(10/03/06) GREAT NECK - Great Neck Jews observing Yom Kippur Monday were outraged when the Town of North Hempstead initially refused to purge a rash of tickets given to holiday parking spaces.

Congregants of Temple Torah parked on Soundview Drive to attend synagogue on the holiest day of the year for Jews. Lysa Dyber, a member of the temple, says signs near the spots marked holidays as exceptions to the normal no-parking rule. When ticketed worshippers called the Town of North Hempstead, officials told them they would have to go to court to challenge the fines.

After repeated calls from News 12 Long Island and other local media, North Hempstead backtracked and said parking exemptions would include religious holidays. Town officials claim respecting religious holy days has been their policy all along.