In March of 2003 my vehicle was stolen out of NW Portland. It turned up a few days later filled with coffee stains, Jack in the Box receipts and a girl's bicycle. After shelling out over $100 for a towing fee, I also had to contend with the three parking tickets left under one of the windshield wipers.

Now I wasn't the driver that forgot to plug the meter. Why should I have been held accountable for someone else's crimes? Had the thief gone on a GTA-flavored rampage, what then?

I "contested" the tickets by sending along a stern letter with the fees. I never heard anything back until last week. On Wednesday, I found a City of Portland envelope stuffed with three checks in my mailbox. Now I've got $48 in my hot little hand. At this point, it may as well be free money.

Woo-hoo! The system works!