Today’s editorial in the Indianapolis Star addressed the lawsuit filed this week by local attorney Paul Ogden (shown at right):

Is the Marion County traffic court simply meting out justice and giving fair warning, or is it bullying people out of their rights with its very real threat of penalties up to $500 for those who fight tickets and lose?

One of those losers, and another resident who says he paid an undeserved ticket rather than take his chances, are taking the court to court. Their lawsuit, captained by gadfly attorney Paul Ogden, accuses Judge Bill Young of discriminating against contesting defendants for the sake of crowd reduction.

As noted in Wikipedia’s entry for “gadfly”:

During his defense when on trial for his life, Socrates, according to Plato’s writings, pointed out that dissent, like the tiny (relative to the size of a horse) gadfly, was easy to swat, but the cost to society of silencing individuals who were irritating could be very high. “If you kill a man like me, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me,” because his role was that of a gadfly, “to sting people and whip them into a fury, all in the service of truth.”

Wear the badge proudly, Paul.

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