How I spent the night in jail in Monticello, NY July 1969
I was living and working at Grossingers Hotel in Liberty, NY (from Nov. 1968 to Sept. 1969 - my mom was director of convention sales). One of the many jobs I had was working as a Parking Attendant parking and retreiving cars for guests of the hotel. My best friend was Lee Miller who happened to own a 1969 343 Javelin. It wasn't the fastest car on the property . . . nor was it the slowest.
Anyways . . . one afternoon Lee and I were working when a Yellow 1969 Camaro SS 350 pulls up to the front of the hotel - Lee runs out and the driver of the car and Lee get into a big embrace. It's a friend of Lee who has come to visit. He also has with him a friend. So the 4 of us get together right after work. It's now a little afer 5PM
Of course. . . the first thing we do is go to our local "drag strip" which is a 1/2 mile straight back road about 2 miles south of the hotel. It's best 3 out of 5. Lee wins the competition. Did I mention he is a hell of a great driver and is deadly with a 4 speed. His friend's buddy acts as the Flag Man while I am 1/4 mile down the road to see who wins.
After the competition (now about 8PM) - which BTW the loser buys dinner - we decide to go to a great Pizza place in Monticello - about 15 miles south of where we are. I ask Lee's friend if it's OK to ride with him and his buddy can ride with Lee. Sure - let's do it. We decide to get on RT 17 - the Quickway (speed limit 65 MPH) as it's the fastest route. We promise no racing on the Quickway. The Camaro is a really nice car with an 8 Track Stereo, 4 Speed, etc. We are about 3 miles down the road - doing about 70 when all of a sudden, Lee pulls out from behind us and goes shooting by. His freind turns to me and says; "no racing huh?" Then procedes to nail it to catch up to Lee . . . and manages to just pass him. I look over at the Speedo and we are doing over 100 MPH! I suggest to him that we slow down and he says: "sure, as soon as Lee does" which he isn't doing.
We are now about a mile or so from the exit to Monticello that we need to take to get to the Pizza place when all of a sudden . . . there are flashing red lights behind us. Both cars slow down and pull off to the shoulder of the road. It's a State Trooper in a 1969 390 Ford Sedan. We get out of the cars - yep - you could do that back in 1969 - and this Trooper is LIVID! "I have been chasing you assholes for the last 10 miles!" And Lee's friend's buddy says to the Trooper . . . "With that piece of shit, I am surprised you caught us." I swear the Trooper had smoke coming from his ears he is so mad. "That's it - you assholes are going to jail RIGHT NOW!" So I chime in . . . "But Sir - I wasn't driving." The Trooper says - "I don't give a shit!" "You follow me!"
So we got back in the cars and followed the Trooper to the Monticello Jail where we parked the cars in the lot, walked in and were put in a Jail Cell. The Cop in charge asks us; "you want to call anyone one?" We look at each other and reply; "nope." The next morning, we are taken from the Jail to see a Judge. It was a good thing the Trooper did not have a Radar Unit in his car. So all he could say was that we were speeding. The bottom line . . . $50 fine per car which was about all the money the 4 of us had.
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