Cleaning up the park with tickets

Eleven parking tickets were issued Monday afternoon to Willows High School students who were reportedly parked illegally during lunch time at Central Park on Laurel Street, police reported.

However, the $27 parking tickets have more to do with a "bad litter problem" at the park than they do with actual vehicle code violations, Willows police Chief Bill Spears acknowledged Monday.

"The fines are a tool the department will continue to use until the littering behavior is corrected," Spears said. "That's the bottom line."

Greg Tyhurst, Willows Public Works director, said his work crews are spending 15 to 20 minutes each day cleaning up after the high school students after lunchtime at the park, as well as additional time at mall fountain near Holi Mart on Tehama Street.

"It's a problem every year," Tyhurst said, "and it does take away time our crews could be spending on other city projects."

Spears said police have issued "many, many" verbal warnings prior to Monday's citations and said the fines could even go up if the problem persists. Spears said two of the students were parked in handicap stales Monday, but only issued the $27 ticket, instead of the $300 citation that could have been issued.

"And if we see anyone littering while we're around, we will cite them for litter," Spears said.

The fine for littering is $1,000, Spears said.

"I know most of them really are good kids, but they're slobs," Spears said, calling the ongoing problem "frustrating."

"There are plenty of garbage cans at each site, the kids just need to start using them," Tyhurst said.

Mort Geivett, Willows High School principal, said he supports the department's efforts to curb the behavior.

"We have counseled the kids about the trash in the park and we want it to stop," Geivett said.

Geivett said any student caught littering or causing any damage to property would lose their privilege to leave campus during lunchtime.

"We hope it stops because the school board could always vote to close the campus at lunch completely," Geivett said. "It would be too bad if the entire student body was punished for the actions of just two or three kids, but it could happen."

Contact Rob Parsons at 934-6800 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.