Fan Cries Foul at Parking Ticket Trap, Vows to Boycott the Stadium

Saturday was the Padres’ Fan Appreciation Night at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

Cecil A. Chamberlain of Carlsbad was not there. He doesn’t feel appreciated. He feels ripped off.

A couple of weeks ago, Chamberlain, 42, took his son, Jack, 6, to a Padres-Dodgers game. He gladly shelled out $78.50 for tickets, parking, food and doodads.

But when he and Jack returned to their car (a 1990 silver Thunderbird), they found that a San Diego police officer had left a surprise: a $22 ticket for parking on the line separating two stalls.

The cop was nothing if not eager. The ticket was issued at 6:15 p.m., 50 minutes before the first pitch.

Chamberlain got furious. He felt he’d fallen into the big-city equivalent of a speed trap. He was not at all soothed when he saw tickets on the windshields of at least half a dozen other saps.

There were but 13,016 fans at the game that night. The parking lot had acres and acres of unused parking places.

Chamberlain, who runs a firm that trains hotel employees, paid the ticket by mail, but now he’s venting in all directions.

He’s saying all the things people say when they feel they’ve gotten a chicken-feathers ticket: Why aren’t the cops out arresting drunk drivers rather than ticketing law-abiding me? Is the city/team trying to discourage money-spending patrons?

Police Capt. Mike Tyler, who supervises the cops who patrol the stadium, says he sympathizes (sort of) with Chamberlain. But he adds that laws are made to be enforced and, besides, there are plenty of signs.

He says it doesn’t make any difference whether the parking lot is full or vacant: “We don’t predicate enforcement on crowd size.”

He adds that the Padres pay overtime rates so off-duty officers can issue tickets in the parking lot.

That’s the kind of arrangement that has caused Chamberlain to vow that he will never again set foot in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

He’ll keep his season tickets at Dodger Stadium, where he alleges that parking enforcement is more humane.

“If there is anger in my heart,” he says, “I guess it’s out of a frustration that people in San Diego aren’t being protected, just seen as a revenue source for the city.”

Homeowner Lays Down the Law

A guy driving a stolen car in Encinitas leads five sheriff’s deputies on a merry chase at high speed.

The guy is pulling away and looks to zip down a cul-de-sac, dump the car and seek refuge in Batiquitos Lagoon.

Not a bad maneuver--except that he doesn’t figure on an angry homeowner in the cul-de-sac who, to stop people from using it as a turn-around, has placed a telephone pole in the street.

The car thief hits the telephone pole, rips up the undercarriage of the car, and barely manages to get to the lagoon. A few minutes later he’s found dazed and with a bump on his head.

He offers no resistance: “I’ve had enough. Just take me away.” Inside the car, the deputies find burglar tools and some stolen stuff.

What now, you ask, does the Sheriff’s Department do with the homeowner?

Cite him for putting something dangerous in the road? Or cite him for helping (inadvertently) to bring a bad guy to justice?

Or maybe both? I’ll let you know.

Bumper Signs of the Times

Words have meaning. Pass it on.

* Talk about mixed messages!

Spotted in San Diego, a battered sedan with two bumper stickers: “I Believe Anita Hill” and “Bush-Quayle ’92.”

* North County bumper sticker: “Birthmothers Never Forget!”

* An Encinitas family I know has a 5-year-old son playing on a soccer team called the Silverhawks.

Naturally there’s lots of talk around the house about Silverhawks Rule and Silverhawks-Are-Best.

So when the father sees a real estate advertisement for a new subdivision called the Silverhawk Development, he tells his son about it as another example of Silverhawk superiority.

The son says he’s just glad the houses aren’t named for the team the Silverhawks just played.

Why? asks dad.

“Because,” says the son.

“Their name is the Porkchops.”