Don Matyja, a homeless Army veteran, was eking out a living on the streets of Costa Mesa, Calif. until he got ticketed for smoking in the park, the Associated Press reported.
But Matyja had trouble paying the original $25 fine. Now the penalty has grown to $600.
The ticket is one of many new challenges facing the homeless in Orange County, where municipalities have been passing laws banning everything from smoking in the park to leaning bikes against trees.
Homeless advocates say such measures are burgeoning nationwide as cities struggle with tight budgets. The homeless people themselves say the rules, which criminalize their daily activities, are intended to push them out of one city and into another.
