I received notice to appear in

traffic court fora parking ticket last week. Parking downtown

is a hassle. The parking lot is a block away, so Carl drives

in front of the court bldg. The street has parking meters on

both sides of the street. Carl pulls in a spot and he goes into

the building while I put the money in the meter. Well theirs

not a meter for each space, instead their is a central meter.

First it won't take my dollar bills then, I see it takes debit

card so I finally get my receipt and head into the building.

Once I'm upstairs in the court room I forgot to put the receipt

in the car window. So we come out and yep I got a parking

ticket. Now I have to go back in the building to the cashiers

window and I explain, show her my receipt and she says I

have to go to court.

This time Carl drops me off and I go inside. Court starts at 3pm.

You register with the clerk and take a seat. Theirs like a 130 people

and the judge keeps saying to the clerks and solicitor "we have

a full schedule, give me groups in alphabetical order." I'm sitting

in the front row waiting to hear my name called. While the judge

is dismissing allot of charges for the policeman is no longer

with the police department. 4pm passes, 5pm passes, 5:45

my name is called. I'm prepared I have my receipt to show I

paid for a spot, the time is their I'm looking forward to explaining

my side. Well, the judge says is the policeman here and the solicitor

states he has left already. The judge asked why was this name

not called earlier, the solicitor gives the judge no answer.

So the judge continues with saying, since the policeman is not

here and I've been so patience waiting for my turn my case is

dismissed with no record on my licenses. So

I make my way to the pay phone to call Carl to pick me up.

While I'm waiting ten minutes for pickup. With no cars parked

on the street I'm noticing their are no parking meters. They have

been removed. So much for new electronic parking meters. Here

today gone tomorrow, our tax dollars at work.

In August Carl had gotten a ticket for supposeable not stopping

at a stop sign before turning right. The police man was on a

motorcycle and seem to come for nowhere. We did stop but

the policeman said our wheels never stopped moving. In the

end it gets dismissed.

I did learn a few things:have a camera with you at all times, you

never now when you will need to prove your side like their

where no no parking signs, the meter had time left on it. If you

don't have camera, getting back to the area of the incident occurred

as soon as possible. Because if it is months after cities change

signs and the judge won't accept months later pictures. When parking

on a street with parking meters, your meter is the one at the front

of your car. If a meter is not accepting money it's not a free parking

space, the universal sign:a circle with a P and a / going threw the P .

Their is a number to call and report its broken. Move

on to another space. Judge does not accept you did not know you

could not park their.

I'm so glad that adventure is over.