By Mary Beth Donovan
Eagle Tribune Writer
METHUEN – The next time you feel someone is watching you as you pull into a handicapped parking space illegally, you might be right.
Members of the Methuen Commission on Disabilities are on the road, with the blessing of police, to catch violators in the act and they are not taking the holiday season off.
Since the program began this summer, 60 tickets, for $100 a piece, have been issued. The program is one of the few of its kind in the state.
“I’d like to think we are making a difference,” said Sid Harris, chairman of the commission and the man who came up with the idea and lobbied for the program for two years. “Deciding to park in one of those spaces when you are not handicapped, that’s a moral decision,” he said, as he pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall on Broadway last weekend. “All the people on the commission are asking for is a little respect, for people to change their attitudes about the handicap.”
Mr. Harris’ weapons in that battle are a camera, notebook, and a pad of certificates. He takes them with him when he goes on errands around town.
When Mr. Harris spots someone apparently breaking the law, he snaps a picture of the car in front of the handicapped parking sign. He fills the forms listing the year, make, model, and color of the car, and the location and time of the alleged violations. If he cannot see the front of the car with a parking permit placard is supposed to be displayed, Mr. Harris, who walks with crutches, will get out of the car for a closer look.
All the information is passed onto the Methuen Police, who then issue the tickets. Although violators have the right to hearings with Mr. Harris present to fight the ticket, Mr. Harris said he has never been called to one. Methuen police captain Bruce McDougall said the program “shows that there are a lot of violators out there. That is 60 people who have been put on notice that those spaces are designated for people who need them.” he said. Police continue to directly issue tickets to parking violators as well.
Mr. Harris says he’s trying at all costs to avoid contact with people he catches in the app. “I don’t want any confrontations, “he said. Before he began the program, he said he would sometimes approach people and ask if they knew they had occupied the handicapped parking spot.
They frequently responded with swears in obscene gestures or two, he said. One man told him, “I was just here for a minute.”
“That’s a poor excuse,” responded Mr. Harris. “Yeah, but it worked,” the man said as he sped away.
Mr. Harris said he believes people know they’re doing the wrong thing when they park illegally. He tells of watching one man, with no special license plate or placard parked in a handicapped spot in front of a store and walked right in. When he came out, he spotted Mr. Harris and suddenly developed a limp. Mr. Harris talks about a young man who parked diagonally across two handicapped parking spaces at Methuen High to protect his car from scratches. “Now what could have been done in a case like that? Give the kid deserved two tickets ” He said.
He said he is upset most people fraudulently use others’ handicapped parking permits. As he spoke, a car with New Hampshire plates pull in front of Mr. Harris to park in the handicap parking space at a bank. Several other spaces were available. The woman driver in her late 30s ran quickly into the bank. Mr. Harris got out of his car for a closer look at the dashboard. The Massachusetts handicap parking permit was visible but with the photo identification of a gray-haired senior citizen.
As he headed home, Mr. Harris spotted a car without a proper handicapped parking permit parked in an otherwise empty lot in the one spot reserved for a handicapped driver. He snapped a picture and wrote the necessary information just as a driver walked out of the store. “I hope we are making a difference, Mr. Harris said.
Sid Harris