A Jefferson resident who intentionally tested local parking ordinances owes $132 in fines and court costs after he had a day in court as he wished.
Judgments were entered July 2 against Curt Dean Hastings on four parking tickets issued in early February. Two of the tickets were violations of the city’s snow parking ordinance on Feb. 1, and two were violations of the city’s 48-hour parking ordinance on Feb. 3.
The tickets were originally issued to Hastings’ parents, Chuck and Dina Hastings, as the parked vehicles belonged to them. Curt Hastings argued at a hearing on March 25 at those tickets should be dismissed and new citations be issued in his name, as he accepted responsibility for parking the vehicles for which the citations were issued. That was done.
Hastings “freely admitted that he intentionally parked the vehicles to violate the snow ordinance so he would get cited, and be able to present his argument in court,” the judgment notes.
Curt Hastings argued at that hearing that the snow violation tickets should be dismissed because the reminder of the snow parking ordinance published in the print newspaper in the late fall had contained language from the ordinance prior to a 2011 amendment.
At a hearing on May 20, Curt Hastings argued that the 48-hour parking violations should be dismissed because he had moved each vehicle forward and back about two feet during the 48-hour period.
Magistrate Rita Pedersen ruled that in the case of the snow parking violations, the 2011 amendment is less restrictive, and publication of the outdated ordinance did not relieve the public from the responsibility of following the amended ordinance.
In the case of the 48-hour parking ordinance, the magistrate ruled that moving a vehicle two feet without removing it complete from the parking spot violates the ordinance.
A judgment was entered against Hastings for a $25 fine with $8 court costs on each of the four citations.
