Night at ball park could have unexpected expense

Sports fans who aren’t cautious could be paying $108 to watch children play ball. City records show an increase in tickets written around the McMinnville Civic Center ball fields.
Because parking spaces are in high demand, people have shown they will squeeze their vehicle into just about any spot possible. While that’s acceptable in some cases, it’s not when it involves handicap parking.
Parking in a handicap space will cost violators $108 for the first offense and $133 for the second.
Since the baseball and softball season began this year, there have been several spectators seeing pink ‘ the color of the ticket ‘ when they return to their car. There have been six handicap parking violations issued near the Civic Center already this month.
Some of the tickets were written for parking in a handicap space located in the back parking lot of West Elementary School.
‘School is out for the summer, so I didn’t think anything about it,’ said one ticketed motorist, who wanted to be unidentified. ‘Several cars were triple parked and blocking people in. I got a ticket and they didn’t.’
Per Tennessee parking laws, handicap parking spaces are reserved for people with disabilities. Only vehicles with the appropriate plates and permits are allowed to park in the designated handicap spaces. Fines are set by the state.
McMinnville Police Major Bryan Officer is in charge of supervising patrols of the Civic Center area for parking violators and, with the large crowd during ball season, keeping an eye out for problems that might arise.
For those who want to pay their ticket and avoid court, McMinnville Police Department accepts payments. Others can challenge the ticket in court.