As part of Channel 3's Soapbox Series last November, we showed you many Rexburg residents and BYU-Idaho students who are frustrated with the city's parking problem.

We wanted to see how bad it really is. So, for the past four months, we've been looking into the issue.

From students to apartment owners to towing companies. Anyone who has a car and is associated with BYU-Idaho has an opinion about parking.

Brandon Murri, BYUI Student: "If you don't have a parking permit your hands are tied."

Anna Tew, BYUI Student: "If you park without a permit you'll be towed or booted."

Heather Johnson, Sunrise Village Apartment's Owner: "The system's in place but the kids don't want to take responsibility."


DJ Barney, Barney Towing & Recovery: "The ratio between students and cars is, I think, at an all time high. Rexburg is definitely growing the university is growing unfortunately parking spaces aren't growing."

Here's the basics when it comes to student parking.

First, almost every apartment complex requires every student with a car to have a parking permit.

Second, most apartments have more students with cars than they have parking stalls. So, some students don't get a parking permit at their apartment.

Third, if you park in a complex without a permit, you will most likely get towed.

That's where a lot of problems seem to arise. There's warning signs at almost every entrance, still, several cars are getting towed every night…and students are upset.

Students like Stephanie Barclay...who came back to her apartment from grocery shopping with her boyfriend in his car. They parked, ran a load upstairs, and returned to find his car being hooked to a tow truck.

Stephanie Barclay, Boyfriend's Car was Towed: "We grabbed our groceries and jumped out of the car. I honestly couldn't imagine that we were in there for more than 3 minutes. We came out and said we're really sorry we'll move it right now and he said well I've got to make a living somehow."

Nate Eaton, Channel 3: "Do you think that maybe he was watching you guys drive in without a sticker?"

Barclay: "I'm positive of it. There's no way he could have randomly noticed a car that quickly. He was certainly waiting."

Then there's Brandon Murri…who was one of 28 students at his complex who didn't get a parking permit because they ran out…so he used his girlfriends and parked at her apartment. The next morning, his car, and several others, were gone. It's not the first time he's dealt with the tow truck.

Murri: "I had one experience with my cousin coming and parking and honestly it was 15 minutes when they were starting to grab his car and put it on the tow truck."

It may sound a little excessive but it's completely legal. Most apartments contract with a towing company and give them permission to patrol their lots. If there's someone parked without a permit, no matter what the reason, the tow company has every right to take the car.


DJ Barney's company used to patrol lots looking for cars without permits. Now, he's stopped…and only tows when a manager calls and asks him too.

Barney: "I don't think that we can be the judge, jury and everything all at once. We have no way to know why the car's there or if the parking pass has fallen out of the."

Since Barney stopped towing, there's only one company that patrols student lots…All American Towing.

Many students contacted us saying All American's practices are unfair and unethical.

To see if the accusations are true, we decided to follow the tow truck for several days and nights.

Eaton: "Right now it's about midnight and we are driving through the parking lots of apartment complexes."

After a few minutes, we spotted the truck…and watched as he drove through several apartment parking lots looking for cars without permits. You can see he flashes a light and checks the bumpers to make sure there's a sticker on every car.

On the days and nights we followed him, he did tow several cars. We wanted to ask him what he thought about the accusations against him.

(Story Continued on Part II)