Man pays $1 Orlando parking fine 35 years late

[June 30, 2011]  ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- A Michigan man has paid a $1 Florida parking ticket more than 35 years overdue.

Orlando police say they received Stanley Baker's payment for a Nov. 7, 1975, parking ticket Tuesday. The 89-year-old Pentwater, Mich., man included a note reading, "Better late than never!"

Baker's son, Fritz Baker, says his father found the ticket in a book bought at an Orlando garage sale in 1995. He says his father decided to pay the fine as a lark, even though it wasn't issued to him.

Baker sent the $1 payment in the ticket's original envelope. That got it delivered to a police department auditorium that was a night and traffic court in 1975. Orlando's parking violations from 1975 have been destroyed.

A police spokesman says the department thought Baker's payment was funny.

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Information from: Orlando Sentinel, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/

[Associated Press]

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