Welcome to....

ClownNet™

Home of Mr. Twister, Clown, Official Mascot of ClownNet™

Clown Cited In Meter Dispute
Other places to clown around

Clown Cited In Meter Dispute

From Santa Cruz Sentinel, October 10, 1995, p 2a.

Mr. Twister, the meter-feeding clown who has run afoul of the city's parking enforcement squad, could be headed to jail after being cited on suspicion of illegal meter-feeding Monday.

"The police said if I get a couple more citations, I'll be cuffed and taken to jail," said Cory McDonald, alias Mr. Twister. "But no matter what they do to me, I'm never going to stop."

After a newspaper story detailed his run-ins with parking control deputies in September, McDonald says he has been inundated by people giving him money to feed meters, inspiring him to continue.

Monday, downtown shoppers were treated to the sight of a meter reader chasing McDonald, in full clown attire, up Pacific Avenue, calling for police after she saw him slipping coins into a stranger's parking meter.

"She was pointing me out to officers, so I started waving my arms and shouting out, 'Here I am. Come on down, boys,'" McDonald said. "I'm a clown. I'm not shy."

Police wrote him a citation for violating the city's parking enforcement code, which forbids the "unauthorized deposit of coins," in meters. He was told to stop or go to jail.

McDonald hopes to avoid being booked into jail in his clown suit, but said he is willing to fight over what he says is his right to perform kindness for the parking meters of strangers.