Editing Hampton, Florida (section)

===2013–2014 controversies===
In November 2013, the city's mayor Barry Layne Moore was arrested for selling [[Oxycodone]].<ref name=post/>

On February 10, 2014, auditors from the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee presented 31 violations of state law, city charter and federal tax requirements to state legislators.<ref>{{cite web|last=Deslatte|first=Aaron|title=Lawmakers want tiny town of Hampton abolished over 'cash register justice'|url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/blogs/political-pulse/os-lawmakers-want-tiny-town-of-hampton-abolished-over-cash-register-justice-20140210,0,2536532.post|publisher=[[Orlando Sentinel]]|accessdate=March 9, 2014|date=February 10, 2014}}</ref> The city made $211,328 ticketing people driving its {{convert|1260|ft|m}} of U.S. Highway 301 during 2012,<ref name="NYTAlvarez">{{cite web|last=Alvarez|first=Lizette|title=A Dot on the Map, After Scandal, Could Be Wiped Off|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/11/us/need-for-speeders-puts-tiny-florida-city-on-brink-of-erasure.html?hp&_r=0|work=[[New York Times]]|accessdate=March 13, 2014|date=March 10, 2014}}</ref> giving the city an unenviable reputation as a "[[speed trap]]".<ref>{{cite web|last=O'Neill|first=Ann|title=Speed trap city accused of corruption, threatened with extinction|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/09/us/hampton-florida-corruption/index.html?hpt=hp_c2|publisher=[[CNN.com]]|accessdate=March 9, 2014|date=March 9, 2014}}</ref> The committee asked State Attorney Bill Cervone to investigate any potential criminal activity and a number of state representatives and senators pursued the dissolution of Hampton.<ref>{{cite web|last=Dixon|first=Matt|title=Gestapo in Hampton|url=http://members.jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/matt-dixon/2014-02-10/gestapo-hampton|publisher=[[Florida Times-Union]]|accessdate=March 9, 2014|date=February 10, 2014|archive-date=October 6, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006082519/http://members.jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/matt-dixon/2014-02-10/gestapo-hampton|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the wake of the controversy, many city officials resigned.<ref>{{cite web|last=O'Neil|first=Ann|title=Barry Layne Moore, mayor of corrupt Hampton, Florida, resigns &ndash; from jail|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/11/us/florida-hampton-mayor-resigns/|publisher=CNN.com|accessdate=March 14, 2014|date=March 11, 2014}}</ref> State legislators visited Hampton on March 28, 2014, to see if the issues had been solved.<ref>{{cite web|last=O'Neil|first=Ann|title=Has Hampton been scared straight?|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/28/us/hampton-florida-corruption-appeal/index.html?iref=allsearch|publisher=CNN.com|accessdate=March 28, 2014|date=March 28, 2014}}</ref> They agreed to let Hampton stay incorporated, because the city retracted the annexation of U.S. Highway 301 and decommissioned its police force. Hampton also accounted for budget shortfalls, and reformed its city council proceedings.<ref>{{cite web|last=O'Neil|first=Ann|title=City too corrupt for Florida is spared|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/29/us/hampton-florida-corruption-survival/index.html?hpt=hp_c2|publisher=CNN.com|accessdate=March 29, 2014|date=March 29, 2014}}</ref> In May 2022, the justification for the speed trap was deemed invalid from its inception by [[Reason (magazine)|Reason magazine]], which reported that, "Many speed-trap towns defend their aggressive traffic enforcement on ostensible public safety grounds. But Hampton could not even make that sort of claim, since the highway was a mile away."<ref name="11 Insanely Corrupt Speed-Trap Towns – Reason magazine">{{cite web |last1=CIARAMELLA |first1=C.J. |title=11 Insanely Corrupt Speed-Trap Towns |url=https://reason.com/2022/05/08/11-insanely-corrupt-speed-trap-towns/ |website=reason.com |publisher=Reason |access-date=10 May 2022}}</ref>