Saturday was beautiful. It was sunny and 72 degrees. It was so nice that Ben and I took Bo to the Arboretum to hike. Now it costs six dollars to park in the Arboretum parking lot so I decided to try to find a place to park and hike in. I found a trail head and we parked and went on a great 5 mile hike and found the trail into the arboretum. Now we didn't sneak in, there is a gate that is open till 6 pm.
When I parked I did notice a NO PARKING sign about three cars down. It had the arrows pointing both ways but I didn't see another sign nearby to tell exactly where the No Parking zone ended. Also, there where about a dozen other cars parked there. When we wearily returned to the trail head I saw this wild Arab guy running around. He comes up to me and shows me this piece of paper and stammering, asking me what it means. I look at it and tell him it's a ticket. So he points to my windshield and I see I have a ticket also. I take a breath and decide I'm not going to let this ruin my beautiful day. Then I open it and the fine is $75 plus a $25 administrative fee, for a grand total of $100. Now since when did parking tickets go from $15 and $25 dollars? It's not like I was parked in the handicapped place in front of the hospital for crippled children's heli-port. It seems that this "Experimental Forest" is federal land and this is now a federal case. So Officer Dibble just gave a dozen citizens fines equaling $1,200 dollars in less than 20 minutes. Driving out I did notice the sign showing the end of the no parking zone. It was about five cars down around a bend and up a hill. I drove out feeling good about finding the other entrance to the arboretum, and saving $6. A mile down the road I see the Arab at another trailhead ranting and raving to some ranger.
Did you ever wonder where Ted Kazinsky and David Koresh types come from? I came home and considered my options. I couldn't take the day off to go to Federal Court. Although I did consider sending my advocate CP. I could ignore it and wait till a warrant was issued and I wound up in "Federal Pound Me In The &#@ Prison". Or I could just pay it. I had CP go to the web site and put it on my VISA card. It's amazing how efficient the federal government can be when it comes to collecting your money. I'm not ready to build a cabin in the woods yet, but I'm going to make a $400 dollar donation to charity to get my $100 bucks back at tax time.
"TOP OF THE WORLD MA"
2 comments:
Whoa. That's a pretty hefty fine. I would've been spittin' nails alongside that arab.
Put that arboretum on the to-do list when we come down.
M-
Here's another thought, take the money you paid and deduct it as pre-paid taxes. $xxxx.xx owed to Georgie Porgie Bush minus the $100.00.
Now I'm surprized the Arab didn't come back to the arboretum and blow himself up as some sort of jihad against the USA.
D
Post a Comment