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Man Jailed Over 50-Cent Toll
The Boston Channel ^ | September 15, 2007 | NA

Posted on 09/16/2007 8:15:23 AM PDT by buccaneer81

Man Jailed Over 50-Cent Toll Mass. Resident Considering Lawsuit

POSTED: 6:49 am EDT September 14, 2007 UPDATED: 1:18 pm EDT September 15, 2007

ROCHESTER, N.H. -- A Massachusetts man who insists his New Hampshire highway tokens are still valid just spent three days in jail because he insisted on using two tokens to pay a 50-cent toll.

Thomas Jensen, 68, of Braintree, said the state broke a contract with him and everyone else who bought tokens by refusing to accept them after January of last year. He was convicted of theft of services for continuing to use tokens after they were phased out.

‘‘I gave the state of New Hampshire money for the tokens, and I expect to be able to use them,’’ Jensen told The Patriot Ledger.

Jensen was driving to his New Hampshire summer home when he tried to pay the 50-cent toll with tokens, as he had always done.

The toll worker refused to take them and a state trooper at the plaza gave Jensen a citation.

‘‘(The trooper) said, ‘Just give him the 50 cents.’ I said, ‘I did, I gave him two tokens,’’’ Jensen told the newspaper.

Monday, a judge told Jensen he could pay a $150 fine, do community service or go to jail for three days. He choose jail.

‘‘Over my dead body was I going to give the state another dollar for the tolls,’’ Jensen said.

He told the newspaper that the jail was a clean, new facility and that the food was better than expected. He said he spent his time in jail talking with other inmates.

Jensen never told his wife he was in jail. Beverly Jensen said she only found out when asked by a television news reporter.

After being set free Thursday, Jensen said he's considering a lawsuit. He said the state should just accept tokens until they're all used up.

‘‘I just get offended by people trying to do me wrong,’’ he said. ‘‘They stole the value of these tokens from me.’’


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: Massachusetts; US: New Hampshire
KEYWORDS: bureaucracy; donutwatch; leo; tokens; toll
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To: trickyricky

im on wifi on my laptop in Boston but google wikipedia MTA song. oddly enough, i’m visiting my son Charlie here and the pass on the public transportation system is the charlie card.


101 posted on 09/17/2007 4:06:18 AM PDT by Mercat (85 live and 30 frozen cats. Name of a new rock band?)
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To: buccaneer81

Geez, a man gets jailed for using a 50 cent token, illegal aliens violate laws everyday and are allowed to roam free.


102 posted on 09/17/2007 4:11:03 AM PDT by dforest (Duncan Hunter is the best hope we have on both fronts.)
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To: spunkets
Like I said--another whiny Ma$$hole who was hiding under a rock for a couple of years and thought he could pull a fast one.

Lemme ask you this--you ever travel up here? It's pretty plain when the signs say NO TOKENS ACCEPTED!

What probably happened is this tool paid his toll (in cash) at Hampton and Dover, got caught short in cash, and figured he'd pull a fast one.

Mass is the same way--oh, and BTW--Fast Pass and EZ Pass are compatable with each other. If he had either of those, no problem. There were many PSA's, radio and television commercials, and notices at the toll plazas that tokens would not be sold past 9-1-05, and not accepted past 12-31-05. IOW, he had that 3 month window to use them. Tell ya what--try using a 50-year old NYC subway token today and see how far you get. Due dilligence.

And your analogy of the $10 gold piece is WAY, WAY off. Nice non-sequitur tho.
103 posted on 09/17/2007 4:55:58 AM PDT by OCCASparky (Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep)
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To: the final gentleman
Toll roads are unconstitutional.

Then don't drive them.

I drive this road because although I could get home by alternate means (and have done so in the past) it does take longer. This guy could have taken NH-125 from Haverhill, Mass all the way up to Exit 12 of the Spaulding Turnpike (AFTER the Rochester toll) and taken his little trip up to Wolfeboro, Ossipee, Conway, or wherever he wants to go.

And given the tolls in Mass, WTF is HE complaining about? Everytime I have to go to Logan Airport, I've got two choices: Pay the $2.50 toll (with EZ Pass) to go across the Tobin Bridge, or sit in traffic on all the roundabouts from Hwy 1 down through the road construction site that is Revere. We haven't increased our tolls in nearly 20 years.
104 posted on 09/17/2007 5:03:29 AM PDT by OCCASparky (Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep)
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To: OCCASparky

It’s the state of New Hampshire that pulled a fast one here. What gives them the right to dishonor their end of the contract?


105 posted on 09/17/2007 5:16:55 AM PDT by Homer1
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To: Homer1

Look at it this way—why is it some people buy gift certificates as presents for others and if the recipient does not use them in a timely manner, the store/company in question charges fees or stipulates a time in which they must be used? Where’s your outrage there? This seems like a similar case.


106 posted on 09/17/2007 6:17:30 AM PDT by OCCASparky (Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep)
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To: OCCASparky
Your post is empty. The NJ turnpike authority had an obligation to honor the tokens they sold. No State, person, or corporation can sidcharge it's debts by declaring them void. All they can accomplish by doing that is to declare themselves morally bankrupt, which is what the RINOs and Governor of NJ did.

"50 y/o NY subway tokens... And your analogy of the $10 gold piece is WAY, WAY off. Nice non-sequitur tho."

No. Also pre-Civil War stocks are good and must be honored.

107 posted on 09/17/2007 7:31:36 AM PDT by spunkets ("Freedom is about authority", Rudy Giuliani, gun grabber)
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To: spunkets

Not if the stocks are worthless. BTW—a $10 gold piece has WAY more than $10 in gold at current market rates, and let’s not even go into the collectible issue (just ask OJ on the other thread).


108 posted on 09/17/2007 7:49:53 AM PDT by OCCASparky (Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep)
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To: OCCASparky; Homer1
"gift certificates as presents for others and if the recipient does not use them in a timely manner, the store/company in question charges fees or stipulates a time in which they must be used?"

They have expiration dates printed on each one. The courts generally don't back them and the States have passed explicit laws against them. The courts view it as a swindle. There was no expiration date given with the NJ tokens. It was made up when they pulled it out of their country club butts.

Oh look! NH bans expiration dates on gift certificates less than $100.

109 posted on 09/17/2007 7:50:17 AM PDT by spunkets ("Freedom is about authority", Rudy Giuliani, gun grabber)
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To: OCCASparky
"Not if the stocks are worthless.

The stock is good as long as the Co. still exists.

"BTW—a $10 gold piece has WAY more than $10 in gold at current market rates,

The monitary value is $10. The value of the metal it's made from can be more, as in a penny. It's value otherwise is whatever someone will pay for it.

110 posted on 09/17/2007 7:54:26 AM PDT by spunkets ("Freedom is about authority", Rudy Giuliani, gun grabber)
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To: spunkets

Perhaps you can represent the old fool at any future hearing. lol


111 posted on 09/17/2007 7:57:52 AM PDT by verity (Muhammed and Harry Reid are Dirt Bags)
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To: verity

I don’t think he’s an old fool. He’s just a “little guy” that got screwed by disreputable’s in govm’t that refuse to honor their obligations.


112 posted on 09/17/2007 8:17:53 AM PDT by spunkets ("Freedom is about authority", Rudy Giuliani, gun grabber)
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To: spunkets
Over fifty cents, people. Fifty freakin cents. Does the term "perspective" mean anything?

I love how out-of-staters somehow know all about this case yet the local guy is somehow in the wrong.

Unbelievable.
113 posted on 09/17/2007 8:47:23 AM PDT by OCCASparky (Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep)
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To: OCCASparky
"Over fifty cents, people. Fifty freakin cents. Does the term "perspective" mean anything?"

DOes the word honor mean anything to you. They jailed an old man over $0.5 for 3 days. First they took his money, then threw him in jail after they refused to honor their committment. Perspective my ass.

"I love how out-of-staters somehow know all about this case yet the local guy is somehow in the wrong."

Swindlers always hate it when folks expose their con. They always attack the person of one doing so, they're either outside agitators, or local malcontents.

"Unbelievable."

Nah, it's been going on since the beginning of time. Just the particulars of the con and enforcer change.

114 posted on 09/17/2007 9:24:24 AM PDT by spunkets ("Freedom is about authority", Rudy Giuliani, gun grabber)
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To: OCCASparky
This is a free country, ozzymandus and OCCASparky, and you two had a choice and you chose to comment.
Then you had another choice. You could have said either ...

1) I admire this man for standing up for what he believes.
Or...
2) This man is stupid because he went to jail for such a petty thing.

Well we all know what you said — you called the man a fool — but we don’t know why you bothered to say it.
Do you care to tell us?

115 posted on 09/17/2007 10:46:30 AM PDT by the final gentleman
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To: Mercat
"google wikipedia MTA song"

Don't need to.
I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday,
but I can remember every word to every song I listened to as a kid.

116 posted on 09/26/2007 12:17:14 AM PDT by trickyricky
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