One ticket was also brought before Mack, which was a seatbelt violation.

Melissa Kendrick had a driving without a seatbelt ticket dropped to a warning from Mack. The warning put no points on Kendrick’s record and she did not have to pay a $65 fine.

The warning was issued after Kendrick and Police Officer Terrance Springer expressed their views of the incident in question to Mack. The ticket was issued Feb.17.

Kendrick picked up her son, Jacob, from St. Mary Catholic School of Wayne. She was stopped by Springer traveling eastbound on Glenwood Road leaving the school. Springer was traveling westbound on Glenwood Road when he saw Kendrick driving without her seatbelt. The officer did a U-turn and pulled her over.

“I could see the belt buckle,” Springer said.

But Kendrick disputed what the officer saw and told her side of the story.

“You cannot see the seatbelt buckle,” she said. “I had my belt on when I got stopped. The buckle also sinks down into the seat. If I did not have my seatbelt on, I would have swerved all over the road because it takes me two hands to put my seatbelt on.”

Mack called a short recess to go outside in an effort to prove whether Springer could have seen Kendrick without her seatbelt.

When the case resumed, Mack said, “The officer could see the seatbelt.”

The ticket was eventually dropped to the warning because of Kendrick’s testimony.


Mack said, “I am calling this case a draw because of the testimony in the case but I just want to make sure you wear your seatbelt.”

Also, all tickets concerning red light, stop sign and 1 to 5 over speeding violations were lowered to a no point violation but a $120 fine was assessed to anyone who took the deal. All people with these violations took the no point ticket option.