Before I get into my tale of woe on my license.....Duncan has made the online edition of the Cedar Key News as Dog of the Week.  And here's the LINK.

Okay....a bit of background....we moved from Mass. to Florida in 1987, and brought our registered/insured Subaru down here with us.  We then switched the registration/insurance to Florida and I also went and got a Florida drivers license.  In the almost 20 years since then, we've purchased a few other cars here, registered and insured them and I've renewed my drivers license every 6 years down here.

My birthday was March 19 and this was the year I was due to renew my license again.  In early March, Ray and I went to the Levy County Tax Office in Chiefland to do this.  I'm sure you can imagine my total shock when the girl behind the counter embarrassingly informed me that "Your license has been suspended in the state of Massachusetts.  Therefore, I have to hold your license here, until it's straightened out."  I will say she was very understanding and as bewildered as I was as to WHY/HOW this could happen!  She did question, "Did you ever return the plates on your car when you moved down here?" to which I replied, "No, because I was never notified to do so.  Then we got the car registered here in Florida and got new plates for it."  So there I stand, trying to figure out what the heck is going on and I questioned HOW on earth I could have renewed my license down here over the past almost 20 years and was never informed about any of this.....to which she said Florida now has a reciprocal agreement with other states to alert them when the person comes in to renew and Mass. is one of them.

Home I go, very upset, to try and begin to decipher this mess.....long story short...after numerous phone calls, idiotic phone prompts, holding for ONE hour at one point......I was finally told by a very kind and understanding man, Reggie, at the Deputy Collectors Office in Reading, Mass. that "They're trying to hang you!  They're saying you didn't pay your excise tax on your car in Mass. from 1980 through 1987."  To which I said, "Are they nuts?!  HOW on earth would I have been allowed to register our car without paying the excise tax?  AND.....of course I paid it!"  To which he said, "I know this is a stupid question, BUT after TWENTY years, would you POSSIBLY have the receipts that you paid it?"  And of course my answer was NO!  Thus began the long, frustrating and unfair progression to get this all cleared up.  He said he had the papers there, dating from 1980!  And he'd send them to me, because it also made no sense to him.

Said papers arrived and yup, it SAYS I didn't pay the excise taxes for those years.....however, our current car in Mass. had in fact been registered, which makes no sense.  In order to clear this up and reinstate my license the paper said......."Plea se pay the amount of $894.63"  OH.......and by the way.....it MUST be a MONEY ORDER.  No credit cards, no checks, yada, yada, yada. 

OF course this was more time consuming....but we purchased the money order, sent it off, I called my pal Reggie the other day and yup....they received it.  NOW I had to call the Registry of Motor Vehicles and pay THEM to reinstate my license......I got a snotty customer service person on the phone, BUT I was able to pay THEM the $50 with my credit card.  And poof!  My license has been reinstated.......and on Monday, I'm going back to Chiefland to renew said license. 

SO....I've been without a drivers license since early March.  Thank GOD, I didn't need one to drive around.  I've used the golf cart on the island and thank God Ray is retired and he's done the driving off island.  BUT....without a drivers license, one can't even write a check.   

NOW....on the paper it says "Date of Original Bill......12/30/1899"  YES.....1899!  Obviously....they meant 1999.  Okay.....we moved here in 1987 .......By 1999, my forwarding address from Peabody, Mass. was no longer being honored.  They only forward mail for so long, and it sure as hell isn't 12 years later!  None of those notices were sent to me while I resided in Peabody from 1974 till 1987.  And YET......they were sent out in 1999 to an address where I no longer resided, nor had forwarding of mail 12 years later.  I know it's a scam for the state of Mass. (TAXachusetts as those of us born and raised there appropriately call it!) to garner some extra money into the coffers.  The Deputy Collector knows it's all a bunch of crap.  However......WE are at their mercy.  Sure......I could hire an attorney (which believe me, I seriously considered doing!) and I could drag this all out and prove that we'd paid our excise tax every year....BUT.....during the process, "I" am without a much needed drivers license!

So bottom line....it's paid and I when I called the RMV I said "So, when will my license be reinstated and I can go here in Florida to renew it?"  Oh says he, "It's just been done, with one little click on the computer."  One little click on the computer.....and 3 weeks of annoyance, anger and frustration!  YUP.....that's what happens when you're dealing with City Hall.

Enough of my complaining for today.  I intend to let it go and enjoy the day.  See you tomorrow.......