You people with your drama over handicapped placards make me sick. You know what bothers me WAY more than someone parking in handicapped spaces??? Seeing supposed "handicapped" people with properly lawfully issued placards parking in the handicapped space - during a workday, and then carrying a load of gear to the beach for playtime while the taxpayers tend to their needs. Its amazing - they are all "too handicapped to work" but that doesnt seem to stop them from carrying a BBQ grill, a cooler, a case of beer, an umbrella , fishing rods, a tackle box, a kayak, scuba gear, a volleyball net, and 1500 pounds of other gear across Seawall Blvd, down the 18 steps to the beach, and then across 100 yards of sand. Its AMAZING how they are too cripple to work, but they can sure carry enough play gear to break the back of your average SEAL team - down the steps and across the sand in the 105 degree Texas heat. Its even funnier how the two most severely disabled people I know DO NOT collect disability. One guy crushed two vertebra to dust ejecting from an aircraft and he works at NASA as a ground instructor - teaching from his wheelchair, and the other guy left a leg in a minefield in Afghanistan and he owns a catfish resteraunt... Why is it that THEY can work??? Hmmmm.... Personally Im NOT handicapped, but I park in those spaces every time I can because of a little quirk in Texas law that lets me. (Im a volunteer paramedic, and I keep a heart monitor and drug box in my personal vehicle and respond directly to the scene - thus making it an "emergency vehicle" so I can park in fire lanes and handicapped spaces.) I do it because I can, and I make no apologies for it. If you don't like it - tough. Cancel your disability check, get off your butts and get to work so you can pay some taxes, and then they can hire someone for $65,000 to do the job that I do for a baseball cap, one dinner a month, and the right to park in those spaces. I've spent enough years carrying the handicapped down the stairs for free that I feel like Im entitled to use their spaces - and I am. LOL

Mark - your response is disappointing. I have a chronic injury, for which I have endured constant pain for almost 13 years, that qualifies me for a handicap plate, however while I might need a handicap plate and parking spot at some point in the future, I certainly don't now and your response seems to imply, that you don't either. While you pointed out that you had back surgeries, by the way, at 27, I have undergone over three dozen different surgeries and my father, sister and mother have all undergone serious back injuries and surgeries which also qualify them for handicap plates, however none of us have handicap plates, because we don't need them. While I do have to keep crutches in my trunk, I only need to use them a few times a year, to walk, and that in no way justifies my needing a handicap plate. I know quite a few people who have handicap plates, because they qualify and as a result they can always find a nearby parking space and don't need to pay meters, but that doesn't make it ok to use, if you don't need it.

I truly hope that you don't need a handicap plate, because I can't comprehend the pain you must be enduring, if you do feel that you need one at this point in your life, however if you are abusing the system, I really hope that you take a minute to think about what you are taking from someone who truly needs that service, every time you park in a handicap spot.

- Valley resident