University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

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ILLEGAL PARKERS BEWARE, TICKET WRITERS ARE PACKING NEW HIGH-TECH i c k e t Track, a new $42,000 computerized em installed during kll semester, made tlc ket writing easier. 1 find a lot things d i c u 1 o about t ticket s ' tem li takf c i-u ™ when a little fee tic et writers to gu; behind ot Me the c build ' Agri- an Home 1 during ? 3 lot on a Saturc LIZ VANZAt BY TINA CANFIELD Ticket writers. Armed with new high-tech computers and walkie- talkies, these students struck fear into the hearts of parking violators on campus. Were the ticket writers really cruel, insensitive people who only wanted to make people pay fines to the university? Not according to Alan Hughes and Troy Norman, both student ticket writers employed by the University. “My friends agree with me that if there weren t ticket writers, then parking on campus would be worse than what it is,” said Hughes, a freshman. “It’s a necessary evil. Norman, a sophomore, said he did not like writing tickets. “Sometimes I feel sorry for the people, but I have to write the tickets anyway,” he said. A new $42,000 computerized ticket system, Ticket Track, greeted students back for the fall semester. Both Hughes and Norman said the new hand-held computer, which the ticket writers call Tron, was much more efficient than writing out tickets by hand. “You just punch in the amount of the ticket and it is transferred to the computer. It automatically tells you if the person has enough tickets for a tow or not,” said Hughes. In the old system, each car had to be called in to the office if a ticket writer suspected a car had several tickets. This made the towing process difficult “Some cars didn’t get towed when they should have been because the ticket writer didn’t always know if that car has been ticketed by someone else before, Hughes said. Gary Smith, assistant director of parking, said he was pleased with the new system. “Now we can maintain more accurate records. When we have a question, we can just pull up something on the computer rather than go to a paper file. One disadvantage was that in cold, rainy weather the computer went down “Then we go back to the old handwrit¬ ing system,” says Norman. Norman and Hughes both said they enjoyed their jobs. “You have time to think about your problems when you re walking around,” Norman said. Hughes said that he enjoyed meeting new people. One other kick was setting off car alarms. We don t do it on purpose, but it’s kinda funny when it happens, Norman said. • PARKING VIOLATEJR The new $42,000 system allowed writers to print out the tickets for parking violators. Colli McKiever has been putting tickets where violators couldn ' t miss them for five months. D. ALLEN PHOTO BUSDUTY.. Ticket writers are people, too. Although, their job seems to upset many parking violators. Sophomore Colli McKiever has bus stop duty in the Arkansas Union while she enjoys her lunch. J. APPLEBY PHOTO New Ticket System

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TIMES UP Even if you parked at a meter you were still eligible to receive a ticket from the University. Many students thought they could park and get back from class in time without any parking violations. D. ALLEN PHOTO BACK TO THE BASICS Parking without the correct parking permit caused many students to get unwanted tickets. The University converted over to a new computerized system allowing ticket writers to do their job more efficiently. The disadvantage of this system is that in cold and rainy weather the writers have to revert back to the old handwritten way of doing tickets. D. ALLEN PHOTO HIGH-TECH TICKETS Ticket Track, the new computerized ticket system made it much easier for writers to issue tickets on campus. Nicknamed Tron, by the ticket writers, the hand-held computer replaced the old way of writing tickets by hand. D. ALLEN PHOTO 28 Student L,fe

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ENERGIZED. Tesla didn ' t just open for Great White, they ripped open Barnhill and rocked the approving audience. The band entertained the thousands of fans with tunes like Love Song and No Way Out in support of its highly successful blues oriented album, The Great Radio Controversy. R. MINOR PHOTO The best part of the concert was of course the music itself. Although, I did enjoy the whole experience. I have all of Tesla and Great White ' s albums and I had a chance to finally see them in concert. I enjoyed Tesla better, because I like their songs. JEFF COLEMAN 30 Student Life