Take this criminal's guns away:
John Schiffeler, a 68-year-old retired university instructor on ancient China, was walking his dog on a popular beach south of Carmel earlier this month.
And, though he didn't know it, he was about to learn something disconcerting about the higher costs of modern life.
Schiffeler recalls that the north end of Monastery Beach was almost deserted, except for himself, his 4-year-old German shepherd, Ares, and a couple.
He asked the couple if they would mind if he let Ares off his 30-foot retractable leash. They said no problem.
And Schiffeler broke the law: Dogs are supposed to be on a leash at the beach.
After a five-minute run, the dog was lying at Schiffeler's feet when a park ranger drove up in a pickup. She asked for his driver's license. Schiffeler said he asked her if she could give him a warning this time and skip the ticket. No, she said.
He wondered what it was going to cost. The ranger told him to call the court.
Which he did a few days after the May 5 incident, and what he learned set his head spinning.
The base fine for having the dog on the beach without a leash was $50. The total cost of clearing the ticket would be $245.
"I was flabbergasted. It seemed like I'm paying for every fund in the county, except for the coffee fund in the county employees' lounge," Schiffeler said last week.
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