Dear Ball State University Parking Services,
I have made two visits to help my niece at your fine university. The first was last fall to help her with a computer problem. I parked very late at night for about an hour at a meter in front of her dorm and received a parking ticket. It was too dark to read the meter, so I figured it was like the meters in Indianapolis, St. Louis or Chicago and didn't require money so late in the evening. But I was evidently wrong, so I paid the ticket. I didn't like it because I couldn't read the blasted directions in pitch black, but I paid it! Is being able to read in pitch black an entrance requirement these days?
Yesterday I made my second trip to help her - this time with her math. Again I was there for about an hour. And you'll never guess my reward -- another parking ticket! Unreal! Do you have so many parking-Nazis that they hover over each space? Is there some high-tech device that looks for "No Valid Permit" cars? I was prepared (or so I thought) to watch more closely about where I could park. So I stayed the heck away from the metered spaces. No way could I've read the meters again because it was too dark to read them at 8 p.m. in the dimly lit area next to the dorm.-á
I should've brought along a flashlight. Or maybe I could've brought five coins of each type and run down every 15 minutes to check the meter -- which I still couldn't have read. Maybe then I'd be safe from the hovering parking-Nazis. You'd think I'd be lucky enough to find one of the parking-Nazis waiting with a ticket in hand so I could ask where I can park for less than $40 an hour, but guess they hide behind the bushes or have clever disguises and blend in with the meters. I even looked for a sign 15 spaces both directions from where I parked -- nothing!-á I looked for markings on the many empty spaces -- nothing! I looked for paint or markings on the curb -- nothing!-á
I am not a parking novice. I've parked safely for many visits to Chicago and years of attending ball games and other events in Indianapolis and St. Louis, never once receiving a parking ticket, but I'm too ignorant to find a valid visitor parking spot at Ball State. I was in the service and had a car on post for Four years and never received a parking ticket. Four years parking at Purdue -- zero tickets.
Perhaps you'd be so kind as to have one of the parking-Nazis tell me a safe place to park next time I'm foolish enough to bring a car on campus.
Sincerely,
Gary Moore
Muncie Resident
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