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Charleston County Sheriff's Office
Linda Ruggles is seen in this photo provided by the Charleston County Sheriff's Office on Jan. 5.
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C.- A woman who failed to pay a $480 fine for having a messy yard was sentenced to 10 days in jail, but came home a few days early on Thursday to find an overwhelming amount of support from strangers in her community.
Linda Ruggles, a 53-year-old Mount Pleasant, S.C., resident, is a photographer whose business tanked during the recession, The Associated Press reported. She was fined in 2010 after neighbors complained about the debris outside her home.
But when Ruggles' story was published earlier this week in the Charleston Post and Courier, she received some help from unexpected sources.
Ruggles' problems began in 2008, when plans to repair her home stalled and the economy soured. Unopened packages of shingles have sat on her roof for three years, The Post and Courier reported, and she's been collecting scrap metal and other items in her driveway that she hopes to sell to help pay her bills.
The town cited Ruggles for a "clean lot violation" in December 2010 after neighbors complained, saying her mess was driving down their property values.
A municipal judge ordered Ruggles to pay the fine or go to jail for 10 days. Officials say she didn’t pay the fine within 90 days and then ignored court appearances and warnings from the town. After a year of trying to resolve the situation, Ruggles was arrested on Jan. 5.
"We went well beyond what we were required to do," Police Chief Harry Sewell, who told The Post and Courier he even knocked on her door personally in the hopes of finding a solution, said. "We really did take a compassionate approach."
Ruggles told police she couldn't pay the $480 fine because she was using every cent she earned to prevent her home from going into foreclosure. According to The Post and Courier, she has sold blood and even volunteered for medical experiments to keep her home.
Some help from strangers
Six days into her jail sentence, however, she was released. Police told The Post and Courier they shaved a few days off of her sentence.
When she came home, Ruggles' messy yard was still there, but many of her problems were about to be alleviated.
A contractor said he would shingle her leaky roof. Landscapers offered to clean up the yard. A realty group wanted to help with other home repairs. All for free.
Others told The Post and Courier they wanted to help with financial donations.
Ruggles, who The Post and Courier reported was happy to learn she also hadn't been fired from her part-time job at a local supermarket while she was in jail, told the newspaper, “I’m really overwhelmed. I’m so thankful and appreciative people want to help.”
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I see that my community isn't the only one that the city council, et; al are busy telling people what they can and can't do on their own property! I don't condone a junk heap in a person's yard but telling them how and when to keep their personal property is going a bit far! Here in my town the city fathers have dec ided that businesses within the city limits can not allow patrons to smoke in any private business , oh, except the casinos are exempt from that! I believe it is up to the business owner as to whether smoking is allowed or not! That is up the one paying taxes and owns the business. These tolieticians have gotten to be very high handed in what they do these days. I guess they think that they can make any ordinance they want regardless of who it affects and how the people regard! Ultimate interference!
Yes, the lady should have her yard in order. However, she could be disabled, she may not have anyone that can help her do it or do it for her. She doesn't have the money to hire it done so perhaps some of those city officials will offer their personal time to help her out! NOT VERY DAMN LIKELY! Red
The impression I got from the story is that the woman was, in a way, disabled... financially. She went broke due to the recession during construction on her home. I am able bodied but would not be able to do anything about stacks of shingles on my roof all by myself - they are very heavy and trying to move them on what is probably a pitched roof, 1 or 2 stories high would be very dangerous!!
I find it rather heartwarming that her community (many of whom are also likely to be having their own financial struggles) banded together to help her out when most would be jumping on the band wagon to have the local authorities put even more pressure on her.
Guess what? I work for a township. Do you know who calls complaining? Its the neighbors. They don't like living next door to trash. The next time you accuse a municipality of being hard.... we're hard because the residents expect "look what I have to live along side of"..... and some properties are real "dumps".... I've had people who have on lot sewage systems discharging in their yards.. "I don't have money to pump it".... yup... we enforce it.... you cannot pump... not my problem... call your church or civic organization..... and you also want to know something? It's always the same people...year after year.. (and also... they are not illegals, minorities or whatever)
Here in my town they just come clean up the person yard against their wishes and present them with a $20,000 clean-up bill. Of course the people they do this to are always poor but that's beside the point right? They just did one last week and they sent him to jail because he was upset that they towed 2 running, licensed and insured cars from his property.
And Kevin when neighbors start chipping in for their other neighbors property taxes and home repairs then they can have a say what property they don't own looks like. The only bitch they have is that it brings down their property value which is really superficial greed.
Jail time for a messy yard while rapists and murderers run free??? Go figure? Yes the Government at all levels are out of control. What's next???
OH yeah the last few freedoms we have.
Red-
The thing about casinos is they're on Native American land...which gives them different rights to do what they want. They are basically their own government.
You have enough people complain, higher authorities are going to step in. That's what happened in this case.
You are right Kevin, those commenting can't really blame the authorities who were just doing their job which were based on neighbor complaints. I would complain too if it were piled up garbage bags full of trash, piled up misc junk from a hoarder who ran out of room on the inside of their house, and of course a health hazard such as a sewage problem or trash that caused some sort of pest infestation. Those situations are a little more complicated than this woman's situation appears to be since there are likely some mental health issues or a hazard that can endanger the health of others. Sounds like some of her neighbors recognized the difference and decided to help.
There's always a tattle tale in the neighborhood who will call on anything from a junkyard full of cars and trash on the front lawn to a couple of newspapers laying in the driveway because you forgot to tell the paperboy you would be out of town for the weekend.
I'm one of those neighbors who complains.
The guy across the alley from me on the corner has an enormous cross-bred dog that they let bark non-stop for hours. That is, when he's not running loose.
Directly across is a junk yard. . .literally. That's the only way to describe it. A shack on a flat-bed truck, unlicensed vehicles, tanks that look like acetylene, and piles of what appear to be just plain garbage.
Don't I wish I lived where something would be done about these violations of city ordinances!!
Being poor is no excuse for being sloppy.
At first I agreed with those of you who took the woman's side, then I googled her name and saw her yard. Its not just some untrimmed hedges it is a literal huge mountain of tons of garbage.
I recommend everyone else do the same before judging... I would be more than a little P.O.d if that mountain of filth were in my neighborhood, it would destroy neighborhood home values and is a hazard to kids who might want to climb mount trashmore. I think most people would agree after seeing it that this took a long time to accumulate.
It is her junk, her yard, her property. She should do as she pleases. Why don't we fine people for keeping their yard trimmed while their neighbor is in need? Selfish ignorant people we all are.
Red and Madison - you think people should have the right to keep their yard as messy as they want? Try living next to someone with a junkpile that attracts bugs and rats and skunks and snakes, and then tell me that.
I used to live in a mobile home park, that had a newer side and an older side.
On the newer side (where i lived) they were as you can guess, newer mobile homes. The older side, were all older mobile homes.
The newer side had rules about what can be in the yard, what can be on your deck...and what can be left on your deck and for how long (think leaving a cooler on your deck after a weekend of camping).
The older side, had no rules.
While it was a pain to have to respond to sticky notes saying "you have 2 days to remove X off your porch before you receive a fine"...I can BEYOND A SHADDOW OF A DOUBT say that I would rather have lived within those rules, than lived without rules.
Why? because the older side of the park, looked like a giant trash heap. there is no other word to explain it. broken down cars left in lots, kids toys and trash strewn about the yard, the mobile homes dirty and nasty (yes they would give us warnings about washing our houses and fixing repairs).
I'm sick and tired of people making excuses "i dont have the money" when most of the things didnt require money for her to fix, the roof withstanding.
Cleaning/organizing your yard...requires EFFORT, not money.
I don't know, I'm talking about a different locale, but, I didn't know American Natives owned the beaches in Mississippi, on the Gulf Coast where there is at least 10 smoking casino's, well, not all, since the gubment said you can't smoke there.
I googled her too, and while it IS very messy, it's NOT a huge mountain of tons of garbage. I think you might have confused a stock photo with real life:
http://www.live5news.com/slideshow?widgetid=43681
Its a shame that so many would rather punish someone that help them. In the end, it's neat to see people come forward to help out a fellow human being. While I can understand the neighbors wanting her not to have junk around her yard, I wonder how many called and said, "What can I do to help you out?"
Instead of complaining her useless lazy ass neighbors could have been over there offering to help this poor woman. What a bunch of useless pieces of garbage in that town. It takes putting her in jail to get people to come offer assistance? Pathetic of her neighbors and pathetic of the useless town workers Kevin!
Withdrawn
uh, no, Some Lame - when you buy a home you are agreeing to abide by local ordinances. It's YOUR responsibility to maintain your property and comply with local laws. It has nothing whatsoever to do with "greed" - and no, your neighbors are not responsible to help you pay your property tax and maintenance costs. That's YOUR responsibility. Get it?
I still find it hard to comprehend that the property that I own...bought and paid for, I still have to give the town/city property taxes each and every year for the rest of my life...and continues to go up almost every year.
And before you say it pays for the services I get from the city. I would reply....ummmmm....What services. Nobody does anything any more.
About time - Not all casinos are on Native American property. There are hundreds of casinos in this country that are not.
@Madison, take your campaigning and "vote for so and so" elsewhere, this is not about politics.
Many Americans are morons, but: the SMART Americans are not going to lose hope, give in, or capitulate their votes, just because SOME candidates want them to just give up and let them in out of desperation. That's their trick. The truly smart, ones, who have been perservering will hold on, and not throw in the towel.
@jkatze:
A pack of xylitol-sweetened chewing gum will pacify the dog.
Red - come live by my neighbor and you will change your mind. People have come "to help", feel all warm and fuzzy about themselves afterward, and then the place goes back to being worse than it was before they came! There is trash completely surrounding her house. It is a pig sty. Old garbage bags, sacks of hardened concrete powder, trash washed into a creek, roof torn off the house (October of 2010!) and parts of the siding torn off and plastic covering it all now. If I listed it all you would never believe it in a million years! She burns hazardous material on dry, windy days. If I complain, I will stir up the old lady and she gets very obnoxious and nasty and even more paranoid. She cleans up herself to get help from those who should be taking her to social services for medical attention (esp a mental health evaluation), but they fall for her schtick and she gets whatever she was wanting and returns to continue her version of Unibomberville. Sell my place? Only possible in summer when some of the dump is hidden. I am waiting for the place to come up for sale. I will buy it, hire a bulldozer, a backhoe, and a dump truck, flatten and bury the place and turn the whole area into a wildlife feeding station.
Communities need better recourses to deal with those whose mental health is obviously in need of treatment!
If all of you defending this lady would just do some research and actually SEE her yard for yourselves,you would realize this is more than just bundles of shingles on a roof and random trash in the yard.It is a horrible mess,and I don't blame her neighbors for complaining.If we just allow everyone to keep their property like that,the whole world will be one giant garbage dump.She didn't want to clean up,she deserves what happened.
1.4 deleted, political derail shilling from Madison From NY. Banned, out of chances.
...
Yeah, that seems nuts if it's her place. I don't know what could be in a picture of a yard that would convince me a homeowner deserved jail time for it - but I'd like to see one!
I wonder if the woman is suffering from untreated major depression. When several things go wrong in your life and you feel overwhelmed and stressed, your mental health can suffer.
Regardless of threats and fines, if this woman is moderately or severely depressed, she cannot make herself take action to improve her surroundings. She might also feel unable to deal with anyone wanting to help her because she would have to be involved.
I wonder if jail officials had her evaluated by a psychiatrist, because depressed people usually don't appear crazy or defiant - they just can't make or motivate themselves to carry out normal, necessary activities.
Those who feel sorry for this woman need to do a Google search and read the whole story from one of the local papers. Apparently she refused offers from her neighbors to help clean up the mess. From the article it sounds like she enjoys pissing off her neighbors. It goes so far that she "is toying with using toilet bowls as planters in her yard or installing a host of ugly lawn ornaments she can find to give her neighbors something new to look at." This woman appears to be just a mean, ignorant piece of white trash that deserved to be thrown in jail.
I was a codes enforcement officer in a small community. The laws we enforced about junk and unkempt property was initiated by the local residents. They were the ones complaining about their property values dropping because of such properties. Do you think any local official wants to prosecute folks for using their property as they see fit? Absolutely not.
Barking dogs and junk cars usually filled with rubbish and sometimes garbage, are a real problem for every one involved. I had to prosecute a person for keeping the outdoors of that property full of junk, old news papers, etc. etc. Now the inside of this home was where this overflow came from, and when someone died, fell down the stairs, and the owner called for assistance all this became known publicly. While I knew of the problem, as an officer I had no right to enforce anything inside the home. This officer wanted to prosecute me for not doing just what all you folks think and the constitution guarantees. This home was their castle, and as such protected. But the curtelege is public even if you own it. Rats were rampant, and a visit to this home physically sickened me.
No you have no right to put the public at risk because of your unwillingness to keep your property tidy. You have no right to devalue my property because of your slothfulness.
I also tried to find photos of a trash heap... I don't see that. With all do respect to her, as I am familiar with how this can affect someones life... she appears to be rather overweight. The article talks of shingles on the roof and other materials. Let us not expect that everyone can climb a ladder and go up and remove these- especially considering weather... and frankly the weight of those materials. Shingles are not very light folks. Also consider her financial situation... she could not have afforded to have it done. Selling blood and participating in experiments to get whatever money she can... sounds like someone who is really out to abuse the system eh? This reminds me of that guy who faux-robbed a bank to get jailed so he could get healthcare... not a bad idea... get sick... go to jail... get medical treatment... cause that is not a right, but privilege for the free American civilian!
I thought this was a free country. Okay, I'm joking, I know this is not a free country. The degree to which it's becoming a police state is startling, though.
I'm glad real people actually got behind this poor woman. Jailed for a dirty yard? Is the judge getting kickbacks from the jail? What a ridiculous thing to do.
@JSinDS..... That's what it's come to huh? Lets throw everyone in jail that appears to be mean or appears to be ignorant white trash. All I have to say to you is SEIGE HIELE . . .SEIGE HIELE . . .SE
Kevin Bitz
Man, I hope you don't act that cold when your kids need help.
If they were any kind of neighbor, they'd pitch in to help the lady. That's what's wrong with America today. We have tons of money to give to all the other "ailing" countries, but not to help our own. And sooooo many Americans themselves, have become self-centered, self-serving, snobs. And if that sounds "harsh", it's because it IS harsh that our own neighbors stopped caring about each other...that AMERICA stopped caring about each other!
In the "old days" which wasn't that long ago, people helped each other. Read about it. They have books on compassion.
Nobody had money, so they helped each other do what the other couldn't do. Jeez, for the very LEAST, do it so you can get that pat on the back you so desperately need...maybe even get your face on the news for helping. Now that would make you feel better, wouldn't it? YOU! You'd get to see YOU splattered across the evening news. How about that? <sarcasm>
No, they probably aren't. Illegals and minorities get a paycheck. This lady's work went down due to the economy. Oh, you haven't heard? America is falling to it's knees! TONS of people are out of work! She is gathering scrap metal for money. She's got a part time job. She isn't sitting around at a bbq pit drinking beer for pete's sake! Employers are not hiring...and when they do, it's not full time. You can't live or do a roof on $7 an hour and 20 hours a week!
And when snobs like you jump in, they want to gouge you! I know! I live in a rural community. Since Katrina, locals and big box stores wanted nearly $300 a square to do the roof 24 sqs. of my 1200 sq. ft. house (no pitch...plain roof). That was NOT counting the shingles! There is absolutely no sense in gouging people like that (especially women and especially after a natural disaster). I finally found someone who does roofing for $50 a square! That's right! And shingles are only $35 a sq! I've done my research!
How can THIS man do the job for that little, but nobody else could? The man is a roofer. He does this every day. He has a GREAT reputation and I've seen his work! He's not just a fly by. Yet he does it for a reasonable price. He has compassion in his eyes instead of dollar signs up his wazoo.
Get off your high horse and lend a helping hand if you're so much better! It takes a whole lot less energy to help, than it does to complain, and who knows, it might just be you in dire needs one day, with nobody to help out.
There's someone like this in your neighborhood. Why don't you help? I do.
And if you're like me and you can't find time to help, then don't complain. :)
Arizona - why dont they ever help themselves?
I am more than willing and able to help people, who need assistance - and are willing to help themselves.
ZERO DESIRE to help lazy ass people, who simply want other people to clean up their messes. and thats what most of this boils down to. I own a large home, with a large yard and I am not wealthy. I spend MUCH of my free time keeping my house in good repair, keeping my yard in good repair and keeping the trash that lands in my yard (im on a busy road) cleaned up...plus the usual, shoveling in the winter, mowing in the summer, weeding in the summer, clean up in the spring and fall.
I suppose, in theory...I should just let it all go to crap, and hope some nice idiot will come by thinking im NEEDING help, not just lazy huh?
jessica, your scenario does not even come close to matching the scenario of this story. And it also comes across as plenty "unneighbor-like".
let's hope you are never in need from your neighbors. It sounds like they might not be so inclined to help with the attitude you have.
Jessica - How was she supposed to help herself? Get up on the roof & lay the shingles herself? She didn't have any money to pay someone to lay the shingles. She was collecting scrap metal to keep up with ther mortgage. What, exactly, did you expect her to do?
wryview - I'd expect her to ask for help. The pictures I saw didn't look too bad. Kind of like she's about to move. If the neighbors don't volunteer to help then check with the local charities and Habitat for Humanity. As a photographer she could have repaid them by volunteering to take pictures when they do their charity work, for instance. So it would have been more of a bartering thing if she felt bad about asking for charity.
Although I can understand that some of the stuff she couldn't do herself, what about all the other stuff in front of the garage? Looks like a perpetual yard sale going on.
@NFIL
In case you haven't noticed, people won't barter anymore. They just give you a stupid look for thinking that you might consider it.
I've baked all my life. That's what I learned. Do you honestly think if I came up to a roofer and asked him to do my roof for a lifetime of desserts, he'd agree?
Here's how she helps herself.....a Craigs list ad to sell the roof shingles "must come prepared to retrieve from an elevated area". Then attack the junk bit by bit and put it away from sight. Then make a decision not to own a home with a yard again! Yards always need work and it irritates the heck out of me when people buy a home and then expect not to have to do yard work or basic maintenance.. I get that she was about to commence reno work when her business tanked, but I don't believe she couldn't figure out a way of tidying up the mess. I would bet it got progressively worse and that's why people started complaining. As my grandma used to say "soap and sweat cost nothing" and she was right. I also wonder did this woman not have one friend or relative in the world to help her? My husband has done a lot of "rebuilding together" projects and 90 percent of the time someone is living in squalor with a bunch of lazy relatives standing by, watching him work and often, they are part of the problem as to why the house and yard is in disrepair. Nope, I'm not buying that it was impossible for her to do anything about this.
She was not jailed for having a messy yard. She was jailed for effectively looking a court in the face and saying, "Make me!"
What you do on your own property is your own business, right up to the point at which what you're doing on your property is having an adverse effect on me. At that point, it becomes my business, too.
I take it that you wouldn't have been one of the people who would have helped her, then.
Yes, he would have held the police car door open for her.
She never asked for help. If she had shown up to court and explained her situation, she might have received help. I'd like to see the condition of the house in a few months. Unless the neighbors take over all her maintenance forever, it will go right back to where it was.
I live next door to a house that's been for sale for over 2 years. The in-ground pool has become a swamp. My husband mows the lawn, but it looks like a jungle over there. Stray cats have moved in, and there's a bull frog living in the pool and the mosquitos are breeding like crazy. Every time I complain to the real estate agent, I'm told there's a sale pending and it will be cleaned up, but every sale falls through. I'd like to see the owners in jail.
Since when did JAIL become a place to put people who simply piss us off?!? JAIL is for CRIMINALS who have broken the LAW and are a danger to SOCIETY. Letting a pool get gross is NOT a crime and hurts nothing but your self righteousness. Get over it. Jesus this country has gone to friggin' hell, and it's not because of the Government, it's because of the insensitive, uncaring, selfish, self-centered, self-righteous, a-holes who live in it.
O'really, easy way to fix the mosquito problem, dump some motor oil in the pool. That will fix the problem, then a couple of weeks later, call and complain about the oily water. Also, charge the mortage company for the lawn mowing. They won't pay, but then that gives you the right to file a lien on the property.
It's not the home owners fault, they probably got evicted, the problem belongs to the mortage company. Raise hell with them.
Kaily,
Talk about selfish, self-centered, self-righteous a-holes. When you let a property get over-run with garbage, you expose the entire neighborhood to bugs, mosquitos (which in the Northeast have the potential of carrying West Nile disease, and stray animals, which have the potential of having rabies, and then rats, which carry disease. That is a danger to SOCIETY. This country has gone to friggin' hell because of people like you.
o'really - Hope you feel better, jackoff. Good luck with all of those mosquitoes and rats and diseases you have going on over there. *eye roll*
Sorry kaily, your first comment would've sufficed. There's no need to start name calling because some insist on agitating your difference of opinion.
I'm just glad the lady got help.
I enjoyed AZ Tumbleweed's comment >< rock on brother!
My neighbor has a heart condition, and I am crippled in one leg--but my daughter and I take turns mowing all our lawns. (I'm a bit slower, but it gets done. And yes, it's with a pushmower.) We also help out others in our community and work together to keep things tidied up the best we can.
It's too bad that the rest of this lady's neighborhood couldn't see beyond their own yards and homes to help another.
Many thanks to the people who did step up to the plate. Most of us really do appreciate your good examples.
I'd write a longer comment but need to go clean my yard. BRB...
There's always one butthole....AND YOU'RE IT!
I've been in trouble for "drinking" yards. Never for making a mess by spilling one.
5 doesn't have a lot of value, so ignore and move on next time, TVAR. You're suspended for a day for violating #1 of the Code of Honor.
Tyler - not a lot of value? I'm hurt. :(
How does a pig cop say that he took the compassionate approach, when he arrested an old woman who could not pay her bills, and broke no law?
How does the community, the same people who called and snitched, suddenly find compassion? If they would have just helped in the first place, then none of this would have happened. She nearly lost her part time job because of these buttheads!
All of this stuff happens because neighbors are not really community. Its easier to call big brother to come cart someone off to jail, rather than lend a helping hand.
Maybe they were not fully aware of her situation until it got to the point of her arrest. She may have been a person who stayed to herself, and took care of things as best she could until she just couldn't.
It sounds as though once they fully understood the situation, they did what neighbors do.
They sound like the kind of neighbors who help those who first try to help themselves, and there's nothing wrong with that. Once they understood she couldn't help herself any more, they stepped up. She owned the home, she had even collected scrap to sell to help pay the mortgage. She wasn't asking for a handout.
So at the age of 53, she is an "old woman"? And what makes you think the same neighbors who complained were the ones that helped out? The article doesn't say that every single one of her neighbors called to complain, then came to help out. It might have just been one or two who complained. It also doesn't say she almost lost her job. It says she was happy that she didn't loose her job. Maybe they never even considered firing her. And why is this the fault of the "pig cop"? A policeman has a job to do and it does appear that she ignored court summons instead of appearing in court to tell her side of the story. Maybe if she had done that, something could have been worked out before they arrested and jailed her. You seem to be one of those people who thinks that if you don't agree with a law, you can just break it with no consequences. That isn't the way life in the US works. You don't agree with a law, maybe try going around your community and getting your neighbors to sign a petition to have it removed from the books.
I agree that it would have been very nice if her neighbors who complained would have come to her to see if they could help first. But you can't say that it isn't a community when so many of her neighbors, who she apparently didn't know, came to help.
Ace is RIGHT! Far too many folks are only out for theirs and NOTHING else. What would they have done if she painted her house a monstrous color combination, a bunch of neon colors that would've made Elton John's outfits in the 70s seem tasteful? The gallows?
Ace, you are an idiot! She DID break the law, in her town its called the "Clean Lot Bill". She went to court, was ordered to pay the fine then ignored the court and attempts for over a YEAR to clear up the situation. How in the hell can you call the police chief a "pig cop" for what happened? She could have applied for a community service in exchange for the ticket charge. She could have setup a payment plan. But she chose to ignore all attempts and paid the price. You just hate cops until they have to come and save your ungrateful butt then you can complain about them even more.....
53 is NOT an old woman.. Forget the shingles on the roof........................could she not cut the lawn and "tidy" up? Not to far from me, there was someone similar who simply let the lawn (weeds) grow to three or four feet, never took in her trash cans, kept a pig pen for a yard..........inside was so bad, you could smell the house when you walked by. Finally, after much soul searching, the neighbor called the Board of Health. You could not believe what they found/ This woman (who incidentally was a college Professor) just didn't care. She said she had more important things to worry about.
My point is................where does a neighbor draw the line? Should you have to coddle them because they are slobs? Being poor is no excuse for being messy.
@Aceman, exactly, I agree. When you're running around volunteering for medical experiments and donating blood, I'm sorry, but your yard is going to be your LAST priority.
This woman was having money troubles, for all you people know, she ran out of money to fuel her mower. It happens.
I completely agree, it is easier to SNITCH then it is to get off your ass, knock on the neighbor's door, and discuss it. Nope, for people like this calling the police has to be a FIRST resort.
@Derek, I agree with you as well. I saw a house painted BRIGHT emerald green, with yellow trim, and as far as I know, nobody's called the police on them.
"happy she didn't lose her job." Yeah, because she came pretty damn close to being canned, all because her neighbors couldn't talk to her straight to her face.
Yo Jim, you sound like a real control freak, just like most cops!!! Oh, by the way, I DON'T CALL THE COPS! Now wait a minute, I know what you're thinking, this guy's posting this from prison. Yeah, he's in jail all right, just another idiot law breaker screwing up society. Sorry Jimbo I'm no a criminal I'm just a guy that has a ton of stories about cops that beat, humiliated, lied to, intimidated, sexually abused when I was a child, laughed at, failed to do their job, and harassed me. And I will tell everyone I can whenever I can and if you want any of these stories in detail let me know... tnayew@gmail.com
What does her business going under have to do with her yard being a mess? If she had more time on her hands, she should have cleaned things up.
Missed the part about her collecting scrap to pay the mortgage, huh? That's why her yard was a mess. She had to store it somewhere. The shingles were piled on the roof because she couldn't afford to pay someone to roof it because she was busy trying to keep up the mortgage payments... that's the part of the story you missed about why she couldn't pay the fine because all her money was going to paying the mortgage.....
Hey, Terelyn, did you READ the damn story, or just not comprehend it?
Why don't we get some of these lame celebrities, like Lindsey Lohan arrested for a messy yard, then SHE could serve some REAL time!
As with so many "news" headlines, this headline is entirely misleading. This woman was not jailed for having a messy yard - she was jailed for not paying a fine - refusing to comply with a judges orders. I feel sorry for those that can't pay their bills, but who would want their home next to a junkyard?
No you don't. You're the type who would rather she lose her home than offend your eyesight. I'll bet that now she has neighbors who will help her cart her scrap to the recycling center so it won't pile up. I'll also bet if you lived next to her, you'd never offer a ride.
You are one of the neighborhood Nazis that bitch all the time about the value of you home being reduced by others around you while also bitching about the property taxes. (which are reduced as well.) .. If you eyes offend you sir then pluck them out. MHO
@ s-mimi/@ unknown;
You know nothing about me. However, I know this about you. You find comfort in name-calling and pidgeon-holing because it relieves you from having to think and comunicate. It also says quite a lot aboiut you that you missed the main point of my post.
I suppose it's possible that you are one of the few that would not mind living next to a junkyard.
You tell 'em Chuck. You are perfectly right.
If she had been in the habit of keeping her yard up in the past, I would have gone over to ask her myself if she needed any help with anything. I would have volunteered my grandsons to help her roof and move the scrap.
Then go move there and see how you like having to take care of others responsibilities. I'd be willing to bet you would have a change of heart after having to take care of not just your yard but the other yard around you. Once the other neighboors see that you will take care of their yard for them then they will stop taking care of their yards as well. Before you know it you will be mowing and doing crap removal for every home in the neighboorhood. Now what can we apply this to in our everyday lives??? Think about it.
Anybody suprised about Police State actions against this poor woman in South Carolina when Obama sets the tone for this kind of Government oppression by sending swat teams armed to the teeth after local farm cooperatives for selling unpasturized organic milk in California and after Gibson Guitars in Tennessee for selling wood allegedly regulated in Madagascar? Government CREATES these problems by TAXING poor homeowners SO MUCH that no one can afford to keep 10 acres/large lots any more forcing everybody to cram together on 1/8 acre lots, townhouses, apartments or go homeless when the rapacious government steals your property for failing to pay THOUSANDS IN TAXES when just a few years back a few hundred was a high tax HOW can anybody afford to buy property any more due to the ONGOING TAX COSTS and FOR WHAT?
Wow, teabagger? She failed to pay a fine, an offense that has been punishable by jail time for more years than Obama has been alive! And clean lot bills like this are in almost every city! You just picked this as a time to complain about Obama, politicizing something that isn't political! Have someone live next to you and turn their yard into a junkyard and I bet you would be calling in to complain as well! Shut up and GTFO!
What does Obama have to do with it? She broke a law and didn't pay a fine. Period. It has nothing to do with who is in the white house.
Madison..........................You can live ANYWHERE you chose in this country. Unless you have a criminal record, you can even live under the radar. If you don't like your freedoms, go live somewhere else.
Madison, about that Gibson plant using illegal wood for their instruments, well tea bagger, that law was in effect before Obama became President. The US govt sign a treaty about importing protected items from a whole bunch of different countries.
You just can't get over spewing lies, can you? Find the real FACTS about things, not what faux noise tells you.
Madison you are great! keep the comments coming! your making the liberals mad!
i mean madder! why don't some of these bleeding heart liberals who care so much
for the sick n poor go clean her yard and give her some money? NOT!
Sounds like an episode of "Hoarders"
Former Land of the Free. Home now to the cops, courts and arrogant regulators. You get what you vote for or tolerate!
having a junk yard in someones yard or a scrap metal collection in the front or back yard reflects on the rest of the neighborhood. I also agree there are too many busy bodies that can't stand to go a day without minding someone else' business other than their own.
A scrap-yard in a residential area is more than an eyesore - it is a health hazard. It provides a home for rats, mice and other decease carrying pests.
I'm with you Chuck. I'm also starting to wonder if the people yapping here in support of this messy woman are actual home owners......who in their right mind would condone someone for cultivating a possible health hazard? Rats, hazardous waste etc. should not be tolerated in residential neighborhoods and the court and law enforcement were really only protecting the residents.
I live in a rural area that has an association created to ensure individual owner property rights. It is in effect the anti-home owner's association. The members work together to influence decisions of the county, state, and even surrounding cities, to ensure the rural way of life continues. I don't think I could ever live under the authority of a home owner's association or city ever again. I enjoy my freedom too much.
Roger that!
I'm also rural, why is it that we think we have the right to govern or control another persons personal belongings on their own property? Who is it that grants us that right?
Why is it that most solutions lean toward the negative?
Why is it nobody comes along and asks is there anything I / We can do to help?
If you want a good neighbor you must become one first.
Out here just putting up a home creates a haven for rats, mice, etc.
Don't think America puts people in prison for being poor? Think again. Charge those pesky poor people with a felony, then don't let them vote again.
I get that she was collecting the scrap metal to try to earn money, but there's a reason that the city controls where large amounts of materials get stored at. We've all seen enough hoarders episodes to know how tough it is for someone to clean up that stuff after it accumulates for a while. Let alone what might be living with in the piles. I'd be nervous too if she was my neighbor and showed no signs of fixing anything. It's just always easier to feel compassion when it's not near your house.
There are some really good people in this Country.
Before you go complaining to the police, walk over to your neighbor and ask if you can help.
I work two jobs to support a disabled adult and can find the time to sit down with my elderly neighbors to help them sort out government paperwork they don't understand. If they need a ride to the store, I take them.
Now I can't help with shingles on a roof, but I found a way to help others in my own way. it's not impossible and it isn't too much to ask.
if she had the ability to work a part time job and collect scrap metal then she was able bodied enough to clean up the mess.
hatr_hurter - the "mess" was the scrap metal she was collecting. Until you have a certain amount, you can't turn it in. And I guess you are suggesting that she should have climbed up on the roof & done the shingles herself? Ridiculous.
she could easily have gotten the shingles down herself instead of just leaving them. all it takes is a ladder and gravity.
This America that we live in today, is not the America that I grew up in. SMH. Just another example.
"saying her mess was driving down their property values."
This is the funniest of all! Is there a property in the whole country that have a value anymore?
In a word - Yes.
That is very cool that the people want to help, that's what America is really about, so many selfish people these days but who can blame anybody considering the American way is to consume and when you can no longer consume our society will spit you out.
Am I missing something....this wasn't a snap decision to lock a poor down-on-her-luck lady up. She kept her yard a mess for 3 damn years, bringing down the property values of her neighbors and violating local ordinances. She was fined and then failed to pay the fine and REPEATEDLY ignored court appearances. Had she appeared she could have told the judge her story. She failed to correct the problem and after A YEAR of trying to work with her, she was jailed. Stop with the pathetic execuses for her and government bashing...hell, I would have locked her up for longer....
In the end folks did the right thing.
This woman was just trying to survive-to stay in her home-any way she could. Obviously not looking for a hand out.I doubt her neighbors really understood what dire straits she was in until it all came out in the news.
The community then banded together and turned bad into good.
Proud of you Mt Pleasant!! Great example !
Lets those of us who can help others step up
It's a shame those neighbors didn't knock on the door and offer to help before complaining to officials.
You don't know if they did or didn't knock on her door Mare P. What if they did, and she got so offended by hearing about her yard that she closed the door on them?
Poo on all you plastic people in your coloring book lives. Who really cares what your little ticky tacky houses look like anyway. Take a vacation and broaden your horizons.
The neighbors have an investment in their homes....why let one person ruin the neighborhood? If she wants to be a slob then she should live far away from others.
I guess houses aren't homes anymore, are they Cindy. They're investments.
Imagine you want to sell your house. The realtor drives up with potential buyers and then they see a junkyard next door. Your house isn't going to sell. Domino effect....you sell your house for a low price as does the next house and there goes the neighborhood.
I live in a nice neighborhood. Someone around the corner didn't rake eight inches of leaves. I went over and raked the yard. I don't know the woman but raked it because it's an eyesore (I'm a 56 year old woman). A few days later she must have been shamed into getting someone over as what I didn't get to was tidied up. I did notice a fancy Mercedes in the garage a few days later and then just thought she's CHEAP. However, I didn't do it for her...I did it for the neighborhood (she's three blocks from me). Bottom line....if you are worried about the way the neighborhood looks because of one slob then get a few people over and clean it.
It is a double edged sword like many situations, Cindy.
You are right, A messy homeowner effects your property value......(and why is it these people always seem to purchase the property that is on the corner leading into the subdivision???)
On the other hand, private property is private.
Now...to my opinion. If you like a mess, don't complain when people notice it. If you need help, ask for it. help can come from many places. I am in the RE business........destroying the value of your biggest investment is tantamount to buying a car and dropping a big rock on top of it.
If you are that mad at your money, I will be glad to send you my address and take it off your hands.
Cindy - leaves are nature's mulch. It's none of your business whether someone rakes their leaves or not. Maybe they wanted to leave them there. We don't rake ours, because they protect the ground.
It is my house, my yard and my stuff. I will put it where I want to so long as it does not pose a health problem for anyone else. I have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of my property, I like leaves, I like "weeds" they grow without water, they are green and most ornamentals especially those used for naturalizing, were once considered weeds. I don't like manicured lawns or water features but do enjoy the front fenders, hood and grille of a '52 Ford truck looking like it is poking out of a wall of my house, It is what I enjoy looking at. If I have to give up my tastefully arranged Ford art, my neighbo should give up his water feature. Property owners rights are sacred.
old paul--- its the old saying "one man's garbage is another man's gold." But that doesn't give you the right to trash your yard even though its your property. One thing to consider is there is a fine line between what is trash and what is a messy yard. My neighbor allows his dog to use his yard as the dog's toilet. The problem is that the neighbor doesn't clean up the dog poop for weeks, sometimes months. i have another neighbor who likes to put decorations in his front yard. he has every square inch of his front yard loaded with windmills, gnomes, fountains, flower pots and just about every gadget that spins in the wind like sunflowers. Those things may be appealing to the owners but they are certainly not appealing to our neighbors and people who pass through the neighborhood. that is why your neighbors and the people of the city or town elect officials to impose laws that affect the health and well being of the citizens and the property rights of others. Property values are a legitimate concern. It affects the revenue of the town and the ability of your neighbors to sell their homes for market value. So look at it this way. its you against them. The city has plenty of court precedents to rule against you. in other words, it means that other people have tried to defend their yard full of junk and lost. So doesn't it seem logical to become familiar with city ordinances and stop being a pain in the ass. My neighbors had to learn the hard way. My next door neighbor lost his dog and had to pay fines related to health issues. The gnome collector had to remove his army of trolls and it cost him as well. Our neighbors even had to removed parked RVs to storage locations. our neighborhood is a war zone.. when we walk through the neighborhood, you can see the neighbors looking out the window with cameras in hand. That is what we created. It all started by forcing the neighbor with the dog to clean up his yard. He complained about the RVs and so on. We used to have block parties here. Now, we have meetings to see who we can screw. I guess some people like living that way because it is the kind of people they are. I moved.
Exactly why I lived my life in small communities, in the middle of no where; in places where individuality is allow to exist. My home is my home, the "market", (recently collapsed due to it's fraudulent basis), value does not change the fact it is my home, the place I live because it is the place I love to live unaffected by presumed value.