As I'm sure you guys already know, about two months ago we adopted little Lenny the bichon. He's starting to come along really well at this point. He seems pretty well house trained, he is starting to get more and more playful, and he has really gotten so close to me that we've nicknamed him The White Shadow because, wherever I go, he goes (and my husband has a thing for cheesy 70s tv show reference, half of which I never get.) TWS follows me around so consistently that I don't even really need to keep him on a leash. Note I said "don't need to" not "don't have to" -- two different things, as I have learned.
Yesterday, I took Lenny out for late morning walk in the park. The weather was not so bad -- a little chilly but sunny -- so it felt nice to go for a nice long walk in the loveliest park in the city. As I said, I am confident that Lenny will follow me, so I don't need to keep his leash on him. However, for this walk, I did have his leash on.
It must have been the glint in his eys or the way he cocked his head or maybe the way the sunlight tinged his curly hair, but Lenny just looked adorable and I knew I had to take a picture of him. Now when taking a picture of God's most adorable creatures, it simple will not do to have him tethered to an ugly old leash in the photo. So I took it off. Just for the picture. I wasn't planning on walking him off-leash. I was going to take the picture and put the leash back on. Honest....
Well, I click the photo (or whatever sound it is that the iPhone makes when taking a picture), and all of a sudden I hear a police siren. (Parks department police, but whatever.) I turned around, and Park cop was looking right at me. I was caught red-handed an
d unleashed. As he was writing the citation, he told me the whole shpiel about dogs not being allowed off-leash anywhere in the park except during certain off-leash hours. The best I could think was to ask if I could be let off with just warning. He looked at me, my ring finger, and my address and told me, "We have a zero tolerance policy! We want eveyone to be safe and to make sure that the park is clean." Whatever! I see poop all over the place, so much for cleanliness. And safety? Does my 16 pounds ball of white fluff look viscious? Heck, he tucks his tail in and runs away whenever he sees another dog on the horizon! Who is he going to hurt? You wrote me a $100 ticket because you profiled me as a well-to-do (possible a domestic servant of a well-to-do :-) ). What am I stupid? But, he was a cop (sort of) so I remained quite.
So here it is...my very first ticket! (Lucky I wasn't in a costruction zone, I guess. They double the fines.) I should frame this!
I showed the ticket to my husband and he notices that the police got my information incorrect. I hyphenate my maiden name with his, but the officer only put my maiden name as last name. He put the second part of my last name as my first name (along with my real first name, which is just plain odd.) My husband said it's technical defect, but it's a defect nonetheless and I could probably fight the ticket in court (I wonder if its Judge Wapne's Animal Court.)
So what do you thing? Do you think I should try to fight the ticket or should not bother going to court and just pay the 100 bucks?
Yesterday, I took Lenny out for late morning walk in the park. The weather was not so bad -- a little chilly but sunny -- so it felt nice to go for a nice long walk in the loveliest park in the city. As I said, I am confident that Lenny will follow me, so I don't need to keep his leash on him. However, for this walk, I did have his leash on.
It must have been the glint in his eys or the way he cocked his head or maybe the way the sunlight tinged his curly hair, but Lenny just looked adorable and I knew I had to take a picture of him. Now when taking a picture of God's most adorable creatures, it simple will not do to have him tethered to an ugly old leash in the photo. So I took it off. Just for the picture. I wasn't planning on walking him off-leash. I was going to take the picture and put the leash back on. Honest....
Well, I click the photo (or whatever sound it is that the iPhone makes when taking a picture), and all of a sudden I hear a police siren. (Parks department police, but whatever.) I turned around, and Park cop was looking right at me. I was caught red-handed an
d unleashed. As he was writing the citation, he told me the whole shpiel about dogs not being allowed off-leash anywhere in the park except during certain off-leash hours. The best I could think was to ask if I could be let off with just warning. He looked at me, my ring finger, and my address and told me, "We have a zero tolerance policy! We want eveyone to be safe and to make sure that the park is clean." Whatever! I see poop all over the place, so much for cleanliness. And safety? Does my 16 pounds ball of white fluff look viscious? Heck, he tucks his tail in and runs away whenever he sees another dog on the horizon! Who is he going to hurt? You wrote me a $100 ticket because you profiled me as a well-to-do (possible a domestic servant of a well-to-do :-) ). What am I stupid? But, he was a cop (sort of) so I remained quite.So here it is...my very first ticket! (Lucky I wasn't in a costruction zone, I guess. They double the fines.) I should frame this!
I showed the ticket to my husband and he notices that the police got my information incorrect. I hyphenate my maiden name with his, but the officer only put my maiden name as last name. He put the second part of my last name as my first name (along with my real first name, which is just plain odd.) My husband said it's technical defect, but it's a defect nonetheless and I could probably fight the ticket in court (I wonder if its Judge Wapne's Animal Court.)
So what do you thing? Do you think I should try to fight the ticket or should not bother going to court and just pay the 100 bucks?
I don't know if it's worth fighting. But i agree you should frame it.
ReplyDeleteThat would be my luck, getting caught when I'm not really hurting anything. Cop(ish) person sounds like a real jerk. I get he's doing his job, but it was clear you weren't breaking the law.
I sure hope they don't post your picture on the park board for VIOLATIONS! LOL
LOL...I'm thinking of taking pictures of every person (w/o showing their faces) I see in the park who violated the park policy and post it on my blog and maybe post it in the park!
ReplyDeleteYeah you're right I'll just pay for it and hope it will not happen again.
joanie i have fought every ticket ray and i have ever received -- and we have won every time!! usually because the officer doesn't show up, but also individually pleading my case in front of a judge. FIGHT IT CHICA!!!
ReplyDelete