Wednesday, august 22, 1079
dally ncbraskan
paga 6
hsiilts
Threats,!
By Jeanne Mohatt
It takei a special kind of person to
enjoy a Job that Includes fielding Insults,
threats, dirty names and milk cartons.
These people are the men and women In
blue who patrol metered parking spaces
near UNL, ticketing cars when time has run
out. They must sometimes take abuse from
university students, but they don't com-plain-much.
Kim 'Karat. 20, a public service officer
for the Lincoln Police Department, checks
the meters on 16th and R streets.
"1 get insulted all the time," she said.
"It gets old fast."
But, she said, she Just smiles and waves
with a grin-and-bcar-it attitude.
BUT DON'T CALL THEM "meter
maids." Some men are especially touchy
about that.
The Lincoln Police Department calls
them public service officers. Ten women
work in the parking enforcement division.
One PSO patrols 10th, 14th, 16th, R, S
and U streets.
The UNL Police Department calls them
cadets or security officers, depending on
rank. One female and four male cadets
check the meters in the parking lots on
campus.
Donna Jones, a 32-year-old PSO, said
she remembers a time when she was ticket
ing cars on 16th Street,
"I WAS JUST BEING NICE, giving out
tickets' she said. Then someone in front .
of a fraternity house called her a deroga
tory name, site said. She backed up her .
police cart and said, "One of ; you guys ;
called me a .' However, lno !one ad-'
mitted it, she saTcT ( ' '
j "I don't care if you say anything,"
Donna said, "but say it to my face."
Some people at llNll, Donna salj, take
their cars out of their parking lots an toot-
ball Saturdays and park them oh the
streets. They get a $1 parking ticket, but
they sell spaces in their parking lot to foot-
exception to rule for UNL
ticket
takers
ball fans for $3 to $4 each.
Donna said sometimes people walk
down the street putting pennies into ex
plred meters in a latter-day. Good Samari
tan act. "That's illegal," she said.
ONCE, SHE SAID, SOMEONE picked
up all the tickets on. the cars along the
street and pasted them to the windshield of
a blue Ford.
People also try to put their Jicket on
another car, she said. Often this scheme Is
successful.
"The kids are usually pretty good,"
Donna said. Threats and Insults are the ex
ceptlon, not the rule. But she does remem
ber when someone whose car was being,
towed brandished a pop bottle. He didn't
hit anything with it, though.
A UNL SECURITY OFFICER, who has
worked for 18 years, said students have
thrown apples, oranges and milk cartons at
him while he patrolled the street in front
of Selleck Quadrangle.
The officer, who refused to be identi
fied, said he has been called "every name I
can think of. I try to overlook most of it."
Does the "meter person" have a
thankless job?
"No," the UNL officer said. "Most stu
dents are pretty good. Three or four times
students have said, 'Thanks. 1 had it
coming."
The officer said he writes 30 to 40
tickets a day in the summer and 70 to 80
tickets a day during the regular school
year.
"I give out close to 200 tickets a day
when school Is in full swing," Karas said.
THEY ARE NOT REQUIRED to nil a
quota, she said.' " , V
One PSolwho refused t6 be identified;
said the practice "or ' giving ftickets: bri : R
streets is "not fair at all," when com
pared to 16th street,.
she writes few tickets, she said.
But R Street has one-hour parking and
the PSO said she must check it "everyhour
on the hour." She writes more tickets, she
said, because students don't have time to
run to their meters after a 50-minute class,
especially if the instructor keeps them late.
Karas and Jones said they like their Job,
but they both have pet peeves.
Karas' is that she sees the same cars and
the same people every day when she works
around the campus. However, Jones said
she gets annoyed with people who do
something wrong, know it's wrong, then
become irritated when they get a ticket for.
it.
Perhaps there are psychological Under
tones involved in being a "meter person."
For example, could It be a deep satisfac
tion in giving people tickets?
Jones sells tickets at the Cinema 1 and 2
Theaters in her spare time, she said.
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Photo by M. BillingrJiy
No, it's not a love note, but a parking ticket from LPD's Kim Karas.
; Sixteenth Street has ' twohour park
ing, so the PSO checks it only three times a
day. Cars come and go so frequently that
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