If Enough People Get Fed Up…Who Knows?

Anyone who hears John Hill’s plight over E-ZPass and is not moved to gritted teeth and righteous indignation is either heartless or a bureaucrat. Hill, a Somers Point resident, surrendered a portion of Valentine’s Day evening to spend with Cape May County freeholders. That demonstrates the degree of intensity he harbors over a $28 fine for exiting the Atlantic City Expressway at an E-ZPass only exit without benefit of the “voluntary” gadget known as E-ZPass.
As freeholders and I listened in stunned awe, I could imagine Hill standing in Colonial Williamsburg, Va. shoulder to shoulder with Patrick Henry as he delivered that most fiery speech about freedom that ended, “…Give me liberty or give me death.”
Hill is an ordinary man, one could describe him as affable, a guy you’d like to go fishing with or discuss the weather.
Those who are sufficiently gray-headed may recall the Kingston Trio which crooned of poor old Charlie on the M.T.A. Charlie, remember lacked that all-important extra nickel, was consigned “ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston” because of an unjust fare increase. That sort of described how Hill got himself into a situation Amos and Andy could never have envisioned.
The poor chap was heading to a junkyard back in October. When someone told him it was easier and faster to use the Atlantic City Expressway, he should have disregarded his or her sage advice, but it sounded good, so he went for it.
“Boy, was that a huge mistake,” said Hill. It was like avoiding poison ivy, and instead, stepping into a pile of horse manure. At this point, I believe Hill might have chosen the poison ivy, but then, maybe not.
Speeding along toward his Exit 17, Hill found himself, “trapped in a no win situation.” He was informed that the exit was an E-ZPass only exit. Oops, he lacked E-ZPass. That’s because he, like this writer, chose not to buy into the “optional” method of toll payments, electing to pay cash. We’ll get to that later.
There were no envelopes, no method of paying toll there, so, no E-ZPass, stand by for heavy rolls.
He called the appropriate authority, confessed his transgression and sent payment of the toll. What a fool. He thought that would take care of the matter. Wrong.
In about two weeks came a notice that he was being fined $28 for failure to pay the toll using E-ZPass. He didn’t tell freeholders whether he was ready for a blood pressure check at that moment, but I would think not.
Worse, he was told he would face the heavier hand of the law, and perhaps up to $500 fine and loss of his driver’s license, if he didn’t cough up the scratch in short order. How would you feel? Well, that’s how Hill felt.
Now, Hill feels as if he’s being made to rub elbows with the likes of Bugsy Siegel and Al Capone or whoever is Public Enemy Number One all because he chose not to buy into E-ZPass.
“I see all of the proceedings to date as a terrible example of big, out of control government using heavy handed measures to further dissipate the civil and legal rights of the people they were empowered to protect and serve,” said Hill.
Hill told freeholders he’s in this quandary for the long haul. Like so many, he freely acknowledged it’s not about the money it’s the principle. Remember principles? They are the intangibles that drove this nation to fight to the death in over 10,000 places in this land during the Civil War. Principles are what made chaps like Patrick Henry and lots of disgusted colonists turn patriot and break away from British rule.
E-ZPass may be convenient for those who travel a lot, but to Hill and this writer, it’s not in the cards. When did cash become obsolete? Why must we be forced into involuntary fees? As he noted, there is a $10 minimum monthly amount for E-ZPass. What happens to all the money in the E-ZPass account when it’s not being used?
Hill asked that others who have been subjected to such E-ZPass nightmares as his to write him: John Hill, P.O. Box 384, Somers Point, N.J. 08244.
He would love to form a group like the Tea Party and call it “Of, For and By the People.”
“We all need to start being more involved in how our state and country are actually run,” Hill warned.
Get enough ticked off people and who knows what could come of all this?