Remind me not to go to New Hampshire

[lilfluff]

Apparently New Hampshire recently put a man in jail for three days. His crime? Using state issued toll tokens. Apparently they issued the tokens, then decided to switch to using EZ-PASS and told people, "Hey, know those tokens we encouraged you to buy? BWAHAHA! Better use them up quick, because once we stop taking them you're screwed. Oh, and just in case you're wondering, no you can't turn them back in for a refund."

So one Massachusetts man who had purchased a good number of them simply declined to stop using them. As a result he was arrested recently for trying to pay a 50 cent toll with toll tokens Given a choice between a $150 fine, community service, or three days in jail he had a simple response. "Over my dead body was I going to give the state another dollar for the tolls," and chose the jail time. In another article he said he has no intention to stop using the tokens and is considering a lawsuit if the state doesn't change its mind and allow people to finish using up their leftover tokens.

Seems pretty straight forward to me. If you tell people, "Hey, buy toll tokens, they'll be more convenient, you won't have to worry about whether you have exact change or not," you should give people the chance to recover the value if you decide to switch to another system. Either offer them cash, or offer them credit on an EZ-PASS account. Simply saying, "Well gee, better drive the toll road alot before the deadline so you can use them up," isn't a proper answer.

From the articles I ran across it sounds like alot of people are upset about this. What ever happened to civil disobedience people? Swamp the local jails. Let's see even twenty people in a row line up and say, "Either take my tokens or arrest me. And if you arrest me I plan on choosing jail time."

Seems to me there is one man in the area and a whole bunch of whiners. So remind me to avoid the area to avoid both a thieving government and whiny citizens.

Comments

[jakesbrain.livejournal.com]

Speaking of thieving governments, I suggest you stay the hell off the Scottsdale stretch of the Loop 101. Speed cameras every half mile, I shit you not - for no justifiable reason other than that Scottsdale is a bit more eager for ready funds than most of the other cities on the Loop.

[lilfluff.livejournal.com]

They aren't that bad actually. They're set for IIRC fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit. So you won't get tagged because your speedometer is slightly off. I've driven past them a number of times and never been flashed once. The only people I've seen getting flashed were driving faster than the prevailing flow.

Not like the time I got flashed by one in Paradise Valley doing 30 on a side street when the camera was positioned before the first speed limit sign announced that the speed was 25 (and the street I had just turned off of was 35).

[gsv2.livejournal.com]

There is a law... I THINK it's fedral, though it could be only ohio, that states things purchased with cash as a prepay, including Gift certificates, and cash cards can,in perpetuity, for the life of the issuing entity, be redeemed for their face value in lue of cash or for exchange to cash. It is only a couple years old but that law should, if fedral, cover this situation and those tokens making this expiring of toll tokens a violation of that law.

*checking the net* Now I can't find the law at all. It was a good law except it ran into trouble with companies that changed hands, rendering it a new entity which didn't have to honor those cards. Also, with many gift certificates, those are not well tracked so owners ran into a tough decision of honoring those invalid certificates or not and having a loss of reputation in the marketplace.... I think I am geetting of topic. Anyway, you might peek about and see where that law was since I can't find it.