Ticked at Arlington Hts. police over ticket

I have a handicapped sister who lives at the Wilke Home and a wheelchair-bound mother who resides at a nursing home in Elmhurst.

I live in Bolingbrook and pick them both up every other Sunday and take them to a neighborhood restaurant in the Arlington Heights area.

My mom has a handicapped placard card that I use when she is in my car, but what I didn't know on this particular Sunday in October is that it expired in September 2010.

We had gone to a restaurant for dinner and parked in a handicapped spot so I could transport both of them in the restaurant one at a time.

When we were done and got to the car, I had a ticket for an expired handicapped placard card! Again, I had NO idea it had expired so I was quite upset. I thought to myself how the police had nothing better to do that afternoon than cruise the parking lot and get out of their vehicle and go up to my window and check my card.

Both my sister and my mom are on public aid and I'm a single mom, so the $250 ticket I received was out of the question! I wrote a letter and instead of tearing it up, with the intention that I get a new card (which I have now), they reduced it to $25.

My question to the police department is this: Do you feel good about taking $$ from the handicapped? Will the $25 help the village stay afloat?

Pat Gardner

Bolingbrook