Public officials park with impunity

By GEOFF DAVIDIAN

and MICHAEL HODGES

Of The Putnam Pit staff

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (July 15, 1997) -- His Municipal Officiousness David 'How Long Will It Take You To Pay' Ledbetter was again seen masquerading as the judiciaryTuesday, shaking down for their loose change ticketed drivers who were honest enough to take off work and show up at Cookeville's city bunker, 45 W. Broad St.

Meanwhile, across the road at police headquarters, The Putnam Pit's Systems Editor Michael Hodges,  working with Lt. Nathan Honeycutt and Office Manager Sheila  Holloway, went over old tickets and the city's computer data base and  found that as many as 12,000 parking tickets had either been issued as or changed to warnings, or were simply being ignored. Based on the information provided by the city's police department and without any way to verify the data because of City Attorney T. Michael O'Mara's $125-an-hour assault on public access to electronic information, The Pit is limited to the following report:

Among the names on the police list:

Circuit Court Clerk Lewis Coomer, 249 S. Elm, Cookeville: (44 warnings, 1 unpaid);

Putnam County Trustee Gary Maynard, 4788 Moss Rd., Baxter; ( 3 warnings, 29 unpaid, 10 paid);

Barbara Maynard, 4788 Moss Rd., Baxter; (5 warnings, 10 unpaid, 13 paid, 3 voided,

General Sessions Judge Nolan Goolsby,  353 Nash Ave., Cookeville; (3 warnings, 42 paid, 2 unpaid from 1994 linked to his licenses number but not his name, 1 void);

Arnold Lefkowitz, attorney; (3 warnings, 5 paid, 17 unpaid, 2 voided);

Craig Fickling, attorney; (1 warning, 1 paid, 53 unpaid)

Marla Williams, attorney, Rural Legal Services (17 void, 1 paid, 5 unpaid)

William Draper, attorney; (12 void)