Why does he get jailed just because Fiddy didn't pay his toll?
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.’’
And his fate is still unlearned...
It's really irrelevant. The State sold the tokens in exchange for the right to travel on their highway. They can offer to buy them back, but under any normal contract he would not be required to accept their offer.
ML/NJ
Correction to earlier: Even with the discount, you’re still looking at $216 in tokens. Just another case of a guy who pisses and moans about a buck. Now if the guy had a Fast Pass and got mailed a ticket (as has happened here), I’d totally be on his side.
POOR OLD CHARLIE!
They should have taken the tokens or given him 50 cents for them.
Our biggest threat is our own government. Not terrorism, not illegal immigration, not abortion, not gun control, its our own government that is the problem. We need to get rid of as much of it as possible.
John
A ten dollar gold piece from 1790 is still worth $10. It will be, untill the US folds. The same applies to the tokens issued by the toll authority.
"This guy is just another Ma$$hole who comes up here and whines when everything isn't just like their little socialist paradise down south. Ignorance of the law is no excuse."
Selling tokens and later revoking their worth, is fraud and theft.
"the guy was a total tool, according to the local cops and the NHP guys in Dover I've spoken to. "
These thugs are just agreeable to the toll authority's fraud and theft scheme.
"If in fact he still had tokens from two years ago ... then he's the fool for buying them"
The only fools are the folks that are content with this BS, and think it's justified.
I'm always amazed that people will get their dander up over such a small amount of money as compared to the level of thievery the state pulls off every year in fees and taxation. Would he be willing to go to jail about his taxes?
I do applaud the man for standing up for his principles
bump
The same principle’s apply, but this wasn’t a business. It was a state toll authority. In essence the state issued money, which it later devalued to zip.
Why does he get jailed just because Fiddy didn't pay his toll?
I am the same way. The city cost me $187.00 for towing a car out of my driveway, not telling me they had towed it (I reported it stolen), and taking it to the old (and seldom used anymore) impound yard). Took me a week to find it after the cops point blank told me on the phone, they were NOT even looking for my car and could care less.
I figured a 10 to 1 ratio would make it right and didn’t stop till I had caused them at least $1870 in costs.
Bad example, the old stamps are satill good for their face value. You only pay the difference in price. They made his tokens completely worthless even though he had paid for them.
or redeem the monetary value to the man
any other way, it's theft by the state
I like his attitude. I wonder if the state offered to reimburse folks for their tokens just prior to their expiration.
I don't know. That 50 cents may cost the state three days room and board every time he goes to New Hampshire. You could say he's just getting restitution.
It ain’t 10K. All of that crap is still being paid for whether this fellow was sitting in the slammer or not. Frequently, inmates are required to pay the cost of their incarceration. I wonder if that happened here?
They're still perfectly good. They just aren't sufficient.
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