Parking Fines

A once-in-a-decade chance to duck parking ticket late fees prompted about 50,000 delinquent motorists to dust off old citations and open their wallets - forking over $3.6 million in fines while avoiding $32.7 million in penalties. Drivers paid off 107,321 tickets - some dating back to the William Donald Schaefer administration - during the two-day amnesty program, which had lines wrapping around the block this month at downtown's Abel Wolman Municipal Building. Saddled with the task of opening 35,000 letters from drivers who settled their debts by mail, city officials took a week and a half to determine how many people participated in the amnesty on Oct. 9 and 10. But in announcing the figures yesterday, officials took pride in how efficiently they had handled crowds over the two-day period.

A Carroll Circuit Court hearing is set for Sept. 20 to consider dismissal of a lawsuit filed against a Carroll district judge and the State of Maryland by a man jailed overnight for being $8.50 short of the fine and court costs on a parking ticket.Gary C. Cronin, a 28-year-old Manchester man jailed overnight in August 1992, filed the $500,000 negligence and false imprisonment lawsuit in June.The lawsuit contends Mr. Cronin "was subjected to the extreme humiliation of being photographed, fingerprinted, searched, re-searched and strip-searched" because District Judge Donald M. Smith decided to put him in jail rather than give him eight more days to pay the debt to the court.

Lyn Backe's column is running today because the Anne Arundel edition of The Sun was not published yesterday, Memorial Day.FOR THOSE of us who venture into downtown Annapolis daily to work, weekly to dine, often to shop, there is good news from the city Department of Parking and Transportation. The Parking and Fines Division will be open an hour longer to give us more time to pay our tickets.The office at 308 Chinquapin Round Road will be open from 8: 30 a.m. to 5: 30 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

I am writing on behalf of the Anne Arundel County Commission on Disability Issues, whose mission is to promote the interests and enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities, by providing advice on disability issues to County Executive John R. Leopold and the County Council. Six months ago, the county began imposing a $500 fine on persons who unlawfully park in spaces reserved for the disabled, or who block access to ramps and curb cuts, On Feb. 10, an article ran in The (Annapolis)

BOULDER, Colo. -- In 1898, the West decided it was in need of a little culture.So a bunch of Texans wandered up to Colorado and settled on a nice place at the edge of the Rocky Mountain foothills as a likely spot for a "summer institution of learning and entertainment."They bought the land, put up rows of nice white tents, built a big wooden auditorium and invited traveling artists and lecturers. And people came to hear, carrying their guitars and suitcases and a thirst for new ideas.Nearly 100 years later, new ideas and entertainment are as close as the nearest television or bookstore.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Amusement parks in California would be subject to government inspection and tougher fines under a measure overwhelmingly approved by the state Assembly, two years to the day after a student plunged to her death on a water slide.California, with its many amusement parks, has one of the worst safety records in the nation. Fourteen people have died since 1973 at amusement parks here, compared with one person in Florida during the same time period.Although the state regulates ski lifts, traveling carnivals and elevators, California is one of only four states that do not regulate permanent amusement parks.

Thousands more stood in line yesterday to cash in on the city's ticket amnesty program, billed as a once-in-a-decade chance to dodge hefty late fees on unpaid parking tickets. An estimated 34,000 to 40,000 people paid old tickets at money-order outlets around the city over the two-day amnesty period, which began Thursday, said Vassil Nikolov, a manager at Global Express Money Orders. Thousands more settled their debts through the mail and at the Abel Wolman Municipal Building downtown.

Facing the possibility of tens of thousands of drivers lining up over two days to pay overdue parking tickets, the city has turned to a money-order company to help collect some of the $113 million it is owed. Nearly 200,000 people have amassed a total of 358,393 citations, all of which have been hit with extra fines because they weren't paid on time. But the city is offering to let drivers off the hook for just a fraction of the total through a parking-ticket amnesty program Oct. 9 and 10. The program will allow drivers to pay old tickets without late fees, reducing the maximum the city could collect to $14.6 million.

You can't visit Richmond without confronting the Civil War. The city is so rich in Civil War history that you can't miss it, even if - like me - you're not a Civil War buff. In fact, a weekend visitor invariably confronts one of two pickles: If you aren't particularly interested in the War Between the States, you'll feel guilty bypassing what is just about Civil War Central. And if you are a war buff eager to immerse yourself in the subject, you won't have enough time to do it justice.

Effective today, the penalty on unpaid parking citations in Baltimore will increase from $12 to $16 a month. The new increased fee is not retroactive. All penalties accrued up to yesterday will be assessed at $12 per month. Parking fines not paid within 15 days from the date of formal notice of the violation are subject to a peanalty each month the ticket remains unpaid. A City Council ordinance authorizing the increase was signed into law in March 1999