Those once on the long side of the law are finding it easier to cross back to the right side through a convenient fine payment system that involves Western Union.

Christopher Murphy, chief adult probation officer, explained the system this morning at the county commissioner's sunshine meeting. According to Murphy, under the old system people had to either travel to the courthouse to pay their fines or mail in a checks. The system worked fine except for those days Murphy's office would be crowded with people waiting to pay their fines. Or, even worse, his office was faced with tracking down bad checks.

Under the new system, Murphy told the commissioners, a person can go to their nearest Western Union location and have their payment wired directly to the county's adult probation department. "Within twenty minutes we have a check being printed out in our office," Murphy said. And the best thing for the county is Western Union guarantees the check. "We don't have to worry about credit card fraud or anything; they handle all that."

According to Murphy, Chester County is the first in the state to make use of the offer by Western Union.

Murphy said Western Union charges the individual 3.99 to 9.95 per transaction depending on the amount of money involved. "That can be cheaper than gas if you're coming in from Oxford," he said.

The average fine including court costs is about $1,100, he said.