I'm actually old enough to remember tolls in Connecticut. Much like my first kiss, my first heartbreak, my first school-yard fight, and even hitting my first Little League home run, I have a clear and distinct first "toll experience" memory.

It was the summer of 1982 and I was driving in my light metallic blue 1966 Ford Mustang, rounding a bend on Interstate 395, heading from Waterford up to Norwich. I was only 16, but this car was no extravagance. It cost less than $1,000 and had giant rust holes in the floorboard where pavement was visible zipping six inches beneath my sneakers at 65 mph. It had no heat, a pathetic AM-only radio and no interior lights.

I used to do a neat trick where I’d pull the steering wheel off while we were driving and hand it to the person sitting in the back seat. And it was tear-inducing funny to run over a puddle at the perfect moment, drenching the unsuspecting friend unfortunate enough to be riding shotgun that day.

I did love that car.

Anyway, I'm driving north on 395 on my way to a baseball game at Dickenman Field, and I come up on the toll booths that used to be located where the state police barracks currently sits (Connecticut State Police Troop E). Now, you have to keep in mind at that time baseball was the most important thing in the world to me, and the thought of being late for a game was unimaginable. New London Legion Coach "Zinc" O'Neill would have waxed poetic for six innings about the virtues of time management had I been tardy even 5 minutes.

As I slow down approaching the booth, I start looking around inside my car and I realize I don't have the 35 cents toll fee. I’m broke. I'm wearing a baseball uniform, so there's no change in my pockets; there's no change in the ashtray; nothing between the seats; and no change on the floor.

So cars begin to line up behind me with horns honking, curse words flying and the occasional one-finger salute. Then, it occurs to me to pop the trunk. I jump out of the car, open it up, move the gloves, cleats, hats, bats, and there it is – Hallelujah! -- four dimes and three pennies buried in the corner, next to the tire iron beneath the spare.

I fish those coins out, jump back in the car, and slam the coins into the waiting plastic toll basket with a thunderous dunk that would have made Dr. J. proud. I speed down the highway and make it to the game just in time.

I understand the proposed new tolls won't subject people to the same stress. They, of course, will be fully automated, a toll fee assessed as you speed under a gantry. Nonetheless, the tolls are a burden and will be a terrible strain on the state’s working men and women.

Imagine putting in 40 to 50 hours a week, pounding nails, working retail or cutting grass, only to get a bill from the state of Connecticut at the end of every month simply for driving to your job. Government is way out of line continuing to ask the citizens of this state to bear the burden of past mistakes.

The five things I hate most about tolls.

1. It's simply another massive tax increase (almost $1 billion a year).

2. The price of goods and services will rise accordingly. Businesses will not absorb the toll expense. They will pass it on to the consumer through higher prices. In other words, we will all pay twice!

3. Big Brother is watching. A record of where and when you drive will be readily available. Uncle Ned will have your driving schedule on file somewhere.

4. Restricted mobility will cause driving habits to change. You’re stealing people’s freedom.

5. This is another broken promise by an elected official. No tolls on cars should mean no tolls on cars!

I do have one other toll story to share, about four college-age young men, coming back from their very first adventure at the gaming tables in Atlantic City. To make a long story short, these four grown men could not muster up the $3.50 necessary to get through the final toll on the New Jersey Turnpike. I'm not sure if that story is more of an anti-toll story or more of an anti-gambling story.

In the end we all lose with tolls. And unlike gambling, there is no chance of winning that money back.

Lee Elci is the morning host for 94.9 News Now radio, a station that provides "Stimulating Talk" with a conservative bent.