COTTAGEVILLE - Mayor Bert Reeves' driver's license was reinstated within
hours after it was suspended Monday afternoon, a Department of Motor Vehicles
official said Tuesday.
Beth Parks, communications director for the DMV, said Reeves' record showed
that his license was still suspended as of about 2 p.m. Monday. She said a court
order came in sometime before 5 p.m. Monday, clearing the suspension.
The court order also cleared a conviction for speeding more than 25 mph over
the speed limit in Summerville and failure to pay that traffic ticket.
Reeves could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The ticket was filed in Summerville traffic court; attempts to reach someone
there just before closing Tuesday were unsuccessful.
A court clerk said Monday that the officer who ticketed Reeves in February
2006 requested to recall the ticket to reduce the charge to speeding 10 mph or
less over the limit.
Reeves has seven convictions for failing to pay tickets, according to a DMV
records check. He was declared a habitual offender and had his license suspended
in 1997. He was also convicted of driving under suspension in 1996.
He was ticketed by the Colleton County Sheriff's Office in March for speeding
at 103 mph in a 55 mph zone. He has asked for a jury trial in that case.
Earlier this month, a Colleton County sheriff's deputy let Reeves go with a
verbal warning for going 71 in a 55 mph zone because, according to Sheriff
George Malone, the deputy wanted to stay out of town politics.
Reeves and Police Chief Ray Taylor can be clearly heard on an audiotape
scolding a police officer for not writing enough traffic tickets for a town that
has a well-known reputation as a speed trap.
Taylor and Reeves have said that Reeves inherited the system and that he has
worked to erase its reputation. Taylor released numbers Monday that show the
number of tickets and the revenue they generate have gone down since Reeves took
office.
Reach Andy Paras at 549-9210 or at aparas@postandcourier.com. Read more
Colleton news at http://www.colleton.typepad.com/.
