An unpaid parking ticket in Brooksville, FL could get really expensive.
Link:http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/16/1664.asp
Link:http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/16/1664.asp
badbob
$5 parking ticket could cost you...
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fourtwentytexas
New member
Ridiculous!:barf:
JuanCarlos
New member
Wow. Just wow.
Is debters prison next?
I am not defending drug dealers but when the powers that be decided to take property because dugs were involved it set a very bad precedent. Next we can lose a car for drunk driving, isn't CA. taking your car if you don't have Ins. or was I told wrong..
Now your house for a parking ticket OMG!
Buddy of mine in Utah's neighbor ( hows that for I know who knew) anyway he was given a ticket for drunk in a boat, he blew a .08. His boat was confiscated, well the trailer carried the boat so it was too. His pickup towed the trailer so they took it too. We are talking way over 50K maybe 75K by now for a few beers in a boat. He won in court and had everything returned but still....
We got trouble people.
I am not defending drug dealers but when the powers that be decided to take property because dugs were involved it set a very bad precedent. Next we can lose a car for drunk driving, isn't CA. taking your car if you don't have Ins. or was I told wrong..
Now your house for a parking ticket OMG!
Buddy of mine in Utah's neighbor ( hows that for I know who knew) anyway he was given a ticket for drunk in a boat, he blew a .08. His boat was confiscated, well the trailer carried the boat so it was too. His pickup towed the trailer so they took it too. We are talking way over 50K maybe 75K by now for a few beers in a boat. He won in court and had everything returned but still....
We got trouble people.
Northern Sod Breaker
New member
That's putting it lightly.
Some how this Seems to fit....
Unkown said:
JuanCarlos
New member
I don't know why people say stuff like this. I've yet to find a single human being with which I disagree about everything.
Yeah, not a fan of the erosion of property rights. There are certain things I can stomach (that perhaps others here cannot)...things like taking a car for a DUI (but nothing else), etc. Taking items that were directly used in the commission of the crime. Of course, even then only after a conviction.
Which brings me to the other issue: in drug-related cases specifically, an actual conviction of a crime is not necessary to confiscate your property. Even property that can only be shown to have maybe been tangentially connected to the commission of a crime. Scary stuff, that.
That last was based on a case I read about a while ago...might even have been one discussed here. I forget the particulars, and it may have been overturned. Bit too busy to look it up at the moment, and it's not completely related to the topic anyway.
As for the actual topic, I honestly can see placing a lien on a car for an unpaid ticket. Doing so after a week seems a bit excessive. Foreclosing on a house after 90 days without even notifying the homeowner...yikes. Unfortunately the entire thing looks entirely legal (though I'd hope some voters are letting the city know what they think of this crap)....but it certainly ain't right
Particularly insidious is the whole $250 "appeal fee." Storytime: I had a buddy who got hit for failing to stop at a stop sign. The cop was actually stupid enough to claim that he had pulled up, rolled back, then without stopping again pulled right out. So the guy takes it to court. He's a smart-aleck student like myself, so he argues (validly) that if the cop admits he rolled back then simple physics states that not only did he stop, he stopped twice. His velocity was zero the moment before he started to roll back, and zero again the moment before he pulled forward.
The ticket was, of course, overturned. But he was assessed a fee (over $100, IIRC, forget the exact amount) for court costs or some such. So the question I have is how is it legal for them to assess court costs if I'm found to have done nothing wrong in the first place? So my choices are pay the ticket or pay the court, but innocent or no I'm going to pay? *shrug*
Easy in today world to be driving a $60,000 car. Seems excessive to me, when the next guy may be in a $600 wreck on wheels. Can we say fairness?
Completely wrong IMO, gosh if your innocent your innocent. Why tell me someone please, why a person is/would be responsible for court costs if found "not guilty"? Sompin ain't right here.
Court costs woulda cost OJ Simpson a bunch huh?
True story for those interested..
35 or so years ago I got a parking ticket in my dads car. I paid the ticket.
3 years or so later I got a fixit ticket for a headlight. I fixed the headlight but had lost the ticket I needed to have signed by the CHP. I went to the CHP office and ask what to do, was told to forget it. I worried so 3 or 4 months later I called the local sheriff, ask if I had a warrant. He told me no But another of my last name did at my adders. Checking we found it was a warrant for my dad for the 3 year old parking ticket.
Dad had to go to the county court house to get proof the ticket had been paid, they wouldn't let me do it as his name was on the warrent. He found the proof and so told the clerk to stop the warrant. He was informed the warrant was from another area of the county and it could not be halted from there????? long story shorter. A year or three later the marshals came to his door on Thanksgiving Day with a warrant to arrest him, but luckily he had kept a copy of the paid receipt in his wallet for that entire time and so was not arrested.
GIMMIE a break he would have been arrested for a ticket he had absolutely no knowledge of that had been paid if I had not accidentally came across that warrent..... gezzzz sometimes I wonder....
JuanCarlos
New member
It's not about value, it's not about money, or about how much the city can get selling it* (or at least it shouldn't be). It's about confiscating a tool you used directly in the commission of a crime. It's also about deterrent factor, as well...because chances are whether it's a $600 wreck or a $60,000 thing of beauty, a vast majority of people can't particularly afford to lose it and aren't keen on doing so even if they can.
Of course, this is assuming the person is actually convicted, and specifically if they're convicted of a DUI (or other criminal traffic infraction, which rules out all your various speeding/run a light/etc. tickets).
And if you don't like it, well drinking and driving is an absolutely avoidable crime. You don't do it by accident.
EDIT: Your story was a real eye-roller, too. Sometimes the lengths to which the government will go just punishing some seriously piddly crimes (such as parking violations) amazes me.
* - Actually, I think it's best if all "seized" property is destroyed, rather than used or sold by the seizing authorities. Reduces the incentive for corruption.
Wildalaska
Moderator
O well, pay your tickets then.
WildthemsthebreaksAlaska
PS...and to think that gun owners like to harp on "personal responsibility"....unless it's a parking ticket, neh?
WildthemsthebreaksAlaska
PS...and to think that gun owners like to harp on "personal responsibility"....unless it's a parking ticket, neh?
Absolutely 100% about the money is what most tickets, fees, etc. etc. are in the first place. Guy leaves the bank drives 1/2 block without his seatbelt in a tiny town. Cost him about $100. 45 in a 35 in very rural area no driveways, you can see both sides of the road for hundreds of feet $100. Tell me it ain't about the money...
If anyone thinks 60K is ok for a DUI there is no use debating it we are just to distant in ideals.
Hey WA go READ my post the ticket was paid in the first place.
Wildalaska
Moderator
??/
Anyway, being a notorious scofflaw myself, I have no sympathy for ticket bandits.
The worst is NYC...there ya get TOWED FIRST...so picture me, drunk as a skunk, weed eyes making me look like a japanese guy with pink eye, wandering around NYC yelling to some voice mail tree on my cell phone BECAUSE THEY TOWED ME WHILE I WAS IN A BAR PLAYING SUAVE TO SOME NYC MODEL TYPE CHICKIE and I dint know my license plate numner (rental car) forgetting of course that the PLATE NUMBER IS ON THE KEY, having to have some NYC cop say.."Sir ya dont know your plate, its a rental?..Look on your key"...duh....party much Ken?...., then having to schlep in the rain donw to Pier 99 or some such deserted place, then wait on line for two hours to pay $175 for the tow, then spend an hour looking for the car in some giant Pier, then FINDING A $50 TICKET on the window besides.
WildsopayemforpetessakeAlaska
That is a very nice theoretical answer. Very nice. Of course it does have a few problems where I work. The "street urchins" frequently amuse themselves by taking parking tickets off of the cars and throwing them away. It is rather difficult to pay a ticket promptly when you do not receive it.
The urchins also like to peel off the mandated state sticker on the license plate, which will also get you pulled over and a ticket or if you are not in the car ticket only.
Do not know if it happens elsewhere but I have had it happen to me several times and have seen them do it.
NukemJim
These people are nucking futs!
If I receive a parking ticket, I have 3 days in which to pay it. If the citation is issued, say, on Friday before Memorial day and city offices are closed on that Monday, does this form a de-facto waiver of the 72 hour period? If not, does the city add the 50%(!) late fee when they don't provide access to pay the amount?
So if I get this right, a $15 parking ticket, at the end of a year would be at least a $317 tab. That works out to a 1,411% increase. Does anyone on the city counsel understand the word usury?
I also wonder how this would fare for out-of-state visitors who receive a parking ticket the day they are driving back home to, say Oregon? Supposing a citation issued at 4:55pm on a Thursday May 24th before Memorial Day weekend, the 72 hours elapses on Sunday 5/27. Our hapless traveller mails a check from Macon, Georgia on Friday afternoon 5/25, however he's missed the last Friday pickup. On Sunday, the fine is increased from $15 to $22.50. Tuesday 5/29, the city mails a notice that he still has to pay a $7.50 late fee. Figure 4 days cross country to Oregon (Saturday 6/2) and he's already too late to stop a the city from increasing the fine and issuing a lien on Monday morning (6/4).
This is ripe for abuse too. City employees are typically never in a rush to help you and if they can cause any kind of delays it only means more revenue for the city. Being told to leave payment in a drop-box after 5pm, for instance, then the payments not being processed in a timely manner (Sat., Sun. & Holidays) results in larger fines.
I love this part... the contract employee's job is dependent upon the number of appeals he can deny to fund his job under this program AND have money left over for the city. And I have no doubt that the use of this "contract employee" will require the owner to appear in corpus to make his appeal -- lots of fun for out of state visitors!
If I receive a parking ticket, I have 3 days in which to pay it. If the citation is issued, say, on Friday before Memorial day and city offices are closed on that Monday, does this form a de-facto waiver of the 72 hour period? If not, does the city add the 50%(!) late fee when they don't provide access to pay the amount?
So if I get this right, a $15 parking ticket, at the end of a year would be at least a $317 tab. That works out to a 1,411% increase. Does anyone on the city counsel understand the word usury?
I also wonder how this would fare for out-of-state visitors who receive a parking ticket the day they are driving back home to, say Oregon? Supposing a citation issued at 4:55pm on a Thursday May 24th before Memorial Day weekend, the 72 hours elapses on Sunday 5/27. Our hapless traveller mails a check from Macon, Georgia on Friday afternoon 5/25, however he's missed the last Friday pickup. On Sunday, the fine is increased from $15 to $22.50. Tuesday 5/29, the city mails a notice that he still has to pay a $7.50 late fee. Figure 4 days cross country to Oregon (Saturday 6/2) and he's already too late to stop a the city from increasing the fine and issuing a lien on Monday morning (6/4).
This is ripe for abuse too. City employees are typically never in a rush to help you and if they can cause any kind of delays it only means more revenue for the city. Being told to leave payment in a drop-box after 5pm, for instance, then the payments not being processed in a timely manner (Sat., Sun. & Holidays) results in larger fines.
I love this part... the contract employee's job is dependent upon the number of appeals he can deny to fund his job under this program AND have money left over for the city. And I have no doubt that the use of this "contract employee" will require the owner to appear in corpus to make his appeal -- lots of fun for out of state visitors!
Double Naught Spy
New member
Well then don't park illegally.
Wildalaska
Moderator
The dog ate my homework.
Naw, its more fun to do it then complain about how the big meanie gubmint is pickin on ya.
WildgiveitarestAlaska
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