Mary Farrell and Frierson Atkinson approached Saluda commissioners Monday, April 12 in an effort to appeal tickets the two received March 13 for parking along Cullipher Street.
The Saluda Board of Commissioners voted previously to prohibit parking along Cullipher Street, but Farrell and Frierson said when they were ticketed on March 13, there were no signs alerting the public that no parking was allowed in that area.
“I thought about it today and most of my clients come from Hendersonville, Tryon and Spartanburg. Without signs posted they would have no way of knowing they could not park on the street,” Farrell said. “This would be bad for my business and it would be bad for the town of Saluda to have people come into our town and leave with a ticket they had no way of knowing they would receive.”
Farrell and Frierson received $10 tickets March 13 when, in the middle of a session at her massage business, Farrell said a tree removal company knocked on the door of her business and asked her to move her vehicle and the vehicle of her customer.  Farrell said she quickly moved both her and Frierson’s cars from her allotted spaces to the street and rushed back inside to complete the massage session. She said she never expected to be ticketed.
“I don’t think its appropriate for them to pay a ticket when we don’t have the ‘no parking’ signs posted,” said Commissioner George Sweet.
City attorney Bailey Nagin said signs do need to be posted but that this was a unique situation because Farrell had attended the council meeting in which commissioners approved the parking restriction initially.
Commissioner John Morgan said he wouldn’t want the commission to negate the authority of the city’s police chief by dropping the tickets.
Johnny Kinard motioned to allow the tickets to stand and the council voted three to one to require the two individuals to pay the fees. The council also said they would work to ensure signs were posted on Cullipher Street alerting the public to the parking restrictions.