Utah City Offers People With Parking Tix a Creative Fix

Over the past few weeks, police in Heber City, Utah, have doled out upward of 300 parking tickets to those who've parked in the street, despite a ban on doing so during snowstorms and immediately after. That's when local police decided to squeeze some good out of the situation, setting up a drive that allows those who've received parking citations to wipe out their tickets by donating food, per KPCW. To get their tix nixed, interested parties have to leave at least five nonperishable, nonexpired items at various drop-off points around the city, including at the police department.

"COVID has taken means away from people, and it's tough times," police Sgt. Tammy Thacker tells CNN of the initiative, promoted in a Feb. 10 Facebook post. "We wanted to be able to have another solution and maybe have a positive charge to the negative on the parking citations." The effort seems to have inspired even those who don't flout parking rules. "We did have several people that have called in and donated food without (having) parking citations," Thacker tells CNN. Those looking to get a reprieve will have to act soon: The amnesty-like program, which will distribute the food it receives to area food banks, ends Monday at 5pm local time. (More uplifting news stories.)