Handicapped Parking Permit Reforms Needed

I think insufficient signs are a real killer in many cases. I often see people parked on the expanded area next to a handicapped spot (which is just as important as the proximity) simply because the lines are invisible under snow cover. Some indication needs to exist other than just paint.

That’s a great point Westernmom, about not knowing the person’s circumstances. I definitely don’t want to prevent people who legitimately need those spots from getting them. I just think there is too much abuse in the current system, and no way of telling who is abusing the system.

007,
We finally agree on something - kinda’. I too get disgusted while watching overweight people riding around in the stores and think if they would get up and walk they would lose some weight! But, overeating is an addiction like all of the others. It requires lifestyle changes that many aren’t willing to make. I guess instead of being disgusted we need to pity these people.
I had alway been very slim and didn’t believe that a person couldn’t lose weight if they really wanted. But, turning 50 and lifestyle changes made me realize that losing weight is darn hard to do!!!
Again, it really comes down to walking a mile in their shoes…

As a member of the “wheeled society” (paraplegic for 20+ years) I’ve witnessed good and bad things about handicapped parking.

The good: There are a lot more disabled parking stalls that there were 20 years ago when I was hurt. There were very few curb cuts, I had to learn to jump my chair up and over sidewalks. Now they are just about everywhere. There were very few accessible bathroom stalls in public restrooms, or those that were labeled as such were really too small to get a chair into. many businesses had stairs or steps to get into their shops. Since the ADA, most of these issues have disappeared. Which brings me to the bad.

The Bad: The ADA. It has been a double edged sword. While it regulated and proscribed needed changes, it has also created an entitlement class that wasn’t needed. But I digress. On with the bad list. Rules for qualifying for a handicapped parking permit are left up to a doctor and $25 bucks for a “blue” placard, or a freely issued temporary (they have them Joe and they are Red) placard. IMHO, there needs to be a 2nd opinion from a second doctor or a doctor and a physical therapist combo signature/witness to qualify for a disabled permit. These permits should be issued for 5 years max, then re-evaluated. No exceptions. Next, the pitiful fine of $75 bucks should be increased to $200 and allow business owners to issue violators a ticket. If it’s not written into the law already, add the stipulation that the owner of said parking permit must be in the vehicle when it is used. I realize that LEOs have more important things to be doing that parking violations, but if the law isn’t going to be enforced, why have it? Doesn’t IF have a parking enforcement division that could spread out from downtown?

Lastly, I have seen many gross violations over the years, and I remember one occasion where a young man and his friends wheeled into a parking stall, whipped out a blue placard and then he and his buddies SPRINTED into WalMart. I stuck around and confronted him after he came out of the store. He “claimed” to have a disease I had never heard of but the name sounded real impressive as I recall. This disease that he had would leave him ambulatory impaired on some days and other days he felt just fine and how dare I question his right to have a handicapped parking permit. So, you never know why they might qualify for one. I guess we just assume that it’s a mental disability if no physical disability is evident.

Wow, Westernmom that was a little harsh about overweight people using the store scooter’s to get around. I myself am extremely over weight, but I don’t use the scooter and I have yet to see the pounds melt off. Next time that you see overweight people using a scooter consider these issues. This person may be arthritic and mobility is a challenge. This person may have MS and have a hard time walking due to lose of balance or nerve damage. There could be any number of other medical reasons. Please don’t judge the book by the cover. What really grinds my gears is when you see a group of healthy and energetic teenagers riding around the store like it is their own personal go cart.

Lastly, don’t equate being overweight with over-eating. While it might be true for some, it is not true for others. There are all kinds or medical conditions that will cause a person to become overweight.

Oh, I am SO on this issue!

I used to be skinny. Then I started gaining weight, but I was still very ambulatory. I used to be so disgusted at seemingly healthy and ambulatory folks parking in handicapped spaces. I’d even make snide comments, such as “It must be mental” within the range of their hearing.

I got put in my place at the courthouse one day after saying my “mental” comment. The young woman said she was there to pick up her dad, who was on crutches (and yes, she had the tags). Now, I didn’t hang around to see if that was true, but I was ashamed and embarrassed that I’d been making a judgement and assumption without knowing all the facts. It got me to thinking, and although I’ve seen those situations since, I refrain from saying anything publicly. (I have to admit I still privately speculate…)

Now. On the obese folks riding the scooters at WalMart. I happen to be one of them. Just accost me any day you see me and tell me to get my fat ass out of that chair and walk around, a little. I’ll just hike up my floor length skirt and show you my legs…

I have ankles that are 20″ around at the base, and my feet are so swollen that I can’t even get shoes on them anymore (only bedroom slippers.)

I have a condition called bilateral lymphedema, and my legs/feet started swelling up about 11 years ago, and there’s nothing I can do about it except suffer the indignity of being barely able to walk. In fact, about 4 years ago the swelling got so bad that I could no longer wear pants (hence the floor length skirt.)

Perhaps you’ve seen me about town (very few people wear floor length skirts all the time). I’m short and fat, and I’m getting fatter.

Because I eat too much? Well, it’s probably true that I eat more calories than my body uses, as the swelling gets more and more terrible, I slow down and do less and less movement due to the extreme pain. It hurts just to walk.

But I don’t do pain pills. I also continue my employment at a desk job. It wasn’t until last spring that I broke down and got a handicap tag for my car. And then last fall I broke down and started using those damned riding carts.

I’m not asking for sympathy. I’m not asking for understanding. But it’s really easy to assume you know what lazy good for nothing bums us fat people are who use handicap tags and ride the scooters.

And you know the most terrible part? I still think the same thing, when I see some OTHER fatty riding the scooters. So I’m just as bad as the rest of you even though I should know better.

Why is that? Because I speak the truth? Often times the truth hurts, and I personally think more people should speak out about this epidemic that has plagued our nation over the last decade or so. Sure their may be some people (and I emphasize SOME) that have a ligitemate problem with their weight, such as Nemesis, and for those people I DO sympathize with. However, you and I both know 9 out of 10 people that ARE obese, it IS because of their lack of excercise and their gluttoney. This country has become a lazy “fast food” nation and it makes me sick. I for one and not afraid to speak out and tell you how I feel about this issue. It’s high time more people did the same. I see it time and time again at every job I’ve ever held, fat lazy people who complain all the time, call in sick, take the elevator up one flight because their too lazy to take the stairs and drive around for 20 minutes looking for the closest parking spot everywhere they go. These same people moan and complain about how difficult it is to lose weight, blaming it on medical conditions or thyroid issues and every other thing they can come up with. When most need only to stop stuffing their faces with junk and processed food, and do some moderate excercise throughout the week.

So if you want to call me ignorant and judgemental, go right ahead. Keep ignoring your problem, I for one don’t feel sorry for you. You put yourself in this predicament and it didn’t happen overnight. You continued to stuff your face and sit on the couch and buy larger and larger clothes, not caring about your health, your appearance, or the impact on not only yourself but your friends and family. What really bothers me is seeing whole family’s that are obese. You see it everyday at Wal-Mart where the parents are overweight, and you look down and see the children are well on their way to having the same weight problems. It’s a fact that the majority of overweight people have overweight children and I for one think it’s child abuse! Next time you’re in Wal-Mart or Fred Meyers or wherever you shop for groceries, look in their shopping cart and you’ll see exactly where the problem lies. They pack their carts with chips and soda and cookies and processed foods, no fruits and vegetables and they wonder what the problem could be. Its really quite pathetic. And then they have the nerve to tell me and the rest of the world, they have a “medical problem”.

If you haven’t watched the show “Biggest Loser”, I would encourage everyone to check it out. Our family isn’t overweight, but we enjoy watching these people get control of and transform their lives. It really is quite amazing AND inspiring. For years they’ve been turning peoples lives around, or rather giving them their lives back. The same people that moan and groan and cry about so called “medical problems” and want to give up 2 days after their there, are the same ones that end up losing 100+ pounds within 6 months. And all it took was a little excercise and a change of diet. It’s not rocket science people.

So feel free to call me insensitive and ignorant. It may not embarrass you, but it embarrasses me as an American to know that the rest of the world thinks we’re a bunch of spoiled, fat, lazy, people who think we own the world. I’ve travelled to other parts of the world and have heard the whispers behind my back. I’ve been to France (where I might add, I was told to my face by this seemingly nice couple when they found out I was American, that all Americans are rude, lazy & arrogant! And a few choice words in French that I didn’t understand!) I’ve been to Rome, Amsterdam, Germany and our closest neighbors Canada and Mexico. NONE of these places have the weight issues that our country has. NONE.
It’s time people started talking about this issue and taking action. Instead of making broken promises to ourselves and New Years resolutions that only get broken 2 months down the road. It’s about a lifestyle change, not a “diet”. Diets don’t work! Unless you change your eating habits completely and start getting outside and becoming active, nothing will ever change. As a society, we need to take back what’s ours. We need to boycott any restaraunt that has a “drive in”, and get control of not only our lives, but our country. This is an epidemic that needs to be stopped now before we continue to spiral out of control. Deaths in America related to obesity are second only to smoking and the Center for Disease Control claims it will soon surpass smoking as the leading cause of death.

You may not agree with me, but you know deep down that I’m right and that something needs to be done about this epidemic NOW. We need to stop sweeping the issue under the rug for fear of “hurting somebody’s feelings”. We need to stop being such “cry-babys” and wake up and realize this is an important issue that needs to be addressed.

Have a great day!

Yes, obesity is a serious health problem, but people struggling with it are not helped by condescending attitudes. How about this? Let’s let the overweight work on losing those extra pounds and YOU work on losing that arrogance and that superiority complex. Chances are they’ll have a much easier time of it.

I agree that obesity is a problem, and that diets alone typically do not work (they didn’t for me). Exercise is the key, and healthy eating habits (and no, none of my children are obese, or my grandchildren).

The subject was handicapped parking spaces and abuse of them. It’s almost impossible to really know if someone truly “deserves” to have the sticker/plates. I am as judgmental as anyone else out there, even though I have and occasionally use, the tags when my legs are killing me.

So, it seems that almost anyone can get them (and what doctor will tell you ‘no’ and lose your business?) so maybe some reform is needed in what kinds of conditions qualify for the tags.

The abuse of the tags by healthy family members, I think that’s a big problem. But again, I don’t know the answer.

Joe suggested sending out parking monitors to take pictures of abuse. I’m thinking that would be great, but I’m also betting that the retail establishments would not like to have their customers scared off by potential fines…so it’d probably only work in public parking areas (library, state office building, city streets, etc.)

You calling me arrogant has nothing to do with the fact that the majority of our nation is obese. So sorry to hurt your feelings, but get over it. I’m entitled to my opinion just as you are. And the only people that will get offended to what I wrote or won’t agree with what I posted, are the ones that have the problem themselves.
Best of luck to you in 08!

007 You are right, you have a right to your opinion. I also have a right to mine - which is that you could use a little more compassion and tolerance.
Two of my family members have struggled with weight issues for years. One has a medically diagnosed metabolic disorder and must drop below 900 calories a day to loose weight, near starvation. The other has a muscular disease which makes it impossible for him to exercise. No one demographic group in today’s society is looked down on more than the overweight. They are riduculed, shunned and discredited. Do you think they really choose, or want to be that way?
If you’ve kept up on recent medical news you must know that a “fat gene” has recently been identified which makes the battle of the bulge terribly difficult. I wonder if future research will show that with some individuals, their weight is as genetically programmed as their height, although no one should use that as an excuse for avoiding what they can and should do to keep healthy.
I realize that there are plenty of people out there who are gluttenous, irresponsible and reckless with their health. But there are others who do not deserve such harsh judgement. Since we don’t know who is who, let’s reserve judgement.
Since this is supposed to be a discussion on handicapped parking, I will not post on this issue again. But this is where the subject was brought up and I wanted to respond.
Actually, 007, I’ve always enjoyed reading your posts - just didn’t agree with you on this one. You have a happy new year too!

Interesting talk on this topic.

Okay, I accidentally parked in a disabled spot last night outside of Blue Hashi because there is so much ice I didn’t see the paint on the asphalt. Lucky for the person who might have needed that spot - my partner did see a faint edge of blue and said “Hey kym you’d better move, you’re in a handicapped spot”, so I did.

My opinion - we need the poles and signs. Just having the sign painted on the asphalt and curb doesn’t cut it in the winter here.

As for obesity - I’m not obese. Eight years ago I weighed 103, now I weigh 160 (and I STRUGGLED my buttocks off losing those thirty pounds and finally gave it up so I can EAT and so therefore am likely to stay right here forevermore).

My thyroid died is what happened to me, and whilst I am not obese nor do I shop at Walmart, I AM one who knows that people can and do gain weight for freakish reasons which have nothing to do with food consumption. My consumption - organic, free range, hormone free, non-GMO, I am very much into whole foods, if the list of ingredients is more than three or four, I won’t buy the packaged product. Ask my friends, they’ll tell you - I’m a freaking food purist.

I eat very healthy - to put it mildly - AND due to my propensity toward easy weight gain, I also exercise 1.5 hours every day, yep, EVERY day, rain or snow - the only exception is when I’m down with the flu, which doesn’t happen often due to the fact that I eat such healthy food.

I AM overweight though.

And I think people who claim all overweight people overeat - are projecting their own insecurities. That is their problem, that’s how I see it, so it doesn’t faze me in the least but it DOES faze some who are sensitive to their own weight, so I don’t mind saying - to those of you who knock down overweight people as all being lazy - please stop it, it’s rude and it shows a certain level of ingrained ignorance on your part. In other words, it looks BAD on you, perhaps worse than extra weight looks on that person you’re picking on.

Peace in ‘08!

kym

Ditto….thyroid conditions, “metabolic disorders”, mystery genes……the reality is that if you take in more calories than you burn off in a day, you will gain weight. If you reverse this equation, you lose weight. End of subject.

Thyroid conditions are easily diagnosed and treatable but rarely account for substantial weight gain. I know; I come from a family of obese people and believe me, it is a lifestyle and a mindset…and a personal choice. Oftentimes people become seriously overweight and then claim, “well, I have this medical condition…” Usually, the medical condition FOLLOWS the weight gain, as your body cannot stay healthy carrying significant extra weight.

I am not being judgmental; I could stand to lose a few pounds (maybe 10) and I know how hard even that is. I also know that when I am being completely honest about every bite I CHOOSE to take and every bit of exercise I DON’T, I have made some real choices about my own health and I can’t blame anyone or anything else.

Ann Landers did a great piece on losing weight many years ago; it was in a New Year’s resolution column and her advice was something like: “You and only you are in control of every time you lift your fork to your mouth or sit down on the couch, remote in hand…” It is so true: we truly are in charge of our own destiny especially when it comes to our weight. I think that is what makes it so hard!

If you honestly work out everyday for an hour & a half, and you eat right, you will not be overweight. Period. I don’t care what “condition” you think you have, it’s just not gonna happen.
Often times people trying to loose weight will reach a plateu (sp?) and even though their working out, the weight still won’t come off. In such a case, you need to change your workout routine to challange your body in other ways. The remaining weight will come off though, its just a matter of changing up your routine.

Back to the handicapped spots: do you think businesses should have the right to issue citations when somebody illegally parks in a hadicapped spot? I think so. Often times an officer won’t be around when the infraction occurs, which is why it happens as much as it does. People know they won’t get anything other than a dirty look or two.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!

“Thyroid conditions are easily diagnosed and treatable”.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!

You are very much wrong on that. I gained NINETY POUNDS shilst simultaneously firing dr. after dr. who kept telling me “Your thyroid is fine - you’re eating too much”. I begged and pleaded for an antibody test and was told repeatedly “You don’t need that, you’re just trying to come up with an excuse for being overwright by choice.”

I went to a psychologist after a year of this - feeling quite suicidal.

Six drs. later - geeeeeeeeee what do you know, my antibodies were well over 2,000 (normal being around 40).

And guess what else? In the past eight years I’ve helped two dozen local Idaho Falls people correctly dx with high antibodies too - it’s pulling teeth from a lion to get a dr. to do it, but I know of ONE in the valley who will.

Oh yeah, and I lost thirty pounds my first month on the CORRECT thyroid pill (for a person with autoimmunity, which is NOT the thyroid pill most drs. offer to hypothyroid people).

You’re seriously misinformed to think certain diseases are “easy” to dx. Good God that shows a real lack of depth on your part.

Part of being in charge of our own body is KNOWING when something is “wrong” regardless of how many drs. and diet gurus tell you “golly gee, just eat less, exercise more, and you’ll lose wight - calories in and exercise out WILL lead to weight loss”.

It didn’t with me and I KNEW something was wrong. I am a red-haired mean cranky old broad who fought like mad to get a correct dx, and this was in the face of “professionals” telling me I had no problem. Imagine if you can possibly see beyond the end of your own nose a person who is not as red-haired cranky as me, who DOES take the professional opinion of a (often wrong) dr.

There you have it - a sad little person with too much weight, who gets depressed because it’s their own “fault” they are overweight.

Yeah, I was told that, dozens of times.

And it wasn’t true.

I was a twig, a year later I was obese - now I am pleasantly plumpish (just slightly) and NONE of it has ever been due to how much I ate. In fact, before my thyroid died it went hyperactive for a decade, which is why, incidentally, I could NEVER eat enough yet had a hell of a time keeping weiht ON.

Yeah, that’s my fault too, right?

Some of you guys are truly ignorant.

The world would be a better place if you’d self-educate instead of finger-point.

Peace in 08 - yes even for the most ignorant among us.

kym

What’s interesting is what the last two posters forgot to mention about thyroid malfuntions is that not ALL people that have thyroid issues are overweight. And many of us have personally known obese people to use the “thyroid issue” as an excuse. But more importantly, two of the main factors in controlling your thyroid malfuntion are excercise and eating healthy. And just because someone eats so called “organic”, doesn’t necessarily mean they eat healthy.
It’s definately a sensitive issue with some as nobody that is obese wants to believe it’s their fault they got that way. The fact that the majority of the people that I personally see use the handicapped spots are obese people. And I’m sure not all of them have “thyroid issues”.

Kym, no offense, but your first statements: “I went to dr. after dr….” immediately sends up some flags; if you want to argue one doctor is a quack, fine, but please don’t insult us all, especially where you are alleging that you had numerous tests and all were fine, that you saw dozens of doctors and THEY WERE ALL OUT TO GET YOU! Just doesn’t happen.

I am sorry that you are having problems. Thyroid tests are quite reliable and thyroid conditions are easily fixed with thyroxin.

Good point Babs. I was going to respond but you know what, it’s not going to matter what anyone else says. And like Anonymous noted, overweight people are (& always will be) very sensitive (& very defensive) about their weight. I too thought it was odd that so many Dr.s were “out to get” this person. That just doesn’t happen. While I agree that there are those people that may seemingly appear healthy but use handicapp placards, or seemingly appear healthy and use the little electric scooters around the store, none of us really know whats truly going on.

With that being said, I can give my point of view regarding the obese people I know personally. I can name at least a dozen that are anywhere from 40 pounds overweight to over 140 lbs overweight, and every single one of them are otherwise healthy, except for there weight. Oh they claim they’ve got this issue and that issue and the whine and complain all the time about not being able to loose the weight. Yet there isn’t a single one of them that do any type of moderate or even light excersice throughout the day. And each one of them consume fast food or junk food on a daily basis. You may ask how I know this. Well I happen to work with 9 of them, and I’ve known them for many years, so I know them on a personal level. The other 4 are family members who I’ve seen pack on the pounds little by little over the years.
So while there MAY be the occasional person with a so called “medical issue” in regards to their weight gain. I’d have to agree with the 90% qoute that an earlier poster noted, that have no medical issue.
And for Ok4now, this has A LOT to do with hadicapp placards, as I personally know a half a dozen people who have them, specifically because they are obese and are too lazy to walk more than 30 ft to get in the front door. So lets not kid ourselves here.

As for the healthy people that are just “in a hurry” and “will only be a minute” I say SHAME ON YOU!
Personally I park way out in the back 40, mainly because I have a nice car that I don’t want getting dinged. But then again I’m lucky enough not to have any “medical issues” myself.
Take care & Happy New Year to all!

Hey JoseCuervo, great post; I, too, park in the “back 40″ at all opportunities; good quick burst of exercise and it leaves the closer spots for the elderly and the moms with young kids (kind of a forgotten “disability”) as I will someday be elderly and I have been the mom with two toddlers and an infant in a carrier, trying to herd them safely through a parking lot. So, in my own way, I try to create spots that are more convenient for those groups.

Although I believe obesity has alot to do with the handicapped parking issue, I also think store owners/management should be allowed to issue these citations and have vehicles towed. When’s the last time any of us saw and officer giving a person a ticket for parking in one of these spots illegally? I cant say that I ever have. (at least not in Idaho) The fact is, police officers just don’t have the time or the manpower to patrol parking lots looking for these offenders. Even if somebody is parked there without a placard, they still can’t afford to sit there and wait for this person to finish shopping and come back out to their car, to give them a ticket.
So I believe giving the store owners/managers the authority to hand out tickets and/or have these vechicles towed is the only way we’re really going to make a difference in putting a stop to these scofflaws!

That’s a good idea. We need an officers opinion on this to see if this type of thing is legal or not.

Then you have the issue of taking the law into your own hands, so to speak. If somebody witnesses you video taping them, they could get upset and come after you. Then you’ve got a whole other problem to deal with.

Since it has snowed, the markings on the pavement are now covered and apparently render the disabled parking as “gone for the season”.

Case in point. I was at the Ammon “AYCE buffet” last week, and there was not one disabled placard or plate on the vehicles parked in front of the joint Granted they were 1J and 5C plates with a couple of 8B’ers thrown in and giving them the benefit of the doubt about being from out of town and not realizing they were parking in a disabled spot.

Solution: The AYCE joint should have sign posts as well as painted pavement.

However, I think some people are just inconsiderate and they knew better but just figured they could get away with it because they couldn’t see the markings. Either that, or they were developing thyroid problems and just taking early advantage of the future parking privilege……..

I think people are just too darned judgmental. I parked in a handicapped spot because my spouse is handicapped, I’m not - BUT MY SPOUSE WAS IN THE CAR WITH ME!!!!! After we entered the building, I returned to the car alone to go on with my errands and was confronted by an angry motorist who challenged my reason for parking there. So, for all of you who think you know what’s going on, you don’t. Just like in the previous posting, not every handicap is visible to the casual observer.

How many times have we driven into a parking lot and the only available spaces are the handicapped spaces? I don’t remove the sticker from the vehicle when I’m driving alone, but I park in regular parking. I wonder how many times in this case someone has cursed me for not using the handicapped spot so they could park in the regular parking!

This discussion appears a bit old, but I figured I’d comment anyway.

See…I have an issue regarding this … erm … issue … that is a little different from most people’s.

What really peeves *me* is when someone has a handicapped parking sticker and does *not* park in those designated blue areas, choosing instead to park where everyone else has no choice but to park.

It gets under my skin to realize that someone had some moral issue with parking in a “blue” spot even though they had a tag to do so and so chose to take *my* parking spot. And when I have five minutes to find a spot that *isn’t* blue and get to where I need to go, seeing that parking tag somewhere that isn’t marked in blue angers me.

I wouldn’t have an issue with this if I ever saw a parking lot in this area in which all of the handicapped parking spots were taken - it just doesn’t happen.

And while I”m here, I’ll toss my hat into the ring on the issue of people who “appear” fine…I’m just fine with this for two reasons:

First, as mentioned, it bothers me a heck of a lot more when someone doesn’t use their handicapped parking sticker because I just don’t see all of the spots ever taken in this area, and have had several instances where I have to wait for a parking spot because people who have the option to park where there are openings don’t take that option.

Second, as has been mentioned, the way something seems is not always the way it is. I have a friend who some days is just fine, but others days has serious issues just walking. And some days she’s fine for a couple of hours at a time and the rest of the time suffers an immense amount of pain, nausea, and/or dizziness. To cut it short - she may feel and look fine going into Wal-Mart, but have to be helped back to her vehicle on the way out.

Who, then, am I to tell her she should park in the middle of the parking lot when she’s feeling well? And who, then, am I to tell *anyone* who “appears” to be fine and parking in a handicapped space that they shouldn’t? It’s simply not my place or responsibility.

As to the solutions offered in this peice, one makes sense and one would create more problems for business owners. Business owners more clearly encouraging people to park where they ought to could do a world of good.

The Big Brother solution of turning our teens into spies…? Not such a great *or* practical solution:
1 - Business owners don’t like people, and teens especially, loitering outside their business for *any* reason.

2 - Imagine the potential chaos of a group of teens encouraged to video record people in the parking lot. Do you seriously think the majority of customers to a business are going to be hunky-dory with a few cell phones pointed at them? Most people don’t even like their still-frame picture being taken!

3 - Teens are immature by nature…a group of guys being encouraged to video record customers…? Come on…how much video footage do you think is going to be of these so-called violators versus “hott” women in short skirts…?

4 - All right, getting to the impractical part: this idea just plain wouldn’t work. Sure, you’d have teens et al. video taping people and turning in violators, but when it comes right down to it in most of those casese there is going to be no way to know whether the law is actually being violated. Our law enforcers would spend a fair amount of time reviewing useless footage…do our taxpayers want to pay for that? It’s a much better and more efficient idea to simply encourage people to call in vehicles that park in the blue spots and don’t have the matching “uniform” so to speak.

When it comes right down to it, parking in Idaho Falls and the surrounding areas (barring very specific places and times) just simply is not an issue and it’s certainly not enough of an issue for me to busybody myself with the goings on of other people. I might say something to someone if they appear to be just fine and all of the other “blue” spots are taken…but if not, what do I care? What should anyone else, including those with the right to bear the Blue, care?

I’ll complain more when it’s no longer free to park downtown than I ever will about this issue. $75 is a lot of money to most people, after all, and tickets *do* get handed out.

I remember taking my daughter to wal-mart right after she had her wisdom teeth pulled. she had been sedated for the procedure and the doc wrote her a pain prescription. She was so unsteady on her feet that I wasn’t comfortable letting her walk. I didn’t know if I could catch her if she stumbled. So I took her into the pharmacy with me and had her drive one of the carts. She’s pretty quiet so most onlookers had no idea what the issue was but when she started acting a little goofy from the aftereffects of the anesthesia, several people got uppity thinking she was just goofing off. It was too far to drive her home and come back for the meds so this is how we handled it. I felt fine about my decision but a lot of holier than thou busybodies passed a lot of judgment on her (and me) that simply wasn’t warranted. The bottom line is folks need to MYOB cuz they just don’t always know what’s going on.

Parking in that spot just because you have the tags/sticker/license, but with only the able-bodied individual going inside the business, is no better than that able bodied person using their relative’s tag/sticker/license when they aren’t in the car.

I did not know until I saw that story that there wasn’t an exit/entry law in Idaho to make this activity illegal.

So, even though it might not be illegal, it certainly is an egregious use of the other person’s right to have that designation, and creates more of the abuse stories that we all see/hear.

There’s one point you haven’t considered. I tore an achilles tendon, which has a minimum six-month recovery period. It’s now six months after my surgery, and I’m walking almost normally, but my leg muscles are still recovering. I suffer from pain & swelling in my foot & ankle, particularly after a lot of standing or walking such as during a normal work day. My physician tells me this is normal, and could go on for another three to six months.

My temporary disability permit is still good until the end of this month, and I continue using it whenever I cannot find a parking spot near a building entrance (if there’s a normal spot nearby, I choose that). From what I’ve read above, that makes me some sort of bad person because you perceive me as “able-bodied” but “spoiled” and “lazy”. Perhaps you need to consider that appearances can be deceiving, and you could be (gasp) WRONG in your judgemental assessment of people parking in handicapped spots.

There WAS a Seinfeld show about parking in a handicapped spot! It was one the funniest episodes I’ve seen. They came out of the store to their car which was totally demolished! The angry crowd had beaten the crap out of this car…windsheild busted, doors hanging off the hinges, all dented up. It was good one! (they were just going to park their for a second to run into the store real quick.)
Only Seinfeld would have addressed an issue like this….good point Mike!

That was a good one too!

claiming that all people are fat because they eat too much(a blanket statement)is like saying anybody that has two arms and two legs can work for a living/.

only an uneducated fool would make such blanket statements/.

babs…hey, for an attorney, you should know about oversimplification!

Taking in more calories than the body can metabolize into energy or excrete as waste (and thus they are stored as fat) is what causes people to be overweight.

Sometimes, those calories are not excessive at all, they are just not utilized correctly, or not excreted.

Lots of things lower the metabolism, and cause the body to hang onto calories. Simply cutting calories doesn’t always make someone lose weight. Usually, exercise (something that increases the metabolism) is what it takes to get the weight off.

Then, after awhile the body has to have both the exercise and the calorie cutting, to get those last pounds.

I’ve found that if I merely cut calories, I get nowhere fast. I have to exercise, too.

Is there an actual shortage of handicapped parking spaces in Idaho Falls?

I’m wondering because of the number of folks who seem to be checking out who is parking in handicapped spots, is this just sport?

If you read the criteria for eligibility to obtain a permanent handicapped parking placard, which I include below, it is pretty clear that any physician verifying a persons disability has to be of the opinion that the person SHOULD NOT walk unassisted for a distance of more than 200 feet, and that the underlying condition is expected to continue indefinitely.

So much for all the Fat Theories, last I checked if a physician was addressing obesity they would prescribe exercise, not a lack thereof.

Are there really alot of nosy judgemental people in Idaho Falls? Seriously?

Idaho Code Section 49-117
(b) “Person with a disability” means:
(i) A person who is unable to walk two hundred (200) feet or more unassisted by another person;
(ii) A person who is unable to walk two hundred (200) feet or more without the aid of a walker, cane, crutches, braces, prosthetic device or a wheelchair; or
(iii) A person who is unable to walk two hundred (200) feet or more without great difficulty or discomfort due to the following impairments: neurological, orthopedic, respiratory, cardiac, arthritic disorder, blindness, or the loss of function or absence of a limb.
(iv) For the purposes of chapters 3 and 4 of this title, a person with a permanent disability is one whose physician certifies that the person qualifies as a person with a disability pursuant to this subsection (7)(b), and further certifies that there is no expectation for a fundamental or marked change in the person’s condition at any time in the future.

and some opinion!

so, is there an actual shortage of handicapped parking spaces in Idaho Falls?

special treatment for no one equality for eveyone

they should have instead of handicap spaces how about pay spaces where you would pay for a permit to park closer lol. I hate babies and old people just to let everyone know, cause in my experience old people are like babies and babies like old people

Babs: Re #62, so much for “scientific fact!”

Fat Finding Reveals Why Diets Don’t Work

Rachel Mahan
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Fri May 30, 12:21 PM ET

Want to get rid of some fat cells as you age? Fat chance.

You’re stuck with the number of fat cells you have acquired by about age 20, a new study finds.

Researchers have known that people gain and lose weight at least in part by changing how much fat is in their fat cells. The new finding is particularly important for obese people, who the researchers say can have twice as many fat cells as their lean counterparts.

The finding also suggests that obesity in adulthood is at least partly determined by diet and exercise in childhood.

Strange study

To determine the age of fat cells in 35 subjects, researchers focused on a marker found in fat cells - radioactive carbon from above-ground nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s and 60s. More of a naturally occurring but rare type of carbon, called carbon-14, was produced during the testing.

Bruce Buchholz, a chemist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., explained how his team used this marker to make their discovery.

Our bodies incorporate carbon-14 from the food we eat, along with the vastly more abundant types called carbon-12 and 13. Since carbon-14 from the testing is decreasing with time as it mixes with the oceans, the amount of rare carbon-14 that a cell has taken up is like a timestamp for when the cell formed, Buchholz said.

The researchers knew that cells were dying and being replaced over time, because people born before the nuclear testing had fat cells that were created after the testing. The scientists also found that about 10 percent of fat cells were replaced every year whether or not a person was obese.

Despite that replacement rate, another aspect of the study with a larger sample of people revealed that the total number of fat cells per person remained relatively constant over time. Even extreme weight-loss strategies, such as bariatric surgery, did not reduce the number of fat cells in study subjects.

Aha!

The tightly regulated number of fat cells in adulthood may explain why it seems easy to gain back lost weight, Buchholz said.

If you already have more fat cells from adolescence than other people, “it’s harder to become thin,” Buchholz told LiveScience.

The study raises a new mystery: Something tells the body to make a new fat cell when another dies, Buchholz said. In the future, if scientists could interfere with this turnover, they might actually reduce fat-cell number in adults, he said.

The findings, detailed in the May 4 online issue of the journal Nature, suggest that the focus for controlling obesity should be on children, said Dr. Jeffrey Gimble, who studies fat stem cells at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge and was not involved in the research. The idea is that if the number of fat cells is capped by age 20, then the smart approach is to prevent their formation in children.

Obesity prevention in the early years could have “a lifetime impact,” Gimble said.