It's really just a tangible option.

People never fail to amaze me. In the last few months I have heard some doozies. I can't tell you how many people I've had to explain the basics of bail to, which isn't really a new thing. I didn't really know anything about bail bonds when I first got into this business, but I knew the basic concept.

A bail bond secures a person's appearance in court and allows them to aid in their own defense.

That concept was one of the first things I learned in high school government class. It's in the Constitution, so really it's taught in every American History class I ever took. Teachers never went into the finer points of bail, but it's not surprising considering the amount of history one has to learn in a year. And let's face it, bail bonds is associated with criminals and who wants to focus to much on criminal behavior in high school?

In the last few months, I've had to explain why I won't cut rate a bond. What is cut rating? Cut rating a bond is when a bondsman choosing to take less than the 10% normally charged to write the bond. Why don't I do it? Because it's a slippery slope. When you start cut rating, you start cutting your throat. Every time a bondsman takes a lesser rate, that bondsman has to write more bonds to make up the difference. The more bonds a bondsman has to write, the more desperate they become to make up that difference. When a bondsman becomes desperate to write a bond, they start making terrible underwriting decisions. And let's face it, a bail bond is a form of insurance.

A bail bond insures a person's appearance in court.

As every insurance agent will tell you, when underwriting a policy, risk must be taken into account. Well what is the risk of cut rating? On the surface, the "customer" is getting a great deal, no different than a discount at a department store. Well, there's a huge a difference. When purchasing a bail bond, you are purchasing a service that will directly affect your freedom. I can't count the bonds I've written for people who went with that cheaper bondsman, only to have the bondsman come back to collect money and put the defendant back in jail because they couldn't or wouldn't pay. Or because they need to free up their liability to write more cut rate bonds. Or because they are just high on a power trip. Whatever the reason, purchasing a cut rate bond buys you a cut rate bondsman.

I've also had to explain to a lot of people why they have to have a cosigner. Hrm, well let's see if this makes sense to you... There must be a cosigner, or indemnitor, on every bond because there has to be someone or something that secures the amount of the bond. Think of it like a loan. I am loaning someone the full amount of the bond so they may be free to go about their daily business and aid in their own defense. Let's keep in mind this person has not yet been convicted of their accused crime. Our Constitution hinges on the fact that people are free.

See Amendment 1- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Our Constitution also gives us the rights of speedy trial and confrontation of witnesses.

See Amendment 6- In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

The point of bail is to give a defendant a tangible reason for returning to court. Most of us would do exactly as the court asked, however, let's face it, there are criminals amongst us. And sometimes criminals need a real, tangible reason to return to court. Sometimes it's not so easy to look at a person and determine if they are a person of integrity. There are people out there who have been falsely accused, however there are just as many who will con their way into our homes to walk away with our trust.

How do weed through the con artists and the persons of integrity? Well, you hold them to their word and secure their appearance with a tangible bond. As a bondsman, I'm going to involve their family and their friends in this process because, after all, it is my money I am loaning out to people I don't really know. Sounds crazy? Well, home insurance is just as crazy. When you go to your insurance company, they are promising to secure your property in the face of natural disasters. Chances are, that tornado will never travel straight through your house, but if it does, doesn't it feel good to know that your home insurance will be there to make you whole again? That's exactly what a bondsman does for the court system. We insure the defendant will appear to face their charges and if they don't, we make the court whole by returning the defendant or paying the full bond amount. Obviously, we prefer to return the defendant.

Let's review the basics...

1. A bond secures appearance.
2. I'm not going to cut rate. In turn, I won't revoke your bond for something stupid.
3. It is your Constitutional right to bail.
4. This is insurance...insurance to appear in court.
5. If you don't show, I will make the court whole again.

Simple, right? So why are there so many in our profession intent on making muddying the waters? Come'on people...keep it simple. Recognize the problem and fix it.

I've been on Weight Watchers since the end on January and I've lost quite a bit of weight. 28.2 pounds, to be exact. Here's my weight tracker chart to prove it.

Some days though, it's damn hard to stay on track. Like today, I started the day off with a sausage biscuit and hash brown from McDonald's...that was 13 points. Then for lunch I had Five Guys...yeah that's depressing how many points that is. The good news? I was able to get some exercise points because I worked damn hard at the rental house today. Why people think leaves are appropriate mulch, I do not know. I have taken 5 loads of leaves to the dump from the front yard and I've started working on the back. I thought I might be able to burn some leaves, but one of the neighbors decided to call the fire department on me. Yeah, I left her a note. You would think the neighbors would want me to do everything I could to clean up that mess. But whatever...

As I think about dinner, I'm starting to think that I should just call it a "fat girl" day and stop counting points. Those are good to have every so often and I haven't had one since I started my diet. There's another side of me that says, "No, eat a suitable dinner, don't screw it up too bad." Eh, I don't know...I could use a beer. Maybe I'll eat some fruit. I did get some really nice looking blackberries at Kroger yesterday.

The Hobby Side of Life

Man, oh man, it's been a little while since I last posted. Well, a lot has been going on so maybe I should update you.

I've been building my garden. And I actually have some vegetables growing. I've picked 4 ripe strawberries...they were a little tart, so I guess I need to add a little sand to the soil. I told Aaron I was going to steal some dirt from my mother's yard. (So, mom, it would probably be a good idea to dig me some so I don't put a huge hole in your front yard.) I'm not really sure what the Bok Choi is doing...it doesn't look like Bok Choi, so that may be something I don't plant next year. So, here's a pix of the work in progress back in March. We are trying to use reclaimed items, such as that book shelf. Bookshelves work out pretty well since they are already in sections and are deep enough.

In this picture, I've planted onions, strawberries, spinach, lettuce, red cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprouts.

In this picture, I've planted two different types of tomatoes on one side and cukes, yellow squash and zucchini on the other. There's a line of corn down the middle. I saw the corn at the nursery and thought they were kind of cute. It's probably going to be like a St. Bernard puppy, really freaking cute until it grows to adulthood. Well, at least corn doesn't slobber all over the place.

So while the garden is a big project, I've also been working on my jewelry. I was a vendor in the Fool for Art show at John Tyler Community College. I'm really thinking I won't be doing that again because I basically sold enough to cover the cost of the booth- $75. There was a different vibe this year at the show and I think it has a lot to do with the way John Tyler advertised the event. They really focused on advertising to the "free kid stuff" as opposed to the vendors. Aaron theorized that they had a budget cute somewhere and used the vendor money to promote the kid stuff. That kind of sucked.

Two weeks later I had the Arts in the Park, which is a two day show. I was a bit nervous going in because of how poorly Fool for Art was. I am happy to report I did MUCH better. The year before it rained the entire time, which made the weekend miserable. I still managed to sell quite a bit and expected to make more money thins year since the weather was going to be wonderful. And I did. And let me tell you, it's so much fun to be at an art show and have people come into your booth to oooooh and aaahhh over everything. The coolest thing I sold at the show were the two pieces of driftwood I was using for my display. I'm actually really excited about going back to my friend in Manteo to tell him I sold them. He's going to get a real kick out of it since we were just joking about it last time I was in the shop.

Some new stuff...I've recently been knotting jewelry and wrapping a lot of beach glass. I've actually been thinking of taking a metal class but since my last close call with the torch, I'm not sure Aaron is too excited about that.

Of course, we've been writing bonds, hunting fugitives and juggling the professional side of life. I wish I had more exciting tales of stupid fugitive mishaps, but the most interesting story I have right now is the woman I almost cold-cocked down the stairs because she refused to stay inside while we escorted her husband back to jail. Hrm, maybe I will write about that a little later. For now, I'm going to watch a little TV and maybe make a pair of earrings.

Step 1: Read the directions.

A couple nights ago I could not get to sleep. I was up early that morning and ran all day. All I wanted to do when I got home was to have a nice hot cup of tea and relax. I had bought some Yogi tea earlier and thought that would be the perfect thing to wind down after a long hectic day. So, I brewed up some tea, held it in my hands and breathed in the aroma.

That's really my favorite part of tea. Breathing in the steam. I think there's something therapeutic in the steam.

An hour passed and I was feeling a little more relaxed, but I wasn't tired. So, I brewed another cup. And I sat, breathed in the steam and watched another show on TV. And then I had my third cup, and a forth and before I know it I had drank 7 cups of this lovely, relaxing Yogi tea. When 5am rolled around and I had done my 5th load of laundry, made a 4th wire-wrapped necklace, 2nd bracelet, 3rd pair of earrings and cleaned the downstairs bathroom top to bottom, I wondered why the hell I was still up. I decided to go back and read the box of tea.

Yeah, it was Green Tea with extra anti-oxidants to aid in energy and digestion. Uh, yeah so I just didn't go to sleep that night. I think I may have taken a nap around 3pm...for an hour, maybe two because the phone started ringing with bond calls. The story of my life.

Big Pimpin'...Big "Going Out of Business Sale"

I have always believed that the secret to a successful business is do it like a baby would. By that I mean the old saying, "you have to crawl before you can run". I think it's one of the most important things to remember when making business decisions. Yes, you should take risk, but take risk that's in line with your next step. One foot in front of the other. I think we've done a good job of crawling and we've really started to master walking. We try to give advice to our agents and guide them along the successful path, but people don't always listen to us. Which is one of the reasons we have a fairly interesting attrition rate.



One of the interesting attrition stories I have is one about Sara Gene*. Sara was brought into our little family through the back door, so she didn't really get the full interview process until after she was already involved in bonding. She decided she wanted to cut the middle man out and go direct, but she didn't anticipate that if she changed the rules midway we would change the game. I mean it's only fair to change the game if the "employee" wants to change the rules. Personally, I think it takes a real bold person to think they can run the show if they don't even have the money to buy the tickets, but hey, what do I know?



So, we get the new contract together and make an appointment to meet. She missed it, no phone call, email, text. So we make another appointment- she missed it. And then we make a third appointment- she makes it at the last possible minute. We go through everything and she decided that she wants her lawyer to look over it. OK, fine, no problem, but she could have had me fax it on Wednesday when we scheduled the first meeting. I knew it was bull shit, even though I didn't know exactly why she was trying to buy time. She tells me that she's going to call me first thing in the morning.


The morning comes. The afternoon passes by and at 2pm I send her a text message asking her what's going on with the contract. Her husband calls me and starts with "now listen here..."


Now I don't know about you, but I think it takes balls to call up the person backing you with $800k investment and start a conversation with "Now look here..." But, you know, more power to you if you think you can.


Long story short, I don't intimidate easily and he was apologizing profusely within 2 minutes of my "countdown". (Btw, if you ever get the countdown, don't let me get past 3. This guy get to 6.) Those of you who know me understand that I don't really like people who apologize too much because it makes me distrust them and an apology looses meaning when it's given too freely. So, this is a red flag for me.

But, still wanting this work out, I overlook this phone call and make a mental note to talk to Sara Gene about it next time we meet. (A piece of advice for women in business- don't have "your man" fight your battle for you because it seriously undermines you.)

So, she dicks me around a couple more days to eventually say that "her lawyer" didn't see how she would make enough money to cover what she's already spending in business advertising, etc. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't know many lawyers who will advise on contract rates unless they are negotiating for you. And not to mention, her contract rate was going up from 2 points to 6 points...um, hello, raise. So, again, the bull shit flag goes up. Well, we end up pulling her backing to find out that she had already gotten someone else to back her. Wow, so now she's violated her original contract because we had never released her from the original contract. Hrm, what are we to do? (We're still working on that one.)

To get back to my original thought about crawling before you run. My point here is that Sara Gene is cutting her nose off to spite her face because she is jumping sureties/investors too often (4 months in the business and on her second surety). She's spent thousands of dollars wrapping her Lexus and big pimping truck, she's probably spent thousands on Yellowbook advertising and she has the big pimping bondsman mentality going strong.

Yeah, these people come out here, attempt to play with the big dogs and get hurt. The problem I see with these wanna-be business people is that they are a big nuisance for a short period of time and leave the rest of us to clean up their bull shit. It annoys the hell out of me, but gives me a good story to train our "play by the rules" agents.

We're all going to make the money and we're all going to be successful as long as we learn to master each step...crawl, walk, run, sprint, fly. Simple concept to some, impossible to understand for others.





*Names have been changed.

As sacred as they can be.

I have to say this career I have chosen continues to supply me with colorful stories which I can share with my friends and family. This one is no different. I must warn that the following story may be a bit offensive to some, so if you're going to get all huffed up about some of the language in this story, don't read any more.



As part of our business, there comes a time when we may have to arrest someone because they don't want to go to court. This doesn't happen a lot because most people have some sense of responsibility and know if they don't go, we'll pick them up and make them. And then you have other people like "Evan". (His name has been changed.) Evan is a saucy- or sauced up- old redneck who is a "personal friend of G" and has been through the system once or twice before. Now, in my mind, if you've been through the judicial system a few times, you should now the score. You get arrested, you get bonded out, you go to court...very simple. But this guy forgot the "go to court" step. So he advanced to the "get picked up by the bounty hunters" step.



The bounty hunter step is reserved for special clients. Being a member of this special club is like being a member of the special Olympics...even at the finish line you're still f'ing retarded. (Please don't throw tomatoes at me for that comment, I already know it's crude, but the effect is warranted here because the only people who skip bond are sissy asses on charges like Driving on Revoked or Indecent Exposure.) Seriously, the punishment for NOT going to court is always more seriously than if you just go and suffer your lumps from the judge.



So the bounty hunters go to the girlfriend's address and get little response from knocking, except from the pit bull mix barking and a few drunken adjectives shouted from inside. The guys couldn't see Evan to make a positive ID and we don't really like to kick doors down until we are certain the fugitive is inside. The guys decided to hang outside and tempt Evan out. After an hour, the police are called by Evans girlfriend. I guess she though they would get rid of the bounty hunters, however it back fired because the cops left after knocking and receiving no response from inside. So, the guys pulled out some lawn chairs and decided to do some moon-tanning while they waited for Evan to come outside. The boys didn't think it was fair that they were the only ones who weren't getting any sleep, so they kept the dog up by knocking on the front door and then the back door and then the front door and then the back door, and then the side window the the front door, etc. While the dog goes crazy and pushes the curtain aside giving a little peak inside, the people inside get more annoyed. Oh yes, the fugitive's mental strife makes us laugh.



After 5 hours, the boys are still tapping on windows and doors until an AC unit falls out of the window and allows access to a bedroom. One of the boys jumps in, gets to look down the hallway until the pit bull mix comes to greet him. He shuts the door as the fugitive gets a running start and kicks the door into Corn Flae as he screams threats of "going and getting his AK". CF jumps back out the window as Evan comes out the front door chugging a bottle of Malibu Rum. While on the front porch, the dog follows him. Bake holds his gun on him and attempts to get Evan on the ground while D maces the charging dog. The fugitive continues to approach aggressively screaming all kinds of "F you's" and "F your mothers".



Now this guy had a Confederate flag on a flag pole in his front yard and an entire room dedicated to the "war". On the team, we have a black guy and a Puerto Rican guy, so insert all the racial slurs you've ever heard because he used them all. I have to say, our guys are very professional an didn't respond to Evan's rantings. Although they did tell the guy he should be a comedian.



On the ride back to jail, Evan told the guys how he was going to get them back and he was swearing on some interesting things. I've heard people swear on their mothers and on their children...and sometimes even on the graves of their loved ones. But this swear is a first. I promise. this is truly what he said...



"I swear on my momma's pu$$y hairs. That's sacred, well that's kind of sacred....well, as sacred as they can be."



Now, what I find funny about this is that you can almost see his drunken mind thinking about what he's saying...and he's almost rationalizing how "sacred" his mother's pu$$y hairs are. I mean, really, what son wants to think about his mothers V-zone? This man is a little off.

ATM Withdrawal

Several weeks ago I had to run to the bank to deposit a check someone wrote us for a bond, which is normally a fairly easy thing to do. It was 9:30pm and it wasn't an unusual thing for me to ride right up to the ATM and make a quickie deposit.



I always look around to see who's in the parking lot because, after all, I usually carry large sums of cash on me. I noticed this dark SUV in the parking lot with a couple guys walking around it. I thought it was strange, but I thought maybe they were cleaning the car out while a friend was at the ATM. When I came around the building I noticed the SUV had moved to a neighboring parking lot and it looked like it had stopped facing the exit. Another guy was kind of lingering on the front side of the bank. Feeling the hair on the back of my neck rise, I decided to take note of where my gun was, which was in the trunk because I had been through the car wash earlier. I stopped the car just before the ATM and felt confident that I could get to the trunk and hands on my gun fast enough just in case this turned into a bad ATM camera video. I kept one eye on the SUV and the other eye on the strange guy lingering. When I got out of the car, the lingering guy decided to move up kind of behind me.

I mean, I can see why I'd be a good target...lone female in dark parking lot going to the ATM. I figured, he would wait until I was at the ATM before he tried anything, but this guy was a little jumpy.

I got my gun out of the back of my trunk and put it straight down against my side. I didn't want to appear to be swinging it around, but I did want to the guy lingering around to notice I had something in my hand that may not be too friendly. It worked, because he noticed something and stopped. It was like he was thinking. Well, this guy wasn't too stupid because he turned tail and ran back to the waiting SUV, which pulled away and went on it's way down Midlothian Turnpike.

I got back in the car and preceded to make my deposit, secure in the fact that if someone was going to rob me, I was certainly going to share my thoughts with him. Of course, I would never want to shoot anyone, but I would protect myself and my money.