Emily Miller

The sign in front of the fire station across the street from Bailey Junior High was changed after Kathleen Stephens, wife of physics teacher John Stephens, fought a ticket she received from the City of Pantego.

Almost everyone who lives in the general vicinity of Arlington High has driven through Pantego, and almost everyone who has driven through Pantego has ended up inadvertently donating to the local constabulary. In a recent case, however, the usual outcome was challenged by a law-abiding, if spunky, mom. Here’s what happened.

One morning in May, Kathleen Stephens, wife of AHS physics teacher John Stephens, took her usual route to Bailey Junior High to bring her son to school.

“I was turning into the circular drive when I heard the siren behind me,” Stephens said.

The Pantego police officer who had pulled her over informed her  that she hadn’t yielded at the ‘stop on red’ sign before turning into the circular drop off area.

“I [had] never seen the sign.” Stephens said. “I told the officer I was turning into the school, not stopping at the light.”

The traffic policeman was not willing to negotiate, however. So Stephens decided to take matters into her own hands, and contact the traffic engineers at UTA, where she coordinates student affairs for the College of Science.

“They were very nice, they told me I needed to speak to Paul Iwuchukwu.”

Iwuchukwu is the city traffic engineer for Arlington, Pantego doesn’t have one. Stephens emailed Paul and asked if he was familiar with the intersection in question, he responded most emphatically.

“He said ‘Oh yes, I know that intersection. Pantego owns the light, but Arlington maintains it.’”

Keen to help Stephens out with the case, Iwuchukwu had the distance between the sign and the light measure, and found it was out of code.

 “It was 225 from the signal to the stop sign, the limit is 180 feet.” Stephens said.

When Stephens showed up to have her ticket dismissed, however, the prosecutor claimed the sign was within compliance. Stephens refused to back down, so the attorney insisted on a jury trial.

“He was being a bully. “Stephens said. “I was wondering what’s he going to prove in court?”

Luckily, things never got that far. With the help of Iwuchkwu’s subpoena and a Fort Worth attorney Christopher DeLisio, Stephens managed to get the ticket dismissed after all, before taking the case to a court.

“We contacted Pantego one more time, and asked if we could speak to the prosecutor, and the prosecutor dismissed the charge.”

Not only that, but a new, reworded sign is being erected outside Bailey because of the Stephens’ efforts.

 “I [didn’t] want other people in Arlington getting citations due to an out of code sign.” Stephens said. “I’m hopeful that other people who were cited will get refunded.”