This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
While serving as a Temple Square missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently, James Howell was moving furniture into the Deseret Apartments.
Two helpers were waiting outside in their truck full of the furniture while Howell went inside to open the garage door when a Salt Lake City parking enforcement officer on a bicycle tossed a ticket inside their open window and rode off.
Howell sent an email to a Parking Enforcement Department supervisor voicing his complaint about the unfairness of the ticket. The supervisor sent a response that read: "Your concern has been addressed."
Thinking the problem was resolved, Howell took no further action until a notice came in the mail saying the ticket had not been paid on time, and subsequent late fees had bumped up the fine from $30 to $70.
Howell paid the fine, then went into action.
He wrote to Mayor Ralph Becker, but never got a response.
So when the election cycle heated up this year, Howell told every voting-age member of his large extended family of the experience with the city administration. He then went to every house in his neighborhood that had Becker campaign signs in the yard and told the residents of his experience.
He claims that many removed the signs and he encouraged them, as well as his family members, to tell everyone they knew about his experience.
Howell figures more than a thousand people got word of his undeserved ticket and the administration's unhelpful response.
He likes to think that might have cost Becker the election.
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Meanwhile • Howell says he has repeatedly asked the city to remove the "Carriage Only" signs around Temple Square. There are no carriages anymore since the city shut down that business after the death of one of the horses.
Howell says missionaries use those zones for pickup and delivery of supplies to the Temple Square mission.
But the request to remove the signs has been ignored, and the parking enforcement folks have told Howell that as long as the signs remain, they are allowed to issue citations.
Perhaps this is a complainant that incoming Mayor Jackie Biskupski should not ignore.
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Shut up and walk • Helen Radkey was so upset at a UTA bus driver for speeding on the route she was taking from the Murray Central TRAX station eastbound to Holladay last month that she called UTA's customer service to complain.
Two weeks later, she boarded the same bus, with the same driver and showed her pass.
The driver told her that because she had complained about her, she couldn't ride her bus and would have to take another one.
Radkey complained again to customer service, but was told the driver can decide who can ride her bus.
Perhaps if she takes a lesson from James Howell, Radkey will spring into action the next time UTA asks voters to approve a bond to help fund its projects.
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Blame it on the DABC • Phyllis Polster dined at Sea Salt restaurant recently and the asked the waitress for a good, dry white wine to accompany her meal.
When she tasted the wine that was brought, it was nasty, she said and asked the waitress to take it back and give her another brand.
But the waitress and the manager told her that as much as they would love to replace the wine, they couldn't, and she would have to pay for it. It was against state law to take back a glass of wine once it was served, they said.
Actually, it's not.
Utah liquor laws have been the brunt of jokes for so long, however, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is an easy scapegoat.
"For once," said DABC spokesperson Vickie Ashby," it wasn't our fault."
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Truth on tour? • After reading my column Monday about the Massachusetts woman who, while touring the Beehive House near Temple Square, was told by tour volunteers that Brigham Young had only two wives, veteran Utah educator Al Church had his own story to tell.
He was leading a group of foreign exchange teachers from Egypt and China as part of a State Department program and the group spent a day at George Washington's Mount Vernon.
One teacher asked the volunteer host to point out the slave quarters,to which the host replied that Washington did not have slaves. They were paid servants.