Parking has become quite the issue on college campuses nationwide and with the growth of enrollment here at BG, it has become more of an apparent concern.

Some students arrive a half-hour before their class just to find the right parking space, ideally close to the location of their class. But sometimes students make the wrong decisions while attempting to be more efficient, and they end up having to paying for a ticket from parking and traffic enforcement for their actions.

When some receive a ticket they immediately get angry, not at themselves, but at the parking enforcers who are commonly referred to as, “Meter Maids.”

Dan Weaver, 20, is one of those “Meter Maids.”

The main focus of these enforcers is to preserve the general safety of campus, acting as “extra eyes in the field,” as Weaver said, patrolling parking lots looking for vehicle registration and for parking and motor vehicle violations.

“As long as there are students and vehicles, there has to be regulations and we’re just trying to enforce them,” he said.

Although students mostly abide by the regulations set aside, Weaver said some do not understand the importance of the parking and traffic enforcement.

With this lack of understanding comes verbal remarks with the most common remark being, “I hope you enjoy your job.”

“You learn that if you don’t pay attention, you don’t let it get to you,” he said about dealing with the verbal remarks.

Dealing with excuses after a violation is handed out becomes just another part of the job.

According to Weaver, a few of the common excuses are, “I was running late for class,” ” I had no idea I couldn’t park here” or simply, “I forgot.” Weaver said these excuses don’t usually work when someone wants to get out of a ticket.

“Read the back side of the map [in the registration envelope]. I know reading is uncommon but convenience isn’t always the safest,” Weaver said about ways to correctly park on campus.

Weaver said “there’s always something to do” when patrolling the campus. If there is that rare moment of facing down time, he said Buckeye Radio immediately comes on.

Weaver took his job in fall 2003 because “it was better than working dinning services … it’s a pay check and I enjoy it,” he said and is currently one of three student enforcement officers on staff.

In September, Weaver became a member of the City of Bowling Green Bicycle Safety Commission, meeting once a month to discuss ways of making Bowling Green more adequate for bicyclists.

“A lot of drivers don’t know that they need to share the road with bicyclists,” he said. The Safety Commission tries to educate the community of that.

When off duty from being a parking and traffic enforcer, he focuses on school. Weaver is majoring in business and working as a second-year Resident Advisor in the eighth floor of Offenhauer East where he said “there’s never a dull moment in being a resident advisor.”

“When you enter the building [Offenhauer], you’re always on duty,” he said, “but I relax like everyone else-hang out with friends, watch TV, and go to BG games.”

Weaver said his life rests heavily on time management and organizational skills to bounce between being a “Meter Maid,” an R.A. and a student.

If a student is on the receiving end of a ticket and think they can ease their way out with an excuse, Weaver’s remarks, “They parked there, not me” should be used as a lesson.