Every day, numerous parking tickets are distributed on Ball State's campus. And every day, some of those ticket recipients tell stories of how they returned to their cars to find undeserved tickets. They might consider their tickets undeserved because the parking policy itself is flawed or because they felt their parking jobs complied with parking regulations.
Either way, most of those story tellers walk down to Parking Services and pay their fines with little protest.
Likewise, 29 people who were found in violation of Muncie's noise ordinance accepted their charges on Nov. 30 and agreed to pay the fees.
One Ball State student, however, was not so conciliatory.
Whether or not the other 29 accused were in violation does not particularly matter, and neither does this student's guilt or innocence. What matters is that he cares enough about the issue to not only deny the charges - which he feels were unfairly brought against him - but also to challenge the ordinance itself. With the support and representation of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, the student is poised to fight a regulation many other students are also opposed to.
While only the courts decide who is right or wrong, guilty or innocent, we commend the interest of this student to stand up for what he believes in.
His dedication to fighting what he sees as an injustice could benefit us all with stronger, more specific and consistently enforced laws.
One voice of opposition has the ability to keep the entire legal system on its toes - and no matter the outcome of the case, this student is certainly doing that.
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