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Caption: After the author became frustrated with a rude Portland parking meter attendant, he wrote a letter of complaint. Several days later, he received a $60 ticket in the mail.

(Elliot Njus/The Oregonian)

Ronald Talney

Sometimes, especially for the elderly and disabled, the abuses of power by government can be subtle. Sometimes they are "in your face." And sometimes they are both.

I am 80 years old. Recently, I stopped on a side street in Northwest Portland to drop off a 77-year-old disabled woman in front of her condo complex. There were no spaces at the curb for at least another block. Since she could not walk more than a few feet, I pulled in as far as possible and waited while my other passenger, a 93-year-old man, helped her out and up the few steps to her condo door. They, of course, were moving slowly. I was going to be stopped only a few minutes, however, and never left my car, and traffic could easily get around me.

A City of Portland parking employee suddenly appeared at my side window yelling at me and demanding that I move the vehicle. I pointed out the situation with the elderly disabled woman and the 93-year-old man and assumed the employee might actually help by staying to see that we were all kept safe and that any traffic could move around us unhindered.

Instead she became belligerent and again demanded in loud terms that I move the car at once, abandoning my 93-year-old passenger and leaving him stranded. What was I to do? So I circled the block and again stopped to pick up my elderly passenger who was then waiting for me and wondering where I had gone. Apparently, I committed a grievous offense yet again.

Upset by the belligerent attitude of the city employee and her uncaring demands, I had the audacity to send in a letter of complaint.

My reward, some 10 days later, was not an apology or an explanation, but a traffic citation. A clear example of government at its most repressive and retaliatory. I was actually being cited into court for dropping off an elderly disabled woman in front of her condo on a side street. And, apparently, for complaining about it.

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What began, as a rare and treasured treat having lunch with two old friends became a nightmare. When one reaches this advanced age in life, one takes nothing for granted. Not even that there will be another lunch with old friends. My 93-year-old friend suffered a major stroke a few days later. With both my witnesses now disabled, and unavailable, I had no realistic trial option. Thus I was fined $60 from my fixed income.

While I am certain there are many city employees who would not have been this unreasonable and heartless, it only takes one bad apple, as the old saying goes, to ruin an otherwise lovely day in the City of Roses for three old timers.

Ronald Talney lives in Lake Oswego.