I think this excerpt from the Beloit Daily News should change some of the post opinions. Hey Gazette !! This information would have given the article a whole different look..maybe not as much sensationalizm......"Police officials say Keely Givhan, who was arrested on a warrant last November for failure to pay a municipal fine as a result of Library items that were not returned, was physically served a notice of a court appearance earlier in the year, before the warrant was issued for her arrest.

Carla Johnson, collection officer for Beloit Municipal Court, said she handed Givhan a notice of a court appearance last summer. Previously, Givhan denied knowing of a fine or court appearance. A warrant was issued for her arrest on Aug. 23"

So it wasn't that she just kept the books. It's also that she didn't follow-up on opportunities to remedy the situation.

http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/...

This method worked to cleanup New York.

First you get the book thief, then eventually you get moose and squirrel!!!

after the laughter stopped, my question is who paid the fines? i believe the state did, so ms. givhan didnt pay anything, once again the good ol boys who run rock county strike again. an why was a ccap history put out here. we all know how to do back ground checks and read. a waste of the tax payers money once again, others have mentioned all the drunk drivers, that have been released lately, its ridiculous. 5th an 6th offences no prison time an hardly any jail time, this town needs a mayor, to control what these good ol boys do. maybe they should have put ms. givhans picture on one those digital boards "wanted library offender approach with caution" lol lol lol lol lol lol lol.

I am sorry I could not stop laughing at tinkerb45's comment. That is hilarous. You better be careful what you say, or they will start tazering for every little thing.

This was the biggest waste of taxpayer money, it cost how much to keep her in jail?

tinkerb you are funny.

I also think the penalty was a little harsh, but what happened to personal responsibility? Why did she check out several books before moving? Did she think she would have time to read them while moving? Why didn't she file a forwarding address for her mail? How come when she was packing, she didn't notice the books that were borrowed? How come when she was unpacking she didn't notice them? Did she go to the library to get books one time? She never returned to the library to check out more? She then would have been alerted she was past due. Why does she have to be reminded that she was past due? They tell you when you check out when they are due. I could keep going on.

How embarrassing for the City of Beloit, and it is purely the city government's fault. And what a waste of taxpayer money. Figure out how other libraries and private businesses (like video stores) deal with the problem of unreturned materials and follow suit. Or get into another line of work.

Look Givhan up in CCAP- She is not an upstanding citizen by any means- several small claims against her, 3 disorderly conducts, 1 domestic abuse, 1 obstructing an officer and operating while suspended. We all make our mistakes but come on now.

Once again she was not in jail due to the overdue library materials...she was arrested for failure to pay her fine and missing court 3 times. To the public this does seem harsh but this is how things are. yes the jails are overcrowded but that is why rock county is looking into starting weekender programs. This would mean that the people with fines who cannot pay would show up to jail on the weekends and be taken by staff to do community service to work off their fines. This means no jail time. The comment on how the library should call someone and tell them about their fines when they already sent 3-4 notices is absurd. Someone could just say they never got the phone calls just like they never got the letters.

this is my favorite part of the story, notice how it says a warrent can be issued for your arrest not that it will be issued. “It’s just like any other forfeiture violation,” he said. “If someone has a fine they don’t pay for – let’s say I have a traffic ticket for speeding – and you don’t pay that, a warrant can be issued for your arrest.”

What a joke. Beloit should get their priorities strait and put actual crooks in jail not someone who is late on a library books. Don't you guys have bigger fish to fry like putting drunks in jail instead of letting them go on their 5th drunk driving? Get a life Beloit. It's stuff like that that gives you the bad reputation.

I think you're missing the point here sweetie. Justice has no cost. Or is it cost is not a concern?
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At what point does the cost justify the return on the dollar?
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When does justice become too expensive?

Let's see if I understand this, between her court fee's and restitution which came up to $339.00 total. She spent 6 days in jail at $150.00 per day which is what it costs the state per inmate which comes to $900.00 yet she sat out the fine at $56.50 per day where does this make sense? Rock County complains all the time about the over crowding of the jail, yet they will throw someone in jail for nothing more than not paying a fine for unreturned library book's. I have received fines for not returning library book's, but never ever have they gone to court much less taken to jail. Most libraries will work with you and will accept payment plans and most will drop the fine if the book or books are returned. This makes me believe that Beloit has a big problem with people not returning books and had to go this route to either get their books back or the money to replace the missing books. Then of course we are talking about Beloit.

You bring up some interesting points Professor.
However I believe the biggest misconception here is that she was jailed for failing to return library material, when in fact it was for failure to pay a fine.
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Now, the legal process is another matter, with separate procedures and consequences.
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I do know that it is common procedure for law enforcement agencies to "issue" citations by mail in many circumstances. I don't know what the case law is in those circumstances or what the differentiating facts may be in the ultimate legal determination.
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But for the sake of discussion in this context,
I think most are of the mistaken belief that the jail time was for the underlying offense, when in reality it was for the subsequent "offense" of not paying the fine.
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Not saying the legal road is free of potholes, just that we can't patch them until the road is plowed.

Wow, overkill much?

-- GERALD F. FUCHS, 49, of 1024 Newman St., Janesville, at 3:21 a.m. today at Mount Zion Avenue and Pontiac Drive, Janesville. It was reported as Fuchs’s seventh arrest on a drunken driving charge.
(from the public record dated feb 25th, 2008)
THAT person should be in jail.

I hope Beloit PD ruffed her up a bit in jail so she gets the message. She has no respect for authoritay. Please tell me she got tazered...

Hmmm....Sending a citation through the mail does not constitute 'service'; w/out service, there can be no conviction, and thus no jail. And, was she given an opportunity for an 'indigency hearing'? That is required before any jail time, since we gave up on 'debtors prisons' a long time ago.

Now, about that ad hoc jail committee that is trying to find ways to reduce overcrowding....

Finally I'll feel safe visiting Beloit again with this menace off the streets. Thank you Beloit PD for keeping our streets safe.

Everybody seems to think she went to jail for failing to return library material. That was not the case. She went to jail for FAILURE TO PAY A FINE.
Now, all you people who are going to start screaming again, ask yourselves at what amount of non-payment do you want to not take action on? 10.00, 20.00. 100.00? Whatever you all decide on, let your elected officials know, and change the laws.
If you don't think someone should spend jail time for failure to pay fines for parking, speeding,defrauding an innkeeper, whatever,then I suggest you work to change the laws now because the fact is when someone fails to pay their fines, for whatever they were levied for, they probably will go to jail. That's a fact.

AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.... let me compose myself....

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Jail time for overdue library books!?! So we'll release drug dealers, sex offenders and repeat habitual offenders off on probation, but the dangerous mother who STOLE library books, with the intention of returning them, needs a bed in that jail, so she won't reoffend!?! This makes me sick!!! You've GOT to be kidding me!

Again, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

And we wonder where our tax money goes??? hahaha

This was absolutely stupid. We pay taxes so police officers can take time out , which they are being paid for to haul people to jail for library fines?
Our tax money. Then they want to build a new jail. This was just plain ignorance on the part of the library and staff. They should not be allowed to use the court system. Take them to collections, sue them. Since she sat it out I would say they still did not get their money. They would have been better off sending it to collections.

If I were to believe everything that Givhan said,which I don't,then I might agree that alternative actions could have been made.Some of these would be to make payments,perform community service..etc Just like what was suggested by other post. In fact if she had appeared in court and allowed a judge to address the problem these solution would have been very plausible. But when she refuses to contact the library after 1 1/2 months and then ignores the municipal court for 4 months and only addresses the issue when she is stopped then I have no sympathy....I realize that this is clearly not the popular view so this will be my last post on the issue...and as far as the bleeding heart responses...let the fun begin.

The thing that baffles me is that the Library prides themselves on giving everone a opportunity to check out the materials. You'd think that they would know that there is a risk involved with ordinary people forgetting to turn the materials in on time. We're all human. However, jail time? are they serious? That is just pittiful. If they think that their materials are so valuable, then why are they not issuing credit/back ground checks before they issue a library card? Come on. That's just SAD.

Sounds like a good way to discourage people from using the library. You would think that they would at least make sure that the person had gotten notification. If I file suit against someone, I have to pay a process server to serve the person notice. Shouldn't the municipality have to do the same thing?

I had this problem with the Fort Atkinson library once - they sent it to collections. I paid it. It was actually cheaper for me to pay for the books than the library fine. I was moving too - just forgot about the books all packed up. This whole court/jail thing is nonsense.

It is not the same as stealing if the books were checked out properly. It is more like being late with a credit card payment. Do they put people in jail for that?

All I can say is that this is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard of and I have heard of some pretty stupid things. And I'm not just saying that to be nice. I hope that the City of Beloit is paying for all of this nonsense, and I think we need to evaluate Beloit's policies for sending inmates to the county jail when the jail is already overcrowded. Maybe they should pay a special silly tax for cases like this.

Our family has donated hundreds of books. If that's the way they operate, the Janesville library will get our books.

Treat people with common sense.

I agree this is a waste of jail space, instead of letting her set up a payment plan for a fine she didn't know about, let's pay to incarcerate her for a week. A single mom who doesn't return her children's books on time, there's a hardened criminal.

If you don't return The book,
you'll end up a crook.

seriously, You'd think that some community service at the library would have been a better policy. Show the tardy book returner the results of her inaction by sorting out the books returned on time.