Because I have to go shoot what is now
the first of three episodes of “High School Bowl” in the next
seven days in a few minutes, I'm gonna leave you with a topic that
crossed my mind as I was out running yesterday, a topic I wrote about
almost four years ago to the day.
I guess it proves things never change,
right?
Have yourself a great weekend. Back
Monday with something brand new!
***
(as originally posted December 10th,
2013):
I wonder how many are given out on any
particular night?
Now that winter’s here some of my
usual running routes are curtailed, and I find myself running more
and more on city streets, instead of the usual Fit Strip or bike path
or Park Cemetery or other off-road areas. While I’m usually not
keen on street running (especially with the way people drive these
days) I do get to notice one thing that you never see while running
during the summer.
And that’s tickets on cars that have
violated Marquette’s overnight parking ban.
Depending upon where (and for how long)
I run I’ll see anywhere from 2 to 5 or 6 cars with tickets on them,
but I really noticed it Saturday morning when I went out and saw 4
tickets on just one block. That made me pay close attention; by the
time I got home, I counted 14—fourteen—cars with tickets on them.
And while I didn’t check each individual ticket, I can say with a
fair amount of confidence that those cars were ticketed for violating
the overnight ban.
Especially the car that had been plowed
in for what looked like several days, as evidenced by the multiple
tickets stuck under the windshield wiper. Someone’s gonna have fun
paying those tickets, and also paying for getting their car plowed
out!
I don’t wanna sound like I’m
stereotyping a whole group of people, but I notice that a large
majority of people who seem to have ticketed cars get those tickets
in neighborhoods with a lot of college housing. I mean, I live I one
of those neighborhoods, and that’s where I saw those four cars in
one block with tickets stuck under their wipers. On one hand, I
suppose I hafta give credit to whomever the cars belonged; I’m
guessing they got a little too carried away with their celebrating,
realized they weren’t in any condition to drive, and just left
their cars where they parked them. That’s great. But after
spending what I’m guessing is an amazing amount of money on booze,
do you really want to add in another $50 (or whatever the price is)
for a ticket, as well?
I’d be curious to know how many of
those tickets the Marquette City Police give out on a nightly basis
during the winter. I’d also be curious to know how many of those
tickets are actually paid, and how much money the city makes off of
them on an annual basis. I’m guessing it’s not a small amount,
but who knows. Maybe the tickets can pay for a new patrol car or
breathalyzer or bulletproof vest. At least something good would come
out of it.
For now, though, I’ll just look at
the tickets I see as one of the (few) perks of running in Marquette
in winter. Sure, you’re slipping on ice, and dodging cars that are
driving too fast, but at least I know that when I get done I won’t
see that little yellow envelope stuck under my windshield. Because
that, I would guess, would not make a run (or going out to your car)
very much fun at all.
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