Raves, Rants & Roses

RESPONSE: As in every situation, there is always more than one side to every problem... that's one reason for the court system in this country. If it were any other way, we would be a dictator-based society. So it's not "the end of discussion" as one writer penned in Sunday's paper.

As mentioned previously, it would take only a minor adjustment to "fix" the handicap parking dilemma. Just have a time frame or an activities wording on certain parking spots to alleviate unjust tickets when these spaces are not being used by the handicap. The price of producing, or building parking lots is in the thousands of dollars. Why are they used as handicap parking only about 1 per cent of the time? Not very cost effective for sure.

If our friend from Van was in maintenance, and had to work at one of the local establishments on the night shift, and had to return several times to his car in order to complete his work, and parked in an unused handicap spot, he certainly wouldn't want to have a $250 parking ticket on his vehicle every midnight when returning to drive home.

Most people certainly don't abuse the handicap parking spots. Most chose to park a few feet farther away so people with handicaps can use the close up parking. The other side of the coin is the fact that the ones with handicap parking privileges sometimes are not more handicap than the rest of us.

Is there a time limit on how long a person can use one? Is there any accounting for the ones out there who still have them and are no longer handicapped? Would they be given a ticket if anyone checked on the duration of their privilege and it was expired? I never heard of it being done.

The judgment calls of some officers are a big part of the problem. As in a ball park on a rainy Sunday morning, or in the dead of winter, and not having an opening day game until early spring, why would they issue a citation to a coach or someone else in maintenance, if they were parked up close to complete their jobs?

This needs to be resolved by thoughtful and intelligent discussions, where both sides of the coin can be explored.

Buster Barlow
Tyler