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Show Being a Meter Maid is a full time job mmmmy ?ff n--J! ?m - - - y xr-tfM- - ' xfp iX' V7-.r:.v-? Li X t v V'Njg-M j r V V p . '-.),. K f j J '&tMB0 - -. 'f : I Other common excuses (mistakes, Mrs. Lambert said) are to leave a child in the car, rationalizing 'we won't get a ticket if someone is in the car.' Another fallacy is to leave the car, running while parked in violation. "City officials, the police, even my husband will get a ticket if they are in violation," she said. "Chief Bolton got one last Saturday on his car. And the city manager gets his share." Many of the common excuses given for parking a car with the meter showing a violation "just don't hold water," Mrs. Lambert explained. "I am always amused at the ladies wlio rush out and say they were only in the store to get some change. And they have an armful of packages." "I always tell those who leave their car running that I ought to give them a second violation for leaving their engine running. There are no good excuses to get out of a parking ticket." Mrs. Lambert checks each of the city's meters four times daily, with Sunday and holidays being the only free parking days. One round to check all the meters is two miles, she said. "I can go through a pair of shoes in six weeks," she said. "I have a hard time findings shoes that will wear on cement." Mrs. Lambert, who has been making her eight mile daily walk for the past six years as a police officer, said she copes better when the days are cooler. "The heat does me in." Those who verbally abuse the metermaid to a point past her patience may find a compalint signed against them. In the past such cases have ended up before the city judge. "People do get abusive at times, but I've gotten so I can take that," she said. "But a lot of people are really nice-they nice-they don't all growl at me." Mrs. Lambert also noted that those who let a parking ticket build up and build up over time stating "oh. it is just a parking ticket," generally find themselves in city court. A complaint and warrant are generally written against them after about $35-$40 is accrued, she said.. Dorothy Lambert ma king her rounds She's the type of gal some people run to stay away from. Others call her names and mumble abuses under their breath Still others will make up excuses bordering on lies in an attempt to appease ap-pease her. But others, thanks heavens, realize she has a job to do and that it is necessary she complete it. Being a meter maid in Cedar City is an eight hour a day job. Officer Dorothy Lambert reveals. When she is not keeping up her books and ledgers, she is writing letters to late offenders, lubrication the meters, or on the street checking for violations on the city's 154 parking meters. And. despite what you might think, being a metermaid is no "nickels and dimes" operation Last fiscal year, the city treasury gained over $11,000 from parking meter money and violations. The money is not earmarked in any way, Mrs. Lambert said, but goes into a general fund to be used as the city may desire. "I have a collection of all the excuses people give me and of the little notes some people put in their violation remittance envelopes," Mrs. Lambert said. "There have been plenty of people who will hurry and jump in thier car and leave before I can get the ticket w ritlcn." No one, Mrs. Lambert said, is exempt from getting a ticket if they are illegally parked, except EX plate cars, such as state owned vehicles. |