He’s no longer mad as hell but he still isn’t gonna take it anymore…
Merriam councilman and Guitar Lamp maker Dan leap has done his homework and unleashed his protest window display. Now he’s raring to rumble with Merriam Police over a $115 parking ticket bestowed upon him at 7 p.m. on a Sunday night in front of his residence and business in downtown Merriam.
“You know, there’s been a ton of people coming by – I’ve got the picture of the cop on the sign in my window and in another big window I have a peep show going on,” Leap says. “And people think they might be tied together, so they stop and look through this three inch hole to see. It’s quite comical, watching people stop and bend over to look in and see and then laugh – I’ve got the peep hold pretty low.”
The latest on Leap’s $115 parking fine – which though issued to him was for a friend’s car who had parked it in the one hour zone:
“I’ve got two things on that,” Leap says. “One, I made an open records request to the city to see how many tickets have been written in these (parking) spots and it showed there were zero in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. And one for this year, mine.”
That said, Leap wonders if Merriam Police may be covering their you-know-whats by writing more tickets in the wake of publicity over his bust.
“The second thing is on the back of the ticket the cop writes on there that it’s $115 and I don’t have to go to court,” Leap says. “I can just mail it in. So they’re just wanting me to send the money in so they can make revenue.”
In checking with the neighboring city of Shawnee, “I found out it’s 40 bucks (for a parking ticket there),” Leap says. “So I called the city administrator of Merriam to discuss it and found out the fine is $75 with another $40 for court costs. But if you’re (supposed) to send in the money, why do I have to pay the court cost when I’m not going to court?”
All of which may be moot points when Leap provides the court with a timed and dated video from his security cameras showing that it was his friend – not he – that parked her car in the one hour spot.
As for why – out of the clear blue sky – someone would ticket someone (and not the car) for a one hour
smartman
Good for Dan Leap! He’s created a rock and a hard place situation for himself and the city of Merriam. Kinda like a mini Arizona Immigration deal. I hope you continue to report on this. I think it can and will have a huge impact throughout the metro area.
Tim
Seems pretty childish to me
mermaid
I love it! Good for him for fighting it. If more people would stand up and fight for their rights we would have more. I am sick of big government, big corporate, big brother, DUI’s, searching your car for no reason,out of control taxes,out of control health insurance companies,etc. If people would just stand for what’s right they would not be getting away with the things they get away with.
Darcy
You go Officer Wechsler! Keep up the good work.
Travis
If he is in the wrong pay the ticket dosen’t matter if they haven’t enforced it recently Ofc. Wechsler was doing what the citizens ask him to do which is enforce the law.
April
I think Officer Wechsler is a good officer and is doing his job well. Here is a novel thought. pay the ticket and stop whining!!
Matt
Didn’t he vote on the traffic laws in Merriam? Nice to see that he says it is wrong for everyone else to park there, but not him. I’m sure his “friend” thought the sign didn’t apply to him. Maybe no one else got tickets because they can read a sign.
Phil
Good lord just pay the ticket and stop the whining. Look at it this way its probably not your first ticket and if it is, with your attitude, it won’t be your last!!!!
michael
If it is your car pay the ticket. At what point in America did we stop taking responsibility for our actions. It appears like you are using this for free advertisement.
merriam citizen
dont be surprised when the merriam police
start harassing your customers and they
start watching your cars when you leave.
Making fools of police officers is not smart.
They will end up putting you in jail.
Be careful not to carry any of that funny
tobacco you hippies smoke because wechsler
would love to see you do 60 days in the
slammer.
How stupid of you to make the police and the
city look like idiot barney fife cops.
They’ll get you. when they do they
will have no mercy in court.
Good luck…see ya in jail fool.
JMAC
And Hearne the Hack is happy to give free publicity to the fame whore