Feb. 28, 2002 - 23:02 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Joins The Party

The following are some opinions by a disgruntled citizen of Denver who feels that he will not soon become gruntled.

Some time ago here in Denver, despite the accusing screams of "Big Brother" (I was and am one of the screamers) the grand scheme of photo radar was foisted on us pitiful peons.

Off to the side of most any artery now there can be a van or open ended trailer parked inconspicuously containing the equipment to do the dirty. So on a heavily traveled artery where everyone is traveling ten mph above limit and has been for years, this wonderful photo radar thingy can cause as many car owners that pass that point doing the traditional ten above, showing the picture of the car and driver, the speed, date, time and the official speed limit at that spot.

I haven't checked the statistics on this but it makes me shiver to think that ten thousand tickets could be issued for a morning rush past one of those beasts, and another ten thousand for an evening rush. The possibilities are limitless.

There was an uproar when these cursed tickets were mailed out to the car owners. The feeling was and is that an officer should deliver the tickets officially. Things settled down to a groan, begrudgingly people would mail the ransom money to the city (spelled with an sh).

Complete pandemonioum ensued the other day when it was discovered a private company was doing the work and sending the tickets and making pretty good bucks doing so. Possibilities there are endless too. Just a little tweak on the equipment and another ten thousand tickets will add to the private company's profit.

There has been much nattering in the news about that.So our dear administration does something that only Denver can do. It has been decided by the big wheels that those tickets issued which have not been paid shall be torn up and discarded. Shadows of the chads - - - - the eighty bucks I just sent off to our dear city not too long ago will NOT BE REFUNDED ! ! ! ! Me and the tens of thousands who have mailed in the stiff fines are out in the snow and cold.

I will make a wager (with myself of course) that no matter how much of an uproar results from that official piece of stupidity, the money will NOT be refunded.

I'm a Bynic or Cynibitter or something, maybe just a bitter old cynic, but if the city admits they have done something wrong, I would think the first thing they should do is cut checks to refund every cent paid in photo radar fines since the beginning of the program, stop using the equipment and tear up the unpaid tickets also.

I fear using a public restroom now for fear of being scanned and photographed, caught overspeeding in a natural function by a damn photo radar. Yuck ! ! ! !

Guess our pols have been taking lessons from the now defunct OSI of the Pentagon on screwing up. I suspect that our beloved metropolis now Joins The Party . . . . . .

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