COUCH-BURNERS WILL PAY:

Last year in June, the Isla Vista Foot Patrol gave out one
ticket for couch-burning. This year, as the time for wild,
school’s-out street celebrations approached, the patrol donned
plainclothes uniforms and handed out 18 couch-burning citations.
The citations include the cost for the Fire Department to respond
and for the county’s roads division to repair the melted asphalt.
According to Lt. Saul Linver, the cost for Engine 17 and three
firefighters to come to the scene is $300 per hour. Deputy District
Attorney Margaret O’Malley is still researching the road repair
cost, but Linver put it at approximately $200. In the past,
convicted couch-burners were subject to fines of up to $1,000 or
six months in jail.