On a cool April morning, students are walking hurriedly to class. Some are still sleepy-eyed, with that mussy-haired, just-rolled-out-of-bed look. Others are frantic-eyed, with barely printed papers still warm in their hands. And others are wary-eyed, slamming car doors and crossing their fingers that the cars will still be there after class in the afternoon.

Some of their wishes will be in vain. Even now, Marcia Clendenen, the parking and towing manager of the Department of Public Safety parking division, is overseeing the removal of two cars in the parking lot west of the P.E. Building.

Clendenen watches from her DPS truck as a tow truck from Bud’s Service Center arrives and the operator works quickly to place the red Berretta on a separate bed of wheels (a dolly), wrap the car with cables and hitch it to the truck. Within five minutes, one more student’s illegally parked vehicle is gone.

This is one of the many sites on campus Bud’s tow trucks are dispatched to every day. Requests for a tow are called in by DPS after parking permit owners complain to parking systems about filled lots and DPS checks out the situation, or after DPS notices a lot filled with vehicles lacking permits. The tow truck must arrive within 20 minutes of being called, according to the contract made between ISU and Bud’s Service Station.

“We have a lot of complaints on this area,” Clendenen says, “but it’s not unique. There are a lot of bad areas.”

Two student parking systems employees approach Clendenen to ask about another illegally parked car. It has a visitor’s permit, issued by the Horse Barn, but the car is a student’s.

“Go ahead and tow that, too,” Clendenen says. “First-time visitors, we try not to tow, but not always.” She also says the owner will be charged for unauthorized possession of a permit.

Clendenen gets out of the truck to look at the permit and the car and to oversee the request for a tow. As the three parking employees are conferencing around the car, a man, apparently the car’s owner, and a woman, approach the car.

He’s not a student, but his brother is, and it’s his brother’s car. He doesn’t know where the permit came from, but he returns the permit to Clendenen. He has no identification on him and no money to pay the already dispatched tow truck, which would cost him at least $18.87, plus tax. He and the woman leave without the car before Bud’s truck arrives.

“I would have released the car if he had money to pay for it,” Clendenen says.

Once a tow truck is dispatched, it must be paid for, regardless of whether the car’s owner has arrived or not, Clendenen explains. If the owner arrives before the truck and can pay for the truck, the car will be released to the owner, unless the car has many outstanding tickets.

Although this car’s driver has left, Clendenen again watches as the car is dollied, hitched up and towed away.

Clendenen watches the process as if each car is her own.

She’s never been a tow truck operator, but she says, “I know a good operator when I see one.” A good operator is “careful. I like a good careful one, that won’t damage the vehicle,” Clendenen says. “I don’t like to see cars damaged when we’re towing, so I watch.”

If Clendenen notices the tow truck operator isn’t being careful enough, “I will say something,” she said.

Although Clendenen doesn’t have to oversee all the tows she approves of, she at least makes an attempt. “I can’t always, but I try.”

Before a car is towed, DPS identifies the owner of the car by running the license plate numbers through a machine on loan from the Department of Transportation. DPS then tries to contact the owner at home, although if the illegal parkers are students, they are usually in class and can’t be reached. Bud’s towing service is then called, and a truck is dispatched.

The truck takes the car to storage lot locations at either 3335 W. Lincoln Way or 1919 E. Lincoln Way. According to the contract, the cars are to be kept in a locked impound lot surrounded with a ten-foot high fence. Bud Ely, owner of Bud’s Service Center, said in the past they have had problems with people who steal their cars back, but recently there have been no problems.

When the cars’ owners find out their cars have been towed, they contact DPS, which directs them to Bud’s. Clendenen said if the driver needs a ride to Bud’s, they will take them there. Besides paying a parking ticket ($12-$15), illegal parkers must also pay Bud’s for the towing service.

According to the contract, tows done between 7:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. cost $18.87. After 6 p.m., tows cost $25. If the car has front wheel drive and needs a dolly, there is an extra $10 charge. The contract states that ISU believes approximately only 52 percent of vehicles towed need to be dollied. Bud’s must only use dollies when it is proper and necessary. According to Ely, about 90 percent of the cars require dollying.

After a car is held for an initial 24-hour period, each additional day costs $3. Students must pay Bud’s for the towing costs.

Bud’s other towing customers have to pay $35 for a day tow and $45 for a night tow. Dollies cost an extra $15. “Students are getting a good deal here,” Ely said.

Bud’s campus tow prices are higher than the prices for tows done for the City of Ames. According to the contract between Ames and Butch’s Amoco, towing within the city costs $14 before 6 p.m. and $24 after 6 p.m. Butch’s tows the cars to the City of Ames Police Department impound lot at Edison Street and Carnegie Avenue, or to the City of Ames Maintenance Facility at 2207 Edison.

Ely said he’s had the contract with ISU for so long he can’t remember when he first got it.

“Eight or 10 years ago, I’m guessing,” Ely said.

ISU’s towing contract goes to bid every three years. According to Connie Colle, the DPS program coordinator, a towing company is chosen based on its equipment, its financial stability, its insurance to cover damages to vehicles and its charges for a single tow.

Towing for ISU makes up about 10 percent of Bud’s towing business, Ely said. The company, which owns four trucks and employs six operators, also has been towing for AAA for 20 years.

Ely said the towing business at ISU fluctuates. “It depends. Sometimes we don’t tow any. Lately towing has been pretty heavy. Lately they have cracked down. Before that we were lucky to get two or three a day.”

Colle said between 10 and 15 cars are towed from the ISU campus daily. She said towing has increased in the general parking areas lately as more cars are parking in general parking lots.

Cars parked in lots zoned for 24-hour parking permits, which cost $330 a year, are towed automatically. Cars parked illegally in regular reserve lots, reserved from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and lots for general parking permits are towed if the lots are full and those with permits are unable to find a space.

Colle said that as DPS increased towing in the 24-hour lots, illegal parking went up in the reserved lots, resulting in more tows in those lots. As people began to realize their cars would be towed from reserved lots, they started parking in general lots. This again required more tows in the general lots.

For every parking space in a general area, two permits are sold, Colle said.

“It’s a tight ratio,” she said. “We’re trying to manage the space more effectively. It’s on everybody’s minds right now. Parking is a real crunch at Iowa State. It seems like we have a lot of students coming to campus to park.”

Colle said this time of year, near the end of the semester, is a heavy time for illegal parking.

Colle said parking systems receives 20 to 30 calls a day from permit holders who want cars towed because they can’t find a place to park.

Parking systems checks out the situation before calling a truck to make sure there are no extra spaces.

“If there’s an empty space in the lot, we don’t tow. We’re not out there towing because there’s an illegal vehicle. We get a call that [a lot is] full, then we go in,” Colle said. “We only initiate tows when that’s the only option left to us. It would be our preference not to have to tow any vehicles.”

Clendenen said they also tow cars that have more than $100 in outstanding tickets, but these tows are rare.

Visitors are almost never towed, Colle said. About 90 percent of the cars towed are students’, and Colle said DPS often receives complaints from students whose cars have been towed.

“Every day we have somebody come through our door,” Colle said. “Students are real vocal, they don’t like being towed. It’s a real inconvenience, and we realize it. We’re not her to hassle people.”

Parking systems has an appeals process through which people may protest tickets and tow charges. About 10 tows are appealed monthly, according to Wilma Conard, the parking division coordinator. But she said only about 10 percent of the appeals are granted to those who had extenuating circumstances.

Jennifer Pinkston, a senior in anthropology, was towed recently when she parked at the Student Health Center. She said she appealed the ticket and succeeded in getting the ticket removed, but the towing charge was not removed.

Pinkston said there should be signs announcing a tow-away zone, “because once you’ve been here a while, you think it’s just going to be a ticket, and it’s kind of a shock.”

Colle said this is a common complaint of people who have been towed. She said it is impossible to place tow-away signs at every parking lot.

Clendenen said that when she oversees towing, she doesn’t deal with many irate students.

“Most people that park illegally, know they have risked a few. They’re usually angrier at themselves,” Clendenen said. “If I stay calm and explain what they did wrong and tell them what the options are, they usually respond in kind.”