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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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 Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 4:52 am Post subject: Florida: City to Seize Homes Over a $5 Parking Ticket |
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The city council in Brooksville, Florida voted this week to advance a proposal granting city officials the authority to place liens and foreclose on the homes of motorists accused of failing to pay a single $5 parking ticket. Non-homeowners face having their vehicles seized if accused of not paying three parking offenses.
According to the proposed ordinance, a vehicle owner must pay a parking fine within 72 hours if a meter maid claims his automobile was improperly parked, incurring tickets worth between $5 and $250. Failure to pay this amount results in the assessment of a fifty-percent "late fee." After seven days, the city will place a lien on the car owner's home for the amount of the ticket plus late fees, attorney fees and an extra $15 fine. The fees quickly turn a $5 ticket into a debt worth several hundred dollars, growing at a one-percent per month interest rate. The ordinance does not require the city to provide notice to the homeowner at any point so that after ninety days elapse, the city will foreclose. If the motorist does not own a home, it will seize his vehicle after the failure to pay three parking tickets.
Any motorist who believes a parking ticket may have been improperly issued must first pay a $250 "appeal fee" within seven days to have the case heard by a contract employee of the city. This employee will determine whether the city should keep the appeal fee, plus the cost of the ticket and late fees, or find the motorist not guilty. Council members postponed a decision on whether to reduce this appeal fee until final adoption of the measure which is expected in the first week of April. |
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/16/1664.asp
Crazy. |
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huffdaddy
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:17 am Post subject: |
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Meanwhile, OJ Simpson can keep his house in Florida.   |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:24 am Post subject: |
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Meanwhile, pathetic little boys playing SWAT killed another dog yesterday, in a botched no-knock raid.
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/305888,5_1_WA21_DOGSHOT_S1.article
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ROUND LAKE BEACH -- Take a step inside Bonny Palka's home and you'd never guess that her living room and kitchen were the setting for a bloody police shooting just a week earlier.
Floors have been mopped, walls scrubbed and the carpet -- well, the carpet has been cleaned and scrubbed and scrubbed some more. A blanket now covers some of the worst-stained areas.
But in that very home, at 602 Ivy Court, is where Bonny says one of her best friends was taken away, because of overzealous police officers. And she was forced to spend the night in a holding cell wearing bloody clothes.
Palka's black Labrador retriever, Bam, was shot and killed in the early hours of March 13 while Round Lake Beach officers were serving a drug warrant at the home.
In an odd game of he-said, she-said, Palka claims that police were ruthless in shooting her pup. Police, on the other hand, say they feared for their own safety, and the integrity of the case when they fired three fatal bullets.
About the only thing both sides agree on is the location of the incident.
After an investigation into suspected drug use at the home, village police officers arrived to search the home around midnight. Palka, 49, was home with her boyfriend, Keith Glorioso, 41, her 18-year-old daughter, and her daughter's boyfriend.
Palka said after police pounded on the door and entered the home, her dog, Bam became excited. As she attempted to restrain him, officers began yelling. And before anyone could get Bam out of the way, he was shot -- while running away from officers, according to Palka.
"I saw they had guns, and I said 'don't shoot the dog,'" Palka said. "Then they put three bullets to the dog. They didn't even give him a chance."
Round Lake Beach Deputy Chief Gary Bitler said Palka's story is not entirely true.
"The dog was being aggressive," Bitler said. "It was not running away. Most of the time they just run in the opposite direction."
It is department protocol for officer to shoot a dog if they feel threatened, Bitler said. The discretion is up to the officer.
"We can't be held at bay, standing near the door, while people are running around the house doing whatever they're doing," he said.
Shot three times
Bitler says that Bam was shot in the jaw once and twice in the shoulder, which shows that it was facing officers when shot. |
What exactly is a free country? |
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wannago
Joined: 16 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:05 am Post subject: |
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| huffdaddy wrote: |
| Meanwhile, OJ Simpson can keep his house in Florida. |
OJ committed no crime. Why should his home be taken like criminals who don't pay parking tickets? Now, if you want to talk about civil judgements, that's another matter... |
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huffdaddy
Joined: 25 Nov 2005
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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| wannago wrote: |
| huffdaddy wrote: |
| Meanwhile, OJ Simpson can keep his house in Florida. |
OJ committed no crime. |
You misspelled "was convicted of." HTH. HAND. |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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wannago wrote:
huffdaddy wrote:
Meanwhile, OJ Simpson can keep his house in Florida.
OJ committed no crime.
You misspelled "was convicted of." HTH. HAND. |
Taking the gloves off, I see....
DD |
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Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:47 pm Post subject: |
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| I think remember reading about 10 years ago that some counties in Florida were becoming well-known for police scams.. they would pull people with out of state plates over for a minor traffic violation, then search their car and, crucially, test their money for cocaine. If some cokehead had used one of their bills a few years before, it would test positive and the car would be seized. In some cases people lost homes. |
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Hollywoodaction
Joined: 02 Jul 2004
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| Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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| huffdaddy wrote: |
| wannago wrote: |
| huffdaddy wrote: |
| Meanwhile, OJ Simpson can keep his house in Florida. |
OJ committed no crime. |
You misspelled "was convicted of." HTH. HAND. |
I remember when the verdict came out. I was in the biochemistry lab at university, ironically doing DNA testing. The professor came in, said, "Well, this is a sad day for DNA testing, OJ was found not guilty." We all gasped. One of my classmates, an African, said something along the lines of, "Those Americans are crazy to think this is a matter of race. Everybody back home tells me he should already be dead." |
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