Need advice on how to answer a question

[SIGnage]

I am taking my CHL course on Sept. 27th.
As I understand it, in the DPS packet, we are asked if we have ever been arrested. This happened only once and it was nearly thirty years ago. I do not remember when it actually occured, or what the charge was. I have searched the DPS CCH database, and it comes back no matching records found. I have talked to the county sheriffs office where it happened and they say they have no record of it in their system. I explained to them what happend. "I remember it was late fall or early winter, and before Christmas, possibly 1979 but maybe 1980. I had gone with a friend to a dance hall somewhere out in the country. My friend met a girl and asked me if I would ride back with some other friends that had showed up, in which I agreed. It got really cold that night, and I had left my jacket in my friends car and he had already left. We left the Dance hall and I was tired, cold and sleepy. I fell asleep in the back seat on the way home. I woke up to find that I had no idea where we were, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. The person in the front passenger seat was playing with a spotlight. I kept telling him to turn it off and roll up the window, that I was cold, and I kept asking where we were, which only returned laughter from the other three in the car. A few minutes later a car came down the road and the idiot in the front seat shined the spotlight on the car. It turned out to be a Game Warden. Here is where all the fun began; not.
The officer made us all get out and searched the car. There was a rifle in the front seat that I wasn't even aware of. The Officer asked the driver to open the trunk, from which the driver responded by claiming he didn't have a key to the trunk. It was a brand new car and it belonged to his mom.
We were subsequently arrested and taken to jail. The officer called the drivers mom and had her come down with a key to open the trunk. Inside the trunk was a deer and either a raccoon or a ringed tail, I don't know which. I was held in jail for 17 hours and then released. I don't remember what the actual term for the charge was, but it was for the deer and the coon or ringed tail. I had to see the Justice of the Peace and was fined $106.00 for each animal. A total of $212.00, there was no probation or any jail time other than the arrest, just the fine. Anyway after explaining all of this to the Sheriff's dept. they told me to contact the J.P.s office, and maybe they can help, which I did. They too said they have no record of it, but from what I had told them and because it was only a fine, that it was most likely just a Class C Misdemeanor.
My questions here are what do I put down if I can't remember the date, or what the actual charge was. I mean I don't know if the charge was for hunting without a license, or possession of an untagged deer and coon or ringed tail, or hunting by spotlight, or hunting after dark. I don't think I even knew what the charge was when I paid the fine. Again, this was nearly thirty years ago. Also I don't remember if I was photographed and finger printed or not.
Should I right a letter explaning it like I did here and include it in the packet? What if this isn't enough information for them and they want more, then what do I do?
Any advice you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[wilder]

I have no idea what DPS would want you to do or what is legally required but personally I would just leave it off. I doubt you were fingerprinted and photographed for something like that.

[KBCraig]

Sounds like the good old days, where fines were assessed on the spot, payable in cash only, and then quietly divvied up between the JP and the deputies.

I really wouldn't expect to find a paper trail on that one.

[KaiserB]

I have no idea what DPS would want you to do or what is legally required but personally I would just leave it off. I doubt you were fingerprinted and photographed for something like that.

And if you were not fingerprinted or photographed, you would not have to claim it as an arrest.

If the item does come up in an extensive DPS search, you would have to send a letter to the JP or the county clerk in the area and ask for a disposition. The disposition would probably come back as "no records on file" which satisfies DPS.

[Oldgringo]

Forget it. It didn't happen in the past 10 years.

[jimlongley]

Sounds like the good old days, where fines were assessed on the spot, payable in cash only, and then quietly divvied up between the JP and the deputies.

I really wouldn't expect to find a paper trail on that one.

In 1967 my girlfriend drove my car into a lumberyard sideways, she hit a patch of black ice and away we went. The local police never questioned who was the driver, even though my injuries were such that I could not possibly have been the driver, and took me into "police court" where I paid a cash fine for "speed unsafe for conditions" and then we were released so I could go to the hospital and get my ear stitched back on and the glass debrided from my shoulder.

I found out, some years later when researching my own insurance and driver record, that such "dispositions" were routine in that city, there wasn't even a police report of the wreck and the lumber yard never got paid for their fence or damaged lumber.

[03Lightningrocks]

SIGnage

Your story had me busting a gut. Sounds like some of my High School hi-jinx stories. I had so many encounters like that with the cops that I couldn't even remember how many it was, much less what it was over. I just left them off. I tried to find the offenses before sending in my application but couldn't find anything on any of the arrests. Maybe it was because that was pre-computer age. They did come up with an arrest for a check charge i had at 19 years old. They simply requested I furnish them with a letter from the County Court of law showing I had no felonies. I guess a felony check charge would be enough to keep you from getting a CHL. The form asked for arrests to the "best of your knowledge' or something like that. I took it to mean if I didn't know or remember something I did 30 years ago...I was OK....LOL.

[SIGnage]

SIGnage

Your story had me busting a gut. Sounds like some of my High School hi-jinx stories. I had so many encounters like that with the cops that I couldn't even remember how many it was, much less what it was over. I just left them off. I tried to find the offenses before sending in my application but couldn't find anything on any of the arrests. Maybe it was because that was pre-computer age. They did come up with an arrest for a check charge i had at 19 years old. They simply requested I furnish them with a letter from the County Court of law showing I had no felonies. I guess a felony check charge would be enough to keep you from getting a CHL. The form asked for arrests to the "best of your knowledge' or something like that. I took it to mean if I didn't know or remember something I did 30 years ago...I was OK....LOL.

Yea I guess it is kind of funny. In my teenage years I got a lot of speeding tickets. 7 in one year as I recall. They all went to the same J.P., he got tired of seeing me. I always paid my tickets in person with cash. I kept waiting for my license to get revoked, but it never happened. I later found out that none of the tickets ever got reported or went on my record. I have no clue what happened with my fine money, but didn't care as I was not about to complain.
Thanks for the advice, glad I was able to bring some laughter to your day.