THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 8, 1996 TAG: 9604060046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 168 lines
THIS IS THE stuff of summer fantasy: three high school pals, a Volkswagen van, two months' vacation.
This is the stuff of summer reality: three tickets for sleeping in the van on a Virginia Beach side street.
It's against the law. City Code Section 23-54 is plain. Sleep in a motel, you're a welcome guest. Sleep in a car, pay the fine.
``We didn't get tickets anywhere else but Virginia Beach,'' said Chris J., an Ohio State University sophomore recalling the Summer of '94.
``Me and my friends hopped in a van and drove down the road. We hit all the beaches on the East Coast - Virginia Beach, Cape Hatteras, Myrtle Beach, Daytona. We didn't really have too much money. We had just enough to drive and eat.''
Motels were a luxury they could forgo - except in Virginia Beach, where, it turns out, a lot of unlikely things are illegal.
Riding a bike with no hands on the handlebars? Illegal.
Tossing a Frisbee on the beach? Illegal.
Riding a tricycle on the Boardwalk? Illegal.
Sitting on the sidewalk? Illegal.
Failure to display house number? Illegal.
``A lot of these laws are on the books because we want voluntary compliance, and for the most part we do get voluntary compliance,'' says Assistant City Attorney Randy Blow.
He cites an ordinance banning smoking in drug stores and non-smoking sections in restaurants. ``To the best of my knowledge,'' Blow says, ``there has never been a single summons issued for smoking. For the most part, the compliance rate has been phenomenal.''
There's a name for all these tiny violations - offenses so small that police give tickets with fines that can be paid by mail, no court appearance necessary.
Lawyers and judges call them ``pre-paids.''
Last month, Virginia Beach's nine Circuit Court judges updated the pre-paid fine schedule, just in time for tourist season.
It's a long list: 132 offenses filling 10 pages. Most are familiar - traffic offenses like improper U-turn, failure to yield, running a stop sign. Hitchhiking. Being drunk in public.
These are violations anywhere in Virginia.
Others are almost familiar. These are offenses specific to Virginia Beach, and maybe you've heard of them. Dog on the beach during tourist season, for example. Illegal surfing. Crabbing in posted areas.
But some . . . some are just plain obscure.
Mark Cooper knows.
Cooper was driving near Lynnhaven Mall in a pickup truck two years ago. His fiancee sat up front. The dog sat behind in the open truck bed.
That's a no-no in Virginia Beach. Unsecured dogs can't ride in the back of pickup trucks. It's dangerous.
So a police officer ordered the dog - a 120-pound Rottweiler - into the front seat with Cooper and the fiancee. He also wrote Cooper a $56 ticket, which Cooper paid by mail.
Under duress. Cooper claims the dog was already tied up.
``It was so stupid,'' says Cooper, 29. ``It was a lot more dangerous for her sitting up in the front, where she can mess me up. It made it real cramped.''
There's a reason, of course, for the dog-in-truck law.
``That's sort of an animal-rights one,'' says Blow, the assistant city attorney. ``It's for the safety of the dog and the traffic. Obviously if a dog jumped out in the middle of traffic, that could cause a chain reaction. And it's dangerous for the dog, too.''
Cooper, who lives in Norfolk, still thinks it's stupid.
``I pretty much try to stay out of Virginia Beach because of it,'' he says.
Who gets these obscure tickets?
Not the tourists. Most pre-paids go to you, me and the guy next door - regular Virginia Beachers.
Visitors don't sleep on the beach. The homeless do. Teens do. Nine folks got tickets for that offense in 1994 and 1995. Seven listed Virginia Beach as home. Most of the nine got tickets for other things, too - drinking in public, trespassing, having open drink containers.
Visitors don't hitchhike, either. Fifteen folks got tickets for hitchhiking in Virginia Beach in '94 and '95. All were from Norfolk or the Beach.
Who pays these obscure tickets?
Not everyone. Lots of folks - perhaps half - don't show up in court and they don't pay by mail, either. They are found guilty in absentia.
If they are local, they find out about the conviction by mail. If they are out of town . . .
Chris, the Ohio State student caught sleeping in the van, said he never did find out what happened in court. He was surprised to learn that a judge had convicted him in absentia and fined him $61.
``The officer told us we could leave town and not pay it,'' Chris says. But the conviction is on file in General District Court. If he ever comes back to town and is cited again, for anything, he could be jailed until the old fine is paid.
Another man, Tyrone, 21, of Baltimore, was convicted last summer of carrying too many passengers on a bicycle - the only ticket of its kind issued in the past two years, according to court computer records.
Tyrone sounded genuinely surprised when told about the conviction recently by a newspaper reporter.
``I went to Virginia Beach and I was riding a bike,'' Tyrone said. ``But somebody must have given my name. I didn't know nothing about it.'' Somewhere in an obscure court file is his unpaid $61 fine.
For all their obscurity, most pre-paids are there for a reason.
``Most of the ordinances that might on their face appear to regulate fun are really an attempt to regulate safety,'' Blow says.
Sleeping on the beach, for example. ``It is sort of dangerous,'' Blow says. ``Most crime happens late at night.''
Playing Frisbee or ball on the resort beach could be hazardous too.
``There have been reported injuries, some innocent person sitting there drinking a Coke and he gets hit in the eye with an errant Frisbee or football or baseball,'' Blow says
Still, many cops aren't sticklers. ``Police use a lot of discretion,'' Blow says. ``They'll warn first. If the warning is ignored, then they give tickets.
``A lot of these are things where police officers come up to you and tell you this is against the law. And that's all that happens.'' MEMO: Staff writer Lise Olsen contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Color drawings by JANET SHAUGHNESSY, The Virginian-Pilot
Chart
WATCH YOUR STEP
Some of the 132 offenses whose fines can be paid by mail in
Virginia Beach:
Offense Fine* No. tickets
in 1994 & 1995
Fail to dispose of dead animal $42 0
Improper concealment of dog $62 0
Dog riding unsecured in
open motor vehicle $42 1
No dog tag $37 1,428
Playing ball, frisbee on beach $37 0
Animal on beach $52 88
Sleeping on beach $42 9
Bike on boardwalk
(not on bike path) $37 87
Tricycle on boardwalk $37 0
Changing clothes in public $42 13
Trespass on Rudee Inlet jetty $42 76
Unlawful surfing $47 75
Excess passengers on bike/moped $37 1
Riding bike w/o hand on
handlebars $37 0
Hitchhiking $42 15
Urinating in public $52 1,402
Begging $52 16
Drunk in public $42 4,000 plus
Drinking in public
or open container $42 4,000 plus
Loud noise $52 924
Unlawful use of white cane $37 0
Sleeping in car $37 38
Sleeping in park or public $37 10
Congregating or obstructing
street or sidewalk $52 53
Sitting, reclining or lying
on street or sidewalk $52 9
Fail to display house number $32 0
*includes $27 court cost.
Source: Virginia Beach City Attorney's Office, General District
Court computer records.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH CITY CODE ORDINANCE by CNB