Ranching family's speeding tickets repeatedly dismissed
BY ZIVA BRANSTETTER World Projects Editor
Sunday, July 29, 2007
1/03/12 at 2:52 PM
When he gave the driver a
warning for allegedly going
more than 100 mph, Osage
Nation Police Officer Tug
Broughton thought the man
would be relieved.
Instead, Broughton said,
the older man driving a new
GMC pickup cussed at him
and said: "You must not know
who I am."
Before the man drove away,
he told Broughton, "You will
see me again."
The man, Charles R. Drummond, is a member of a prominent Osage County ranching
family. At one time, the Drummonds were listed among the
country's top 100 landowners,
with 100,000 acres, including
the Drummond Land and Cattle Co.
True to his word, Charles
Drummond did see Brough
ton again, three months later,
on July 8, 2007. Broughton
said Drummond was driving
100 mph and passing cars in a
no-passing zone with a child in
the back seat.
"He got real loud and vocal
and basically said we don't
have any jurisdiction over
him," said Broughton, who is
cross-deputized by the Osage
County Sheriff's Office.
He said he stops cars only
when he believes that the driver is a threat to public safety.
The tickets Broughton
wrote to Drummond, 61, that
day are among more than 40
speeding tickets that Drummond and three of his relatives have received in the state
in the last decade, records
show. At least 18 of those
have been dismissed in their
home county.
The tickets reviewed by
the World were written to
Charles R. Drummond; his
sons, Tim Drummond, 40,
and Ladd Drummond, 38;
and his nephew, Thatcher
Drummond, 34.
They could not be reached
for comment.
The four members of the
Drummond family have been
clocked by the Oklahoma
Highway Patrol driving 95, 97
and 112 mph, all speeds listed
on tickets that have been dismissed by judges in the county.
Although the Drummonds
paid a fine and court costs on
all dismissed tickets, the tickets do not go against their
driving records.
The prominent ranching
family has a long history in
Osage County, dating to
1887, when patriarch Frederick Drummond moved to Pawhuska.
The family sold a parcel of
its Osage County land in 2001
for nearly $20 million, court
records state.
Tim and Ladd Drummond
also own a 20,000-acre cattle
and horse ranch in Jefferson
County, according to the
Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association's Web site.
Osage County Special
Judge John Boggs, who approved many of the dismissals as an assistant prosecutor
and later as a judge, said he
had no idea how fast the cited
speeds were.
"The D.A. makes the recommendation, and it's approved based upon the D.A.'s
recommendation," he said.
"Half the time I don't talk to
these people, and I don't
know what the case is about."
Boggs said he had been to
several bar association parties at the Drummond ranch
but does not believe that he
gives the family special treatment.
"Whether it's right or
wrong, the record speaks for
itself," he said.
Tom Drummond, an attorney and brother of Charles
Drummond, said: "All the
fines were paid. All the costs
were paid. It's not like they
just got the tickets dismissed.
In a lot of these towns and a
lot of these counties, they are
most interested in getting the
money, and once they get the
money, they don't care.
"Maybe we have a little bit
of a heavy foot, but we've always been law-abiding citizens," he said. "We've always
been contributors to the community."
Records show that Charles
Drummond has received at
least 20 speeding tickets in
Oklahoma in the last decade,
and six were dismissed on
payment of fines. Of those
that were dismissed, five
were issued in Osage County.
His license has been suspended five times since 1988,
records show.
In January 2006, he was
ticketed by the Oklahoma
Highway Patrol in Osage
County for driving with a suspended license and driving 91
mph.
On March 16, 2006, the
District Attorney's Office recommended a six-month deferred sentence if Drummond received no additional
tickets. One month later, he
received a speeding ticket in
Jefferson County, yet the
Osage County charge still
was dropped in September.
Since then, Drummond has
received three speeding tickets for driving 84, 91 and 100
mph, records show. The tickets that Broughton wrote are
pending.
In a Logan County traffic
stop, Drummond was cited
for driving 92 mph on Interstate 35. He reportedly told
the trooper that he "couldn't
get around heavy traffic."
Drummond "drove off before citation could be explained," the trooper wrote
on the ticket.
The top speed among the
Drummond family was recorded April 3, 2005, when
Thatcher Drummond was
driving his Jeep on Oklahoma
60 in Osage County, records
show. The Highway Patrol
cited him for driving 112 in a
65-mph zone.
Thatcher Drummond was
given a six-month deferred
sentence, and the ticket was
dismissed in December 2005
upon payment of a $373 fine
and costs.
The state keeps track of
speeding tickets through a
point system. Speeding tickets can equal two or three
points on a driver's record,
depending on the speed.
The state suspends driver's
licenses when the point total
reaches 10. Suspensions
range from one to 12 months,
depending on how many previous suspensions are on a
driver's record.
Osage County District Attorney Larry Stuart said his
office dismisses tickets for
people who ask, as long as
they pay the fines and court
costs.
Records show that of the
first 25 speeding tickets written in Osage County in 2006,
only three were deferred or
dismissed. The remaining
drivers paid their tickets and
pleaded guilty without appearing in court.
"I don't think the Drummonds are treated any differently than anyone else is,"
Stuart said. "I know that if
people get too many traffic
tickets they get their license
suspended, and then they
can't make a living."
Stuart said that when his
office decides to dismiss a
ticket, "We don't look at their
driving record. We don't have
access to it."
Osage County District
Judge John Kane said he
plans to review the way his
courts are handling traffic
tickets.
"I can't direct how Mr. Stuart runs his office. He's an
elected official," Kane said.
"What I can do is look into
how my court handles the
traffic violations, and the way
I would do that is to inquire of
other courts and see how
their system works.
"I have endeavored now
that I should do that."
Ziva Branstetter 581-8378
ziva.branstetter@tulsaworld.com
