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A speeding ticket led me to Ronald Reagan's hometown and a deeper understanding of America's president
Star of the new film, 'Reagan,' Dennis Quaid, discusses the legacy of the former president, the film's perspective and its audience reception.
My wife, four daughters and I were driving a rented minivan from Chicago to St. Louis for my cousin’s wedding when I suddenly became aware of a police car behind me with flashing lights, signaling me to pull over to the shoulder of the road.
A clean-cut, very young and very nice police officer looking to be in his early 20s approached my window and asked me if I realized I had been driving in a construction zone where the speed limit was 45.
I told him I could swear the sign had just said 65. He acknowledges that the speed limit was 65 awhile back, but it had most recently been 45. It wasn’t until later that I figured out that I was the latest victim of a speed trap, and I would be charged with driving 20 miles over the speed limit.
Dennis Quaid starred as America's 40th president in "Reagan." (Getty Images)
As the officer filled out the ticket, I noticed his hands were shaking. Must be new on the job, I figured and, sensing his weakness, I tried to see if he wouldn’t let me off with a warning. He said he couldn’t and noted I must appear in court in a month.
THE REAGAN MOVIE IS A TIMELY REMINDER OF WHY LEADERSHIP MATTERS
"But I’m visiting from California," I pleaded. "There’s no way I can come back in a month."
He urged me to call the court and see if they’d speed up my court appearance. It was only then, as he finished writing the ticket that I looked at it and noticed that the jurisdiction in which my "crime" had been committed was Dixon, Illinois, the hometown of Ronald Reagan.
As I tried to process this information, I was reminded of what my mother, who was just as devout as Reagan’s mother, often said, that there is a Divine Plan, and that nothing is random in a universe where God orders the steps of His children. Which in my case meant that I was being led to Dixon, against my will, perhaps for a reason.
President Ronald Reagan lived as a boy in........© Fox News
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