2008 Woodie Awards
Letter to the Editor:
Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: Perspectives
It sucks to be taken advantage of. This is especially true when someone manages to take advantage of you, disrespect you, and cost you heaps of money all at the same time. This is, unfortunately, an experience I recently underwent as a result of the City of Indianola's lovely new 72-hour ordinance.
The ordinance itself is upsetting enough, as it seems nothing more than another way for the city to take advantage of college students and make money.
Even if on principle it made sense, it seems a bit ridiculous to claim that forcing students to move their vehicle slightly every three days will cut down on people leaving abandoned cars on city streets. However, this was the excuse that an officer gave a Simpson student when questioned about the issue.
It was also the reason given to me when my car was towed for being "abandoned" on the street outside my sorority house on Simpson's campus. I went home for Spring Break after my last class on March 6th, but not before I checked on my car. I found nothing out of the ordinary.
My sister and I rode home together in her car to save gas. I returned to school on March 16th at around 2:30pm and my car was gone.
While an officer at the Indianola Police Department was sympathetic with my situation, he simply told me that they don't always agree with what the city requires of them, but they just have to do it.
Fine. I paid the tickets that, being gone for break, I never knew I had, and had my sister drive me fifteen minutes out of town to Milo, where they had apparently taken my car.
We found the towing company, Tomlin Towing, with little help from the map that was given to us, and quickly spotted my car.
After all that had happened already, I was less than surprised to find the car buried in at least three to four inches of mud. It was so deep, in fact, that it wasn't until I paid the one-hundred dollar towing fee and a man began driving my car out of the lot that I realized pieces of my bumper were hanging off the bottom of my car.
The ordinance itself is upsetting enough, as it seems nothing more than another way for the city to take advantage of college students and make money.
Even if on principle it made sense, it seems a bit ridiculous to claim that forcing students to move their vehicle slightly every three days will cut down on people leaving abandoned cars on city streets. However, this was the excuse that an officer gave a Simpson student when questioned about the issue.
It was also the reason given to me when my car was towed for being "abandoned" on the street outside my sorority house on Simpson's campus. I went home for Spring Break after my last class on March 6th, but not before I checked on my car. I found nothing out of the ordinary.
My sister and I rode home together in her car to save gas. I returned to school on March 16th at around 2:30pm and my car was gone.
While an officer at the Indianola Police Department was sympathetic with my situation, he simply told me that they don't always agree with what the city requires of them, but they just have to do it.
Fine. I paid the tickets that, being gone for break, I never knew I had, and had my sister drive me fifteen minutes out of town to Milo, where they had apparently taken my car.
We found the towing company, Tomlin Towing, with little help from the map that was given to us, and quickly spotted my car.
After all that had happened already, I was less than surprised to find the car buried in at least three to four inches of mud. It was so deep, in fact, that it wasn't until I paid the one-hundred dollar towing fee and a man began driving my car out of the lot that I realized pieces of my bumper were hanging off the bottom of my car.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
happy student
posted 3/21/08 @ 3:25 PM CST
I think that it is good that the city is finally ticketing those who always park on the street. It always seems to happen that people get by with not paying for tickets and park on the street when it is nice. (Continued…)
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