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[personal profile] billroper
Today was my court date for my parking ticket for parking in a handicapped space without my placard. It didn't start out too well. I did get there early enough to find a parking space on the first level of the garage without having to resort to the handicapped parking, which was good, as I really wanted to take my placard in with me.

My summons that the clerk at Skokie City Hall had given me said to go to room 114. There is no room 114. After walking the length of the courthouse, I went to the info desk where they gave me the docket to look at and I found I was in room 101, which is not very much like 114.

Before the judge entered, the clerk called everyone up to register. He couldn't find my ticket (and one other fellow's as well) and sent us to the clerk's office. The clerk there informed me that he certainly did have my ticket. I went back across and told him that. He said he didn't have it and handed me the docket. I turned to the second page, third line, and pointed to my name.

Oh. He'd misread the number on the summons from Skokie City Hall. Well, it's a crappy press-through carbon, so I suppose that's not a great surprise.

I got back to a bench about the time the judge entered, so I didn't have to rise, since I was already risen. The majority of the cases seemed to be speeding tickets, which were being dismissed with a fine and supervision if the driving record was otherwise clean, unless someone wanted a trial. Few did.

About 9:15, the judge called my name and I hobbled forward on my crutch. He looked down at the ticket and said "You don't have a placard," then glanced down at what I was carrying and said, "Ticket dismissed. Remember to display your placard prominently."

"Thank you, Your Honor."

Date: 2007-05-09 04:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jcbemis.livejournal.com
That's about what I expected would happen.

Date: 2007-05-09 04:15 pm (UTC)
madfilkentist: My cat Florestan (gray shorthair) (Default)
From: [personal profile] madfilkentist
They figured that if the ticket said "Room 101," people who've read Orwell would have been scared off.

Date: 2007-05-09 05:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] catalana.livejournal.com
Yay! Glad it went okay.

Date: 2007-05-09 06:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] maiac.livejournal.com
At least Room 101 didn't turn out to be a disused lavatory in the cellar, with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'.

Congratulations on getting the ticket dismissed. But what a hassle.

Date: 2007-05-10 12:54 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lemmozine.livejournal.com
Applause to you for fighting back! Most people just pay the fine and mumble some curse words. I had to talk my mother into going to court when she got a ticket, with her placard displayed prominently on the dash - apparently the sun was reflecting in the windshield at an angle where it couldn't be seen. I convinced her to go to court, took off work to go along, and the parking officer who wrote the ticket was very kind and apologetic - I then found out how to get handicapped plates, which are a lot more difficult to ignore than the placards. I hope your condition is temporary and you won't need the plates, but anyone who does need them should get them and forget about the stupid placards.

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