Dan Wenk, deputy director of the National Park Service, peers at a ticket left on the window of the car carrying Interior Sec. Ken Salazar/Photo by J.B. Forbes, Post-Dispatch staff

ST. LOUIS - U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will have a lasting memento of his trip to St. Louis today: A pair of parking tickets.

Salazar, visiting the Post-Dispatch this afternoon after a tour of the Arch grounds, returned to his car this afternoon to find not one, but two violation notices for parking in a handicap space.

The secretary’s car — a small Ford SUV — was parked in a space reserved for the disabled just outside the Post-Dispatch building on Tucker Boulevard.

Salazar, a former U.S. Senator from Colorado, joined President Barack Obama’s cabinet earlier this year. He was making his first visit to the Arch grounds as head of the department that includes the National Park Service.

The tickets, which carry a price tag of $75 each, were issued by the city treasurer’s office, which oversees parking operations.

Assistant Treasurer Steve Baker said Salazar was not ensnared in any type of special patrol for next week’s big baseball game.

“There is no stepped up enforcement for the All-Star Game,” Baker said. “If the ticket is valid and this person did park in a handicap space, he is liable.”

Interior department spokesperson Kendra Barkoff, who is traveling with Salazar, said taxpayers will not foot the bill for the citations.

“The secretary will actually be paying for those himself,” she said.