Bonnie Lee Smith enjoyed learning about poor people's legal rights at a St. Saviour's Center seminar, but she got a harder lesson when she stepped outside.

Her car had been towed from what she thought was a legal handicapped-parking spot.

"I'm a crippled old lady, partly paralyzed, both knees have been replaced," said Smith, 79. "My car was gone. Just where does a citizen stand?"

St. Saviour's is a not-for-profit outreach center in downtown Raleigh that serves elderly and disabled people, some of whom live next door in Glenwood Towers. The Glenwood South neighborhood is booming; even side-street parking is scarce.

Smith drove to the seminar in March from her rent-subsidized apartment in Capital Towers on Six Forks Road. She thought she was in luck when she spotted a bright blue-and-white handicapped-parking sign beside an empty building on Tucker Street, opposite St. Saviour's.

She didn't see another sign tacked 15 feet high on the red-brick building wall -- "way up out of eye range," she noted -- warning that cars without permits would be towed.

This happens a lot to folks who visit St. Saviour's for meals, classes and health clinics.

"There is confusion across the board regarding handicapped parking," said Kathy Kenney, St. Saviour's director. "Many of our adults with 'handicapped' stickers think they can park anywhere as long as it's marked 'handicapped.'"

Kenney drove Smith to the tow-truck yard in North Raleigh. Smith could not afford the $100 ransom to retrieve her car, so Kenney took care of it.

"I've got a lot of medical bills," Smith said, "and I haven't paid her back."

She had parked in a lot owned by the Raleigh Housing Authority, which had an office on Tucker Street until about four years ago. The agency keeps the lot as overflow parking for its Glenwood Towers residents, and sometimes lets St. Saviour's use it for special events.

Steve Beam, the housing authority's executive director, said he was sorry to learn of Smith's misfortune.

"I hate it. Obviously, we're in the business of taking care of seniors," Beam told the Road Worrier. After he learned that the tow-truck warning sign was hard to see, Beam had prominent "permit parking" signs posted at the parking lot entrances.

The new signs will help prevent $100 misunderstandings in the future, Kenney said. She wants to see Spanish-language signs as well; some of the 80 people who come to St. Saviour's for lunch every day don't read English.

Beam says the Housing Authority is considering selling its Tucker Street property. Meanwhile, as nearby construction projects reduce on-street parking options, Kenney would like to get more access to the parking lot for her clients.

"We have a great relationship with the Housing Authority, and we want to keep it that way," Kenney said. "But we also want to make sure that the folks who come to St. Saviour's for services are not towed."

Since Smith was attending a St. Saviour's event, Kenney used funds from the center budget to pay the towing fee.

"Many times, this has come out of my pocket, or our volunteers have done it out of their pockets," Kenney said.

Smith hopes to pull together $100 to repay St. Saviour's Center by the end of this month.