By Chelsea Conaboy
The Concord Monitor
CONCORD, N.H. — Mary Wood was angry when she saw cars belonging to walkers in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk being ticketed at the start of the race on Sunday. She was angrier still when she asked a police officer later why it was happening and got this response: “Concord needs the money.”
“I just thought it was so cold,” she said.
So Wood, who is from Boscawen, wrote a letter to the Monitor that was printed yesterday, expressing her “profound disappointment” in the city and the police. City staff read it. City Manager Tom Aspell talked with Police Chief Robert Barry, and the two decided to void the 19 tickets that were issued in the South Fruit Street area that morning. Those who have already paid will receive a refund.
“Everybody’s going to get a letter that says we made a mistake,” Aspell said.
Aspell said the comment made by an officer about the city needing money was inappropriate.
“From a technical standpoint, were people parking in a place that they shouldn’t have been parking? Yes,” he said. “But at the same time, we could have handled it better.”
Wood was not ticketed herself, but she was peeved that others were. Wood said she’s seen people park in the same area for sporting events.
Wood said she had a “mild brush” with the disease when doctors found two cysts that turned out to be benign. She walked with two coworkers from Tracy Banks Chevrolet.
“I was feeling that these people were doing a good deed,” she said. “These people may have lost their best friends.”
She was happy to hear the news yesterday.
“That’s a fix,” she said. “That’s a wonderful fix. That makes me very happy.”
Copyright 2007 Concord Monitor