Hubbard, TX

I am sorry I have not posted here in forever and that this is going to be very negative, but someone needs to say it. I am living in Wacko, TX while going to school so I have a tendency to travel back to Tyler where my family lives once a month or so. I use HWY 31 because it is the shortest distance between Tyler and Waco and currently has the least road construction. Well, there happens to be a little town called Hubbard in between. It is just a HUGE nuisance. To begin with, it slows down the rate of traffic to 35 miles an hour. Secondly, it has a stop light. Third and the worst part is that I have ALWAYS had to stop at this light. Tonight I thought was going to be my lucky night. I am cruising at the speed limit (wow) and the light has turned yellow about one truck length from the white line. Not a big deal because it would have out a flat spot on my tires trying to stop quickly. Not gasing it or anything, I go through the light and it turns red while I am going underneath it. I go a long for a ways still going the speed limit and then get pulled over by a cop. Great. Fun Stuff. I have not done anything wrong, so I am not shaky or anything. I am tired and I have heard horror stories about cops, so I tried to be nice. He comes up and asks for my license and insurance. That is no biggy. I have both. Not a problem. He then informs me that I have ran the stop light. At this point is where I almost loose my cool. I know that at this point there is nothing I can do, but to accuse me of that is just WRONG. I did not say anything. I just kept my mouth shut. He asked me where I was going and coming from. I told him about going to Tyler to see family and was coming back so that I could get to work this morning. He then hands me back my license and then walks around my truck looking for something else to write me up on. I ALWAYS walk around my truck before a road trip for this reason. He then goes and writes up a ticket for running a red light and a warning because my license plate is partialy covered by the dealer border. WOW. At this point I was thinking about how in the world was I going to pay for all this? I have to move into a new apartment and have to get ready for this trip later this summer. What am I going to do? I then ask him what the hours are and what city and what not because I have lost it. I also asked him what it would take to keep this off my record. He told me that this could "EASILY" be taken care of by defensive driving. He recommended that I rent the video from a movie house, "It will only take 6 HOURS of your time." The time I am not worried about. It is the money to rent or to go to defensive driving that I am worried about. How come when you think you might have it all coming together and might be able to break even with all your bills that people like this come around? First, it was the head of my majoring department informing me that I was going to be stuck here for another semester taking 2 classes each semester for the next 2 semesters and now it is a cop whom is writing tickets to the people whom are honest workers just barely scraping by trying to NOT go the credit card route that everyone else does. Of course I was a dummy and did not explain any of this to the officer. He does not understand that some people are legal and do their best. He just wants to hand out tickets. He is probably the one whom made that light such that it is the ONLY light between Corssicana and Wacko that is not flashing yellow after 1am. I don't know what to do. I am going to have to do something. Walking is not the answer because then it would take weeks (need to pay bills) to get home. Any other way costs money that I don't have. Am I missing something? What do I need to do? For starters, I am off to sleep so that I can go to work and maybe attempt to make some money. Later.