The parking brake lever arms have a tendency to get sticky and not retract on their own when you release the parking brake.
If you follow the steel cable that's just behind the rear axle out to each wheel, you'll see where it connects to a little lever arm attached to the back of each brake drum. You should be able to move these arms by hand.
If you find one that doesn't move very well (it sounds like your left one), you can try cleaning the dirt out of the arm hinge area with a brush and work some grease or oil in there while moving it back and forth. If it doesn't start moving more easily, you can remove the housing (there's a 12mm bolt on each side of the arm) and either replace it or work on it some more. You may have to remove the wheel and brake drum to unhook the linkage where the arm connects to the drum-brakes.
Also, it's possible the brake shoes are adjusted a little too tight. There's a little adjustment barrel where the bottom of the shoes meet. You can reach a little star wheel with a flat-bladed screwdriver through a hole in the back plate of the brake drum to adjust it.
Brakes can also be noisy if they have a little dirt in them. You can pull off the wheel and brake drum and clean out any grit that is in the drum. Also have a look at the shoes. Some can wear funny or scores or marks in them. Sometimes just replacing the shoes completely gets rid of noises and strange behavior, especially if they're very worn. Brake shoes are not very expensive at auto parts stores, even though it takes a bit of grunting to get all the springs back on when replacing shoes. Try to remember where they were.
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