POLICE CONFISCATE 4 BASKETBALL HOOPS

Under New City Ordinance, Residents Must Pay $100 To Have Their
Equipment Returned

PEORIA - The birthday present Jordan Gaten got from his grandpa last
year is sitting inside a locked, chainlink fence cage by the Peoria
Police Department.

"I want it back now," the 7-year-old said seriously, while standing
in the street outside his 5728 N. Wacker Drive home with mother Audrey Gaten.

The gift, a portable basketball hoop, was confiscated by police last
Monday when officers cruised through the city's neighborhoods looking
for residents who were not compliant with a new city ordinance. Four
basketball hoops were taken.

The ordinance prohibits portable basketball hoops from being left in
the streets. The charge to get the hoops back is $100.

The City Council passed the ordinance earlier this month after
receiving complaints from many residents about the conduct of the
individuals playing on the hoops.

"I saw on the news that the hoops needed to be out of the street, and
I moved it," Audrey Gaten said. "I used to put it in the street and
then move it to the driveway when the kids were done playing, but
that got to be cumbersome. It was heavy.

"So I moved it just past the curb into the grass, thinking that it
was going to be OK. I put it in what I thought was my yard."

When Audrey Gaten arrived home about 5 p.m. last Monday, she didn't
even notice that her son's hoop was missing. A neighbor told her that
police had hauled it off.

"Apparently there is a 10-foot easement with the city," Audrey Gaten
said she learned after calling the Police Department. "They can come
on that part of the property and took it."

"All I had was the news," to learn about the ordinance, Audrey Gaten
said. "It wasn't made clear what we were supposed to be doing.

"There was no mention of a right of way the day they were taken."

Though the week-old ordinance "is still being fine-tuned," police
will usually tag the basketball hoop with a sticker, warning the
resident that it will be removed if not taken off city property,
police spokeswoman Ann Ruggles said.

In certain cases, if the piece of equipment is on the street,
easement or sidewalk, police officers aren't required to slap a
warning sticker on the hoop.

"It's a courtesy thing," Ruggles said of the warning sticker.
Information on who to call and how to get the basketball hoop
returned is listed on the sticker.

Audrey Gaten, who lives with her family on a dead-end street, said
police should make exceptions to the ordinance.

"There are some areas that it's obviously not an obstruction," the
mother said in reference to her house. "This is not an obstruction to
the city's right of way."

Her son, she says, didn't play basketball daily and was not a
nuisance to their two neighbors.

"We would go in the grass," said Jordan Gaten, if he was playing
basketball and his neighbors drove down the street. "I was never in the way."

Ruggles said police "can't do a survey" with residents, asking them
what exceptions should be made to the ordinance.

"People will have to take it up with their City Council
(representative) if they want the ordinance changed," Ruggles said.

Audrey Gaten said she's not paying the $100 fine to reclaim the
basketball hoop.

Jordan Gaten said, "I only have $10."

As of Friday, none of the four residents who had their portable
basketball hoops confiscated had paid the fee to have it returned.
Those not claimed will be auctioned off with other city property.

One resident, who lives on Richards Way, said she was unaware of the
ordinance. She didn't want to comment about the ordinance, saying she
"hopes (her efforts to get the hoop returned) turns out positive."

For DeWanda Kelly, 17, who lives at 214 E. Maywood Ave., where a
broken basketball hoop was taken, paying the fee would be senseless.

"They want you to pay $100 to get it back, but you can go to Wal-Mart
and get one cheaper than that," she said. "It's OK. We got money.
We'll get a new one."