Imagine the look on Michael Martinez’s face when he received a certified letter in the mail recently and saw that he had a court appearance with District Justice Fred Miller for having his bicycle in the City Hotel Park. He was cited on June 10 at 1:37 p.m. by Tyrone Borough Police and when he received his summons for court, the summons showed a $25 fine and court costs listed at $121.42.
After checking with the District Justice’s office, the court costs should have read $37 with postage at $4.42, but the additional costs add up to be more than the fine itself.
According to Tyrone Borough Ordinance 1190 which adopts the rules and regulations for the City Hotel Park, section III states, “any person, corporation and/or other entity who or which shall violate any of the provisions of this Ordinance shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than $25 and more than $600 plus the cost of prosecution or in default payment of such fine and costs, to undergo imprisonment for not more than 90 days, provided however, that each violation of any provision of this section and each day the same is continued shall be a separate offense.”
The basic translation is that if you break a City Hotel Park rule, you face a fine of anywhere between $25 and $600 plus court costs and if the fine is not paid, you could face up to 90 days in the Blair County Jail.
The rules and regulations for the City Hotel Park are plainly posted inside the park.
• All litter must be cleaned up by persons generating the same and be deposited in receptacles placed for those purposes;
• Dogs or other pets are prohibited
• All motorized vehicles including, but not limited to, automobiles, trucks, motorbikes and motorcycles are prohibited;
• Bicycles, skateboards, roller blades and roller skates are prohibited;
• Illicit drugs, tobacco and alcoholic beverages are prohibited;
• Persons committing vandalism or theft will be responsible for all repair costs and restitution; and will be subject to other criminal penalties;
• Gambling is prohibited;
• Soliciting is prohibited;
• Loitering is prohibited as per provisions of applicable Borough Ordinances governing the same.
The ordinance governing the City Hotel Park was signed on February 11, 2002.
Another violation that Tyrone area teenagers and parents must be on the lookout for is the violation of the Tyrone Borough curfew.
According to Tyrone Borough Ordinance 1168, curfew hours are from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. prevailing time everyday for minors under the age of 16 and 11 p.m. until 6 a.m. prevailing time everyday for minors aged 16 and older.
A curfew violation with Tyrone Borough is not a slap on the wrist offense.
In Section IV of Ordinance 1168, the penalties read as followed: “any person who violates this Ordinance shall upon conviction before a District Justice, be guilty of a summary offense punishable by a fine of not less than $250 and not to exceed $600 and upon failure to pay said fine and costs be subject to imprisonment up to 30 days. Each time that a violation is committed shall constitute a separate offense.”
The current Curfew Ordinance was signed on May 1, 2000.
The court costs have been established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the local District Justice has no control over court costs.
