It’s Edna’s football now, turkeys.
You’ve gotta be kidding me .
BLUE ASH, Ohio (AP) - Police in Ohio say an 89-year-old woman is facing a charge of petty theft because neighborhood children accuse her of refusing to give back their football.
Edna Jester was arrested last week in the Cincinnati suburb of Blue Ash.
Police say one child’s father complained that Jester kept the youngsters’ ball after it landed in her yard. Police Capt. James Schaffer says there has been an ongoing dispute in the neighborhood over kids’ balls landing in the woman’s yard.
Jester said Monday she has received many calls and didn’t have time to discuss the matter any more.
Jester is to appear in court next month. The maximum penalty for a petty theft conviction in Ohio is six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
Note the “ongoing dispute” part. Obviously, these kids haven’t been told not to THROW SHIT into other people’s yards. Who thinks that’s okay to do? What if they break a window, or hit old Miss Edna herself while she’s outside trying to enjoy the weather?
But most importantly - who in the HELL thinks this act warrants a charge of petty theft? Are you kidding me? So, if I go out in my yard on a Saturday and find a Barbie doll laying in the dirt (and take it inside to put on Sunny’s head for a photo session), I’m a thief? Even if the neighbor girl threw it into my yard and immediately asked for it back, you know what? Tough shit, kiddo! Don’t throw your toys into my yard.
They actually used law enforcement resources for this. Man-hours. One of those kids’ parents actually got on the phone and called the police. The police actually came to the old woman’s house and actually ARRESTED her, and then charged her with theft. For intercepting a football thrown onto her property.
I read the comments on the Breitbart story and there’s a sizeable contigent of “Oh that old lady is just a mean old bitch, the chiiiiillllllldren were just plaaaayyyying! At least they’re out getting fresh air!!!!” commentary. I swear I will give you the opposite of the Unique Hidden Gusset award if you say that on my blog. You give me one good goddang reason this 89-year-old woman needed to be arrested and charged with a crime.
Those parents are the ones who need a spankin’. What kind of psychopath would call the cops on something like this and stand by while an 89-year-old woman is put in handcuffs and hauled off to the station because she kept your brat’s football that YOUR BRAT THREW INTO HER YARD? Assholes.
UPDATE: Commenter Wolfwalker points to , which still doesn’t change my mind (not that Wolfwalker wanted me to, he very rightly said that honesty compelled him to provide the link, which I totally agree with and that’s why I’m also giving the link up here). And it turns out they did not in fact handcuff her. Just put her in the cruiser.
It’s just. The kids. Threw shit. That landed in her yard. Repeatedly. And one of their parents called the police when she got crotchety about it. They didn’t have to do that over a $15 football. The dad in question even SAID that Edna had kept ten of the kids’ balls. Hello??? That means that at least ten times, the precious snowflakes had thrown toys onto this woman’s property.
Good lord, dude! Tell your kids to not play in such a way that their airborne projectiles will land in Edna’s yard! Is it THAT difficult? She’s lived there since 1949 for crissakes; she’s earned the right to be a crotchety old curmudgeon and frankly I have no problem with it. It’s not okay to lob hard objects into someone else’s space. The article even says she was outside messing with her garden when this happened. Do you know what would happen to an 89-year-old woman if she were hit in the head with a freakin’ FOOTBALL? Jiminy christmas.
Sorry. This kind of thing just really chaps my hide. I like old people. They’ve typically been through hell and back, and they don’t need any bullshit from little whippersnappers and their coddling parents.
The “Brit” insanity begins. It was only a matter of time.
TL: they’d prolly send a swat team in to kill it.
October 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pmKind of wish she had thrown it into the yard of a family with a big dog…
October 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pmI’d love to give those brats - or better still, their “parents” - a kick in the hidden gusset…
October 20th, 2008 at 5:50 pmIf the little shits want their ball back so badly she should give it back to them… after she’s impaled it with a carving knife.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:10 pmAhhhh….the age of entitlement. Kids today can do whatever the fuck they like and NO ONE can say shite about it. I’m surprised they didn’t assault the woman for “dissing” them.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:11 pmOhio is fast becoming the state to avoid.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:16 pmWell, as it happens the Blue Ash police often don’t have anything better to do with their time. It’s a residential suburb of Cin City, largely upper-middle-class, and there ain’t a whole lot of serious crime there.
Also, honesty compels me to point out that the Enquirer has . It sounds like somebody was spoiling for a fight, and it wasn’t the kid.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:17 pmThis reminds me of the children from hell in my old neighborhood who had no problem bouncing their kick balls off of my car hood.
Grant it,my car wasnt a BMW or Caddy but I WORKED FOR THAT CAR. THAT WAS MY HARD EARNED MONEY.
I started going outside if I found any balls on our property,and taking a knife to them and handing it back to the kids.
I’ll never understand the parents there that were SHOCKED I got upset these kids were bouncing their kick balls off of my car…
Give this lady a gold medal!
October 20th, 2008 at 6:21 pmI can’t put into words how annoying that is. If it were my kids who’d lost the football, I’d have laughed at them. Serves them right!
October 20th, 2008 at 6:22 pmWhat a bunch of wimps those kids and the dads are!!
Growing up, we knew, after learning the hard way, the yards that were safe to hit or throw your baseball, football, basketball, etc. into.
I live fairly close to Blue Ash, an upscale cincinnati suburb, and wolfwalker is right, there really isn’t much for the Blue Ash pols to do.
And to Andrea, you’re right, it’s why some people refer to this state as “NOhio.”
October 20th, 2008 at 6:22 pmThe lady may BE a mean old bitch, but that doesn’t mean she should be arrested for not returning a football! “Ongoing dispute” sounds to me like the kids have lost balls in her yard multiple times. If she doesn’t feel like returning missiles lobbed into her yard, that may be un-neighborly, but it is NOT something to call the cops about!
Frankly, I am astonished that the parents of these kids couldn’t find a better way to solve this problem.
I’d also like to know why kids keep losing balls in her yard. What is the layout of this neighborhood? Why do they keep playing so near her property? Is their aim that crappy, or are they doing it on purpose to be bratty?
I really hope there is more to this story, otherwise I got to wonder why the police in Blue Ash, Ohio have nothing more pressing to deal with than an old lady who won’t return footballs landing in her yard.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:22 pmI want dog pix.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:35 pmNow I want dog chewing football pix.
“She’s not a woman, she’s a Republican.”
October 20th, 2008 at 6:39 pmI’m torn.
I read the article that wolfwalker linked to, and it’s just plain sad that in this day and age, neighborliness has deteriorated to the point where police have to be called in, an elderly lady arrested, and a football be held as “evidence.”
Look, older people get crochety as they get older. It still doesn’t mean that they are allowed to walk all over their neighbors simply because they are old and generally be a pain in the ass. One of the greatest failings of adults is that we forget what it was like to be a kid.
On the other hand, the offending kid is in JUNIOR HIGH. That is PLENTY old enough for Dad (who is quoted extensively in the article) to be able to say to the kid, “Listen, the lady is old and kind of bitchy, so keep your stuff out of her yard or you will LOSE it,” and have the kid listen and actually AVOID this. The article says that Dad claims she’s kept 10 balls - the old lady says she’s only kept three. Still, this kid is old enough to get a clue - something which Dad clearly has not pounded into said boy.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:43 pmI’ve known this for some time. Ohio is full of mouth-breathers and basement dwellers.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:44 pmWhen I was 8-10 years old, this happened to me and my brother and our friends:
We played backyard football all through the fall. The ball would be accidentally punted into a neighbors yard approx. 10 times per year. We would hop the fence and retrieve it. Unknown to us, the elderly neighbor seethed about our “footprints” on his perfectly manicured and landscaped yard. His yard was a work of art, I’ll give him that. We only found out he was seething when when my friend went over the fence and the neighbor came out, grabbed his arm, and administered a few swats to his backside. There followed, that night, my father and my friend’s father stalking the fence in our backyard and promising bodily harm if the neighbor touched us again. Once we understood the neighbor’s upset over our footprints, we began punting always from near his yard, and directionally away from it. We would P for K in the direction of his yard, which was never as satisfying. We still severely sliced a few punts into the manicured lawn. We didn’t want to completely stop punting the ball, and our parents did not want to completely make us stop punting it, and there’s no way enthusiastic 10 year old boys can control their punts very well. We still made trips into the manicured yard to retrieve our football, but the trips now seemed threatening, and we had our adrenaline high when we ventured into the yard. The neighbor never came back out when we were in his yard.
For the neighbors on either side of our house, we would use the shared fences as goalposts for kicking extra points. We made maybe 50 trips per autumn over the fences and into their yards to retrieve extra point kicks. They loved us, naturally! Who wouldn’t?
October 20th, 2008 at 6:48 pmThis reminds me of Cheri Oteri’s “Rita” character on Saturday Night Live–always chasing the kids away, but she kept the balls that landed on her porch!
October 20th, 2008 at 6:48 pmBig Grin Here.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:49 pmWhen I was a crumb-snatcher, we had an old lady in the neighborhood who would swipe any sort of ball that landed in her yard. It actually became part of the many street ball games we had, like an auto home run if it went into Mrs. X’s yard, ’cause we knew the game was then over.
We used to say Mrs. X has got a lot of balls…
Joe the Plumber was bad, but now I’m pissed!
When you have parents that call the police on an 89 year old woman you know these are the type of parents that have raised asshole kids. I would bet that these kids have antagonized this woman for years.
And besides she is 89 years old. Let her win. Let her keep the balls and tell your kids to keep their little punk asses away from her yard. AND bring the lady some flowers and apologize for throwing crap in her yard.
Parents + Kids = ASSHOLES
October 20th, 2008 at 6:50 pmAnd another thing, if someone were to do this to my 84 year old mother or 90 year old father all f’ing hell would break loose.
October 20th, 2008 at 6:51 pmGood thing crime is low in her area, seeing as how the cops had nothing better to do. Must be nice when ball-stealing old ladies are the biggest scourge in the neighborhood. I bet nobody locks their doors at night in her neck of the woods. *eyeroll*
October 20th, 2008 at 7:13 pmOff Topic, but totally outrageous! IFC, the independent channel is airing a flic called C.A.S.. This film is the most obscene piece of propaganda since Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation”. The movie is billed as “alternative history”, but it is a total slander of white Americans and all the people that died to make this a free country.
I tried to leave a comment, but you need to “register” and frankly I’d rather clean up kittypoo with bare hands.
October 20th, 2008 at 7:18 pmEngland, here we come.
October 20th, 2008 at 7:31 pmI’m not a lawyer, but I think the law requires that the ball be returned, if you really want to insist on being all litigious about pissant things like this.
What she can do then is file a trespass suit against the little brats. You know, since they want to get all litigious about pissant things like this.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:06 pmIf she really is a cross-grained old biddy, they may discover that letting her keep the ball was the easy option. She could easily wait until the kid comes onto her property to get the ball and then call the police to arrest him for trespassing.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:19 pm#1: The prosecutor there is out of his mind if he pursues this. Good luck with that political career, dude.
#2: I hope Edna goes all legal ape-shiz on this kid and his parents. Sounds like a clear cut case of continuing trespass to me. (In many states, if you throw something onto someone’s property, it’s the same as throwing yourself onto it.)
October 20th, 2008 at 8:27 pmWell, I think both parties are wrong here. The old lady should ask the kids to keep off her turf, and they should respect it. And, the parents should enforce it, and not whine to the cops when she takes it away.
And the “children” should go play in the park, since I assume that the lady has an actual yard, so there’s more than likely public spaces, a school nearby, etc.
Sounds to me like this has gone on long enough that they know they piss her off, so they’re just fucking with her because they think they can.
That, or the old lady should get herself a nice, territorial, large pooch. I’m thinking 120 pounds, maybe a pit or rotty. Then, if you can take the ball off the possessive animal, then c’mon over and get it chump.
Otherwise, keep the fuck off the yard, and take your medicine.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:44 pmI think the parents got pissed at having to keep buying more balls.
As for filing trespass charges, won’t work. The police won’t do anything about trespass. My mechanic knows that first hand after the neighbors kids kept coming over, entering his home and eating his food and stealing his stuff. The police did nothing.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:16 pmAmelia, a little sleuthing reveals that the Tanis family lives next door to Ms. Jester, and, just guessing, their lots are about 75 feet wide. Boys playing ball in a yard like that cannot possibly keep it within their own property.
That said, Paul Tanis is clearly a pretentious prick. If Ms. Jester doesn’t want balls in her yard, he needs to respect that to the point of forbidding ball play in his yard.
I agree with Skyler on the law. But there’s the law, and there’s what’s right — not always the same.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:20 pm1) I like the idea of making the kids come get the ball and calling the cops for trespass
2) how has no one mentioned Sandlot yet? A least the kids in the movie played in a public play area and not someone’s tiny-ass yard.
3) goddammit I do not like children. (31 and already crotchety!)
4) when Rachel said
the voice reading in my head immediately switched to Hank Hill.
5) Shannon in AZ’s story about her mechanic: that’s fucked up. I’d prolly start staying at home in a dark corner with a shotgun. What’s the sound we decided on? “schick-schick”? Yeah, that’s keep those fucks outta the house for good.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:21 pmI have to say I don’t particularly like old people. Too often they think their age is of itself an accomplishment worthy of note.
Of course I also don’t like most kids. Loud, obnoxious and annoying. And if I were to smack them as they so richly deserve, I would be considered the bad guy.
Now in this particular case is the old lady trying to make a scene over it? Absolutely. The only reason she went to the station is she refused to sign the citation. Which would not be admitting wrongdoing on her part. It’s just her saying she knows she’s been written up and is expected to go to court over it.
Which she will be anyways. And was the old lady being unreasonable about the balls? Probably.
But whether she is or not is irrelevant. It’s her space and if you don’t want to deal with her rules, don’t go into her space. It’s that simple.
And I’m no lawyer, but there has got to be a law against throwing your stuff onto somebody else’s property.
And when I was a kid if I’d gone crying to my parents about something like this, first they would tell me to bad so sad you should’ve thought of that before you did it. Then I would’ve been punished for losing the ball.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:30 pmAs the name suggests, I’m a Blue Ash resident myself. I don’t have anything to add but a similar silly anecdote. A few years ago, when the kids on our street were in middle school, the bus stop was set at our house because of its central location. This would have been perfectly fine if the four kids who waited in our driveway every day at seven in the morning hadn’t decided to play basketball with our garage door. Every morning, the same basketball (which was often tossed into our lawn when the bus came) was lobbed at our poor unsuspecting door, chipping paint and creating all around discord withing our household. It was infuriating! But, alas, we did not have them arrested for vandalism, nor did we sue for emotional distress (that’s just crazy).
October 20th, 2008 at 9:33 pmThe principle of the Dred Rawlings decision might be informative here. The Fugitive Ball Law is clear that any ball escaping from its owner in a ball-owning yard or street to a non-ball owning yard or other area must be returned upon demand. Supreme Court ruled so.
I say we start an Underground Kick Line to help fugitive balls escape to freedom!
October 20th, 2008 at 9:36 pmAnd on a whole other topic, did I miss a Cosmic Shiftishing Event whereby thumbnails of posters cannot, and I mean “can,” not “may,” be lodged here in comments? Eh? Was I, like, away on Mars and next thing thumbnails are not possible?
October 20th, 2008 at 9:39 pmRickvid, the joy of img tags died during the outdated Wordpress incident of last week. I’ve been afraid to mention it — our chemistry student serially cursed with unbecoming grammar during that episode.
On a lighter note, we now have emoticons, or smileys:
October 20th, 2008 at 9:49 pmIf there was, I’d have the publishers of various useless yellow pages in my dungeon by now…
October 20th, 2008 at 9:53 pmwell,when my methhead neighbors’ brats leave toys in MY yard,they go straight to my dumpster.They obviously DID’NT want them-and even with their meth addled brains,the parents SHOULD be able to read the no tresspassing signs prominently displayed,so THEY should keep the brats,AND their toys contained and out of my yard
October 20th, 2008 at 9:58 pmIf she’s the next door neighbor then it isn’t unlikely for balls to wind up in her yard. Still, if it were MY next door neighbor when I was a child, we’d have found a way to play that minimized the chance of losing a ball to her yard. Because my folks wouldn’t have given a hot damn if the neighbor took our balls after repeated offenses.
Also, if she’s the next door neighbor, there’s possibly other issues of contention between the families manifesting itself in this stink about balls.
October 20th, 2008 at 10:01 pmOk, I’ll bite. I am a lawyer, so here’s what she could do: Yes, throwing the balls onto her property is a tort. Even more so is jumping her fence to go in and get your ball back. However, to make the kid pay she has to show some injury to her person or property that is compensable. Not likely, unless the football ruined her prize roses or some such. What I might try, if I were the vindictive type and had enough time on my hands (in other words, if I were still running my own business) is to file a claim for nuisance, and get an injunction against the kids ordering them to stop throwing their balls into the yard. Then, if they do it again, that’s contempt of court which comes with a fine or jail time or both. That should teach them to respect the old lady and her yard. (Curmudgeons unite!)
October 20th, 2008 at 10:08 pmHey, Dipshits, this woman is 89 years old. It’s obvious some of you have never been around older people, which says nothing good about you. Their minds don’t always work like yours. Her yard may be her glory. Or she may have dementia, or she may lack the capacity to understand. Or she may have several ailments that cause pain and leave her cranky or she takes medication to deal with the pain and that effects her attitude.
Having this woman arrested is the sickest thing I’ve heard in a long time. Sometimes the right thing to do is to defer to someone’s age. Teach your children to respect property and respect older people.
Yeah and I just bet this woman has the stamina and money for a court case to deal with trespassing. I cannot believe any of you would hound an 89 year old woman NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCE for a football. And if you would, you’re an idiot.
October 20th, 2008 at 10:35 pmIt’s not just Ohio–it’s California, too. This 83 year old woman is about to go to jail for a garage that was turned into a bedroom…over 30 years ago.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:01 pmHunt Johnsen: I’ve seen the movie “Confederate States of America” and I agree with you 100%. But also realize it’s a Spike Lee-approved (not directed by, just associated with somehow) film, so yeah, the depictions of white-on-black racism is going to be turned up to 12 (two more than ten, 1 more than 11) and the underlying black-on-white racist undertone is going to be like that you’d see in many Spike Lee films.
I find it ironic at the end there’s the complaint about Aunt Jemimah and Uncle Ben being racist advertising, but the mind of the guy who made that movie would complain about the lack of black faces in advertising were there no Aunt Jemimah or Uncle Ben.
Be glad you didn’t pay any more than your cable bill to see it.
PS- If you didn’t like “C.S.A.”, I’d also suggest avoiding Melvin Van Peebles “Watermelon Man”.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:20 pmOnce is a mistake, twice is a misstep. Three times is pushing it. 10 times throwing a ball onto someone else’s property and expecting to get it back without a hitch is pushing it. These kids were trying to aggravate the old lady. It’s not that she’s a bitch, it’s that fact that the kids should know better than to be so careless TEN TIMES!!!!
Here’s the deal, don’t throw the ball in her yard. Duh. Problem solved.
Common Fuckin’ Sense. (does no one else have it anymore?)
October 20th, 2008 at 11:27 pmAmen, Rachel! The old lady who lived across the street from us used to lurk behind her curtains, watching us as we played ball in the streets. Every so often a ball would head for her yard.
Sometimes we got to the ball first, and sometimes she did. In either case, we got a scolding along the lines of “You kids keep off of my lawn!” We used to howl with laughter as we made fun of her voice.
If she got to the ball first, *we* understood that she had every right to keep it. I believe it always reappeared in our yard after a few days. Perhaps we, or she, could have handled things more elegantly, but that’s not the point, is it? Neighbors don’t have a responsibility to be PERFECT.
We detested her back then, but we always knew she deserved respect anyway. And it turns out that, after we became adults, that in speaking with her she was not that bad a lady after all, if a little odd.
Things sure are different these days.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:36 pmI’m a cop. I would have told the parents to go piss up a rope. Then again, I’m in a big city where we actually Do have better things to do than lock up little old ladies.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:05 amThis reminds me of the people I was dorm-mates with my first year of college. The assclowns thought that it was great, great fun to play soccer in the hall…and guess whose door was the goal? Trying to study or do anything in my room was like trying to work in a drum that was being beaten.
There are reasons why I like living alone, and wasn’t interested in grad school.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:14 amHere’s one: She refused the direct and lawful order of a police officer.
A cop told her, politely I would assume, to return the ball to the kids, and she refused. They warned her TWICE that she would be arrested if she didn’t cooperate, but still she refused. They even tried to give her a citation, but she refused to sign it.
So what the Hell else were the cops supposed to do?
Look, I agree with you in principle. The real problem here is these idiot kids who keep throwing their idiot crap in someone else’s yard and the idiot parents who apparently care more about their idiot kids getting their idiot ball back than about the fact that their kids are idiots. But you DO NOT EVER refuse a lawful order by a police officer.
NOT. EVER.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:47 amDo you think a 89 year old woman with all her faculties (few exist) would refuse.
NO. NOT. EVER.
You need to spend more time with older people.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:31 amIt was not a case of endangerment of the kids or anyone else. The cops should have looked the parents in the eye and said “buy another ball.”
If they don’t have that discretion, the system is screwed. And I HAVE seen the police use that kind of discretion.
Don’t you wonder why protesters defacing property don’t get arrested. Someone told them not to.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:34 amHey, everyone, let’s all move to BLUE ASH, OHIO there is no crime there.
(except old ladies who steal little f’ers footballs)
October 21st, 2008 at 1:36 amYes, they should have. But for whatever reason, they didn’t.
That doesn’t change the fact that they issued this woman a lawful order to return someone else’s property, and she refused to do so.
October 21st, 2008 at 2:01 amMightysamurai - Good for this little old lady for not “just following orders” then. Too bad that the cops were “just following orders.”
Uh-oh, I think I may have crossed the line and Godwin’s Law may have just been proven again.
Next time they throw the ball in her yard, she should have the kids arrested for trespassing.
October 21st, 2008 at 2:46 amPeople … why didn’t the cop issue a lawful order to stay the hell off private property?
I too had a neighbor who was cantankerous, and lived with his parents who dried up and blew away at a very old age. They all got peeved when people stepped on their lawn. Old person thing/pattern emerging. Then again, the neighbor at the time was a bunch of French Canadian hillbillies (in north Jersey). They were good people, but half nuts. Heavy alcohol consumption, rather poor, with a son who was the single biggest hellraiser I’ve known in almost 50 years. He was constanting busting on the old folks, and after awhile, it pissed.them.off.
Now, they also kept a big ass rock, painted white so it couldn’t be missed (unless it snowed) on their property at near the curb. It was there for a reason … the dickheads next door couldn’t drive, and always drove on their land, since the lot was narrow, and the driveway was right on the property line.
I wondered about the rock, but kept it there after I bought the house. It seemed hostile and all that, but I respected the way the folks kept that house. After I bought it, I restored it. Sweet house. And I witnessed more than once a bumper getting trashed when the new neighbors hit it.
The lady’s yard is fixed in size and location. Kids can play elsewhere, or be more careful.
And the cops can go deal with an actual crime rather than come hassle some old lady. If it ain’t clear, I don’t hold the boys in blue in any hero status, or consider them to be anything other than average in intellect. And my sniff test suggests to me there’s more to the story than just some pissed off old lady.
[Edit] When we sold … the buyers asked the WTF question about the rock, and I explained it. They moved it at the request of their new neighbors. I advised them to keep it… for posterity, and in rememberance of the folks who I remembered lived there.
A short while later, they moved it back.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:56 amAnd here we have one of the major problems in our society….kids who are raised with an unhealthy sense of entitlement. We mustn’t curb the little darlings and stunt their creativity and growth. Whatever they want to be “happy”, give it to them!
I have raised two kids and work with kids on a daily basis and I can truthfully say, that every year the kids I work with have less and less of a clue about what’s right and wrong. There just aren’t any limits…..until someone steps on their toes and then it’s a different story.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:38 amTotally. When I was a kid growing up, every neighborhood had its “mean family” or “cranky old lady.” You just knew - through the kid grapevine - not to go in that yard, and if you happened to throw a ball into that yard (by accident), you just figured you had surrendered that ball.
Kids are not the be-all and end-all of society. That’s what’s happened, really. Everything is For The Children and if you don’t have kids, or if your kids are grown and gone, look out…you are expected to be a doormat for the kids of other people.
I’ve had kids nearly destroy the concrete steps leading down from my sidewalk to the street by grinding on them with skateboards and such (the steps are old; my house was built in the 40s). Why should I have to pay to have the damage someone else caused repaired? And you know if one of those kids falls and breaks an arm, the parents will come after ME for having an “attractive nuisance.”
I’ve also had to replace my mailbox four times in six years because “bored kids” decided it would be fun to go all Mythbusters on its ass with a baseball bat.
And I hasten to add that NONE of this is retribution. I haven’t yelled at the kids, haven’t told them to get off my property - because I’m frankly afraid of what the parents would do. No, these are just kids doing crap because they CAN, and because their parents never taught them to respect other people…it’s as if other people’s property is fair game.
Neighborliness is great, but it goes both ways - older folks should be nicer to kids, but kids should also learn to respect other people’s property.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:43 amI haven’t the slightest idea. But you don’t get to refuse a direct and lawful order of a police officer just because other people are breaking the law too.
That’s like challenging a speeding ticket on the grounds that someone else was speeding too and the officer can’t give you a ticket before giving everyone else a ticket.
October 21st, 2008 at 7:26 amEDNA
in hur yard, grabblin ur bawlz
October 21st, 2008 at 8:07 amRachel,
Lend her Sunny for a few days and have her run about the back yard. I’m thinking Sunny could take care of business in about two days tops!
October 21st, 2008 at 8:22 amMany years ago, my wife and I bought our first home. Our next door neighbors had two young daughters, aged 6 and 8. They were good kids. When their ball came into my yard, they asked permission to get it and of course I granted it. Since I was a shift worker who often slept in the daytime and they were good kids*, I told them and their parents that they could come get their ball any time they needed to. They always respected our property and never damaged anything. Those were good neighbors and I tried to be a good neighbor in return.
Had the parents in the article taught their kids to behave like my former neighbor, odds are there never would’ve been a problem. Unfortunately, too many parents seem to believe their kids can do no wrong and that they are entitled to do whatever they want. They must have forgotten what it was like to change a loaded diaper - yes, your kid’s shit does stink.
*Those little girls are now grown, married, and mothers. How the hell did that happen?
October 21st, 2008 at 8:24 amDogliness found a brand new ball in the bushes the other day. I let her keep it.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:27 amSeveral things.
1, from the article Wolfwalker mentioned, you can google the neighborhood and see that these kids should’ve had plenty of area to play ball–the yards are pretty deep, assuming they lived on the north side of the road.
2, as several people have noted, stay away from her yard, geez. Failing that, they should’ve tried to work something out. This is an old woman. Maybe she doesn’t feel up to walking out back to get the ball. If the kids are otherwise respectful, and she has a gate in her fence, maybe they could’ve arranged to get the ball themselves, and that would’ve been enough to prevent this from escalating.
3, to the commenter whose door was treated as a basketball backstop, could you have gone outside, stood on the front steps, and given the kids the stink eye?
4, mailbox baseball. In Dallas, it seems like nearly everyone’s mailbox is encased in an 18 inch wide brick pillar. No mailbox baseball here without a wrecking ball. (Aside: after Katrina, someone ripped my mailbox out of the ground–the wooden post (I wasn’t living in Dallas then) had partially rotted–and tried to use it as a battering ram on my front door. Fortunately for them, I had a solid wood front door, because I also had two large dogs and guns.)
5, Fnord.
6, there is no 5.
7, the cops had their share of the blame, as mentioned by several people. If they were told that this was an ongoing problem, why didn’t they tell the kids’ parents to either stop throwing the ball into the woman’s yard, or to try to make an arrangement like I mentioned in point 2.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:42 amI used to have a dog that could destroy an inflated ball in 10 seconds. He’s gone now so I just destroy them myself. Box cutter in left front pocket
October 21st, 2008 at 8:43 amI lived in London England for 3 years. I used to play soccer with the local kids in an unused lot. Occasionally the ball would fly into the yard next to the lot. The asshole who owned the house used to keep the balls. I eneded up picking one of the kids up, lifting him over the fence and then lifting him back, often in hot pursuit from the asshole.
I wish I had called the police and sent this grinch to jail. He deserved it.
October 21st, 2008 at 8:48 amI work in Blue Ash.
I am considering buying a bunch of circus sized dildos, playing “games” with them and “accidentally” launching them in the Tanis yard.
Inside Edition and fifteen minutes of notoriety here I come!
Maybe I’ll get a reality show. Monkeyhumper’s BFF.
Tanis balls need raquets.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:14 amOh- I should wear an I SUPPORT OBAMA sign while doing this shit. And sing “I’ve got a crush on Obama” while they take me away. Meta Cafe top earner, for sure. How many Chinese people might watch that? 4 billion? Let’s see. A buck for 5000 views. I am coming up with an $800,000 bonanza. And an appearance on SNL?
October 21st, 2008 at 9:23 amBlue Ash is in Hamilton County, and the Proscutor for said county is Joe Deters. My favorite Joe Deters quote came from an interview where he was asked if execution by the electric chair was cruel and unusual punishment. Said Mr Deters, “I don’t care if they toss them off tall buildings.” I don’t see this case going anywhere.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:53 amI once spanked a neighbor’s six year-old child… She was jumping on my car - yes - jumping on the hood of my car [a Nissan! not a BMW, but MY car, nonetheless] and she wouldn’t stop or get off when I told her. I told her several times and she thought it was a joke. She quit laughing when I grabbed her off the car, and whacked her butt. She went screaming home - crying bloody murder. I explained to the Dad what had happened and what I had done. His reaction, “Good for you. She deserved it.” The Mom’s reaction? Just the opposite, “You did what?!?”
October 21st, 2008 at 10:00 amInteresting thing, Ohio does have the castle doctrine now. So… can’t keep the balls, but a .12 ga loaded with rock salt? THAT’S perfectly kosher. Let’s get Edna an Ithaca M37.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:07 amWhat is wrong with kids?!?!? I feel like a total old fogie at the age of 30 wondering where society has gone. I was not raised with a sense of entitlement. My mom ALWAYS told me that the world didn’t revolve around me (because most kids will naturally think that it does even without encouragement).
You’re wrong. You can refuse an order. You just have to be prepared for the consequences of doing so. And she apparently was. I applaud her for her principle.
The neighbor parents are total assholes.
(PS…I love the comments here…it’s one of the ONLY places I curse! *giggle*)
October 21st, 2008 at 10:10 am“Cloudfish Says:
It’s not just Ohio–it’s California, too. This 83 year old woman is about to go to jail for a garage that was turned into a bedroom…over 30 years ago.
”
OH MY F’ING GAWD! This pisses me off even more! The abuse of power and lack of common sense is beyond absurd. Those code inspectors need a good lobotomy.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:16 am1. Keep jar of something foul on the front porch. (Garden centers and Feed stores sell fox urine by the gallon for critter control)
2. Dump foulness on ball
3. If asked, claim there was a snake on the ball and you were able to scare it away.
4. Allow children to retrieve “foul” ball.
5. Repeat as necessary.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:16 amMaybe I can end this thread on a more festive note:
Last Christmas season my Cadette Girl Scout troop spent an evening singing carols to the elderly at a group home for Alzheimer patients. These folks made us feel like we were the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with their enthusiasm. In each ward we made an effort to sing “Silent Night” as we were told that every one of them really enjoyed the older songs. We were all choked up to see how many residents, people who hardly uttered a word in their daily lives, would sing along with that particular song. At each ward we were introduced to every resident and told a few of their stories, one woman was the first female pilot in Nevada, another was a decorated war hero, etc. Very often our girls held hands with the residents while they were all singing. I overheard a couple of my girls talking about how they were going to pay better attention to their own grandparents.
Later, when we were doing our little gift exchange and eating pizza, the girls were excitedly talking about wanting to know more about the people they had just met. They immediately started making plans for our next visit in the spring and decided they wanted to do a “sock hop” as we were told that many of the residents enjoy dancing and majority of them really respond to music. When we went back in the spring, you’d have thought my girls got a free pass to Disneyland or something. Not all kids these days are rotten.
And, I think most people respond to simple acts of kindness by spreading more kindness around.
It’s unfortunate that these kids’ parents didn’t use this as an opportunity to show their children how to have compassion for others. Like another commenter said, maybe they should have brought her some flowers and appologized for being so careless about letting their balls land in her yard. I bet this would have had an entirely different outcome.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:25 amAre you there “to protect and serve” or are you just a goldang bureaucrat with a badge?
I got your direct and lawful order right here - Fuck you, Officer!
October 21st, 2008 at 10:33 amOh come on. That’s like saying you “can” refuse to pay income taxes so long as you’re willing to have all your assets confiscated by the IRS and be sent to jail for tax evasion.
You know what I meant. When a police officer gives you a direct and lawful order, you DO NOT have the right to refuse.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:06 ammighty…You absolutely DO have a right to refuse an order. Everyone can decide whether or not to “obey” an order. My husband is a police officer. People CAN refuse certain “orders” (in our state you are not *required* to take a breathalizer test even when asked to do so).
Of course, refusing certain requests can result in certain consequences. As long as you are willing to bear those consequences you can disobey or refuse.
I can refuse to obey the speed limit but I must be prepared to pay the ticket if I get one. And yes, I can refuse to pay my taxes but there is a consequence…and one that I’m not willing to suffer.
We all have choices in life. Just because an officer tells us to do something does NOT mean we MUST comply.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:20 amWhen we have flak out of the teen yard apes, we just hunt them with paint guns. They run, we shoot. It’s like a live video game–loads of fun!
October 21st, 2008 at 11:39 amI heard this story on the radio yesterday. My first thought was: WTF????
My second thought was: Was this in England (more fodder for Rachel)?
My third thought was: Oh goody! Another entry for my quickly growing list of proof that the world is going insane!
Sigh.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:58 amHey, I HAVE kids, and I’m with you. I’m also with you on the old people don’t need this crap, because they’ve generally been to hell and back. Kids, kids will deal. Old people will too, but good god have some freaking respect for them.
(She’s kept 10?! Okay, folks, time to introduce your kids to the *park* if they can’t keep it in the yard!)
October 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pmDaddy needs to be charged and sued with abuse of authority since he is a CAPTAIN ON THE POLICE DEPARTMENT THAT ARRESTED HER! It’s no wonder the kids are the way they are, daddy is one of those entitled bastards that thinks he’s above the law, and used his position to get her arrested. If I didn’t have so many responsibilities here, I swear I’d pitch a tent on her lawn just to guard her property.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:24 pmWhen I was growing up, I was always taught to respect others’ property. I knew not to go in someone else’s yard without permission. I did once lose a tennis ball in the yard of one of those neighbors who wouldn’t give it back, and was told it was too bad by my parents and I should have been more careful.
On another note, there were these kids in our neighborhood who played football in the front yard across the street and sometimes for fun, they’d kick the ball into our yard. One day my mother went out to ask them not to at the same moment the boy’s mother drove up and my mother told her what was going on this woman’s response was “Don’t you have any children” and “Don’t your children ever play?” She didn’t seem to think it was a problem and actually defended her son.
The real kicker was my mother pointed out there was a public playground less than a block away that was hardly ever used where they could play without the risk of damaging property or disturbing anyone and asked why they couldn’t play there instead, the woman resfused to answer. This was back in the 1980s so it’s nothing new, just getting worse.
October 21st, 2008 at 12:47 pm“You know what I meant. When a police officer gives you a direct and lawful order, you DO NOT have the right to refuse.”
first of all,the police are NOT in charge of us,no matter how much they may think otherwise-and I remind them of that OFTEN.Second,cops do not make up the law as they go,as much as they’d like to do that as well.If the little booger picking brat tossed his football in the woman’s yard,and it sounds like this a recurring problem,he just decided that he did’nt want it anymore,and a cop’s OPINION cannot change that
October 21st, 2008 at 12:58 pmI hope to be old and crotchety one day…I hope Barney “marbles mouth” Frank doesn’t tax old or crotchety.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:03 pmOf course you can refuse an some orders. An order that a police officer does not have the authority to give or that would violate your civil rights would be perfectly legal to refuse. Such an order would be termed “unlawful”.
But you DO NOT have the right to refuse lawful orders. A police officer ordering you to step out of your car, keep your hands on the wheel, or show him your license and registration after pulling you over are all lawful orders. You are required to obey them. A police officer ordering you to return someone else’s property is unquestionably a lawful order. You can say the cops should have done something about the kids throwing their crap in this woman’s yard. You can say the cops should have done something about the parents who allow their kids to throw their crap into this woman’s yard. But you CANNOT say that this woman had the legal right to take property that was not hers.
Citing breathalyzer tests is a red herring. Police officers do not have the authority to compel you to take a breathalyzer test. They DO have the authority to compell you to return property that is not yours. And they have the authority to arrest and charge you with theft if you refuse.
Once again, the police officers gave this woman a direct and lawful order. They told her to return the kid’s ball. Just because it fell in her yard doesn’t magically make her the legal owner. The reason the cops arrested her was because she MADE them arrest her (apparently on purpose since Wolfwalker’s article says she specifically asked to be put in handcuffs but the officers refused). It doesn’t matter whether she was morally in the right. She was still legally in the wrong.
Again, stop playing this game. You’re just being needlessly contrarian.
Yes, you can “choose” to go to jail for refusing the lawful order of a police officer. Just like you can “choose” to get sent to federal prison for not paying your taxes and you can “choose” to get sent to the electric chair for murdering a man. We get it already. You have successfully won your little semantics game. Congratulations.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:54 pmYes, they are.
Their authority is limited, but they are still the authorities. They are in charge. You are legally required to obey all lawful orders given by them, under penalty of incarceration and prosecution.
Don’t like it? Move to some other country with even weaker law enforcement. I hear Great Britain has practically castrated their police force.
And neither did these cops.
In case you hadn’t heard, it is ILLEGAL to take someone else’s property without permission. The cops asked this woman to return the ball, they warned her there would be consequences, and she refused to sign the citation they tried to giver her. They gave her every opportunity to avoid being arrested, and she chose to disobey their lawful orders anyway.
You can complain all you want about the actions of these inconsiderate brats or their equally inconsiderate parents. But you cannot, by any reasonable definition, claim that the police abused their power in any way.
And man, for the love of God, put some damn spaces after your periods and commas!
October 21st, 2008 at 2:15 pmIf these kids are “our future”…we’re toast
October 21st, 2008 at 2:22 pmMy two cents:
Long ago and far away, my brothers and I, (there were eight of us, and two sisters,) used to play ball in our back yard, and occasionally, the ball would make it over the fence into Dr. W’s yard. Dr. W raised Alsatian Police Dogs for fun and profit, and at any given moment, had at least six of them in her yard. If the dogs were loose, the ball was forfeit. They would eat it like a fresh-killed rabbit.
But once a ball went over the fence, if the eight of us, raising all manner of hell and banging on the fence, didn’t get a rise out of the doge, we would throw our youngest brother over the fence to get the ball and throw it back over to our yard. No, we didn’t stand for him to keep the ball and bring it back over the fence with him; the ball was too valuable to stay on the wrong side of the fence any longer than it absolutely had to. Brothers could be replaced; a well-broke-in soft ball was hard to come by.
October 21st, 2008 at 2:35 pm*sigh*
I’ve read and reread what you’ve said, sam, and I guess I’m just dumb today.
True, the old lady got herself arrested by refusing to follow the cop’s lawful order to return the ball. She didn’t give him a choice. It seems clear to me that she preferred to go to jail than give the twirps their ball back. So in that sense, she chose to not obey, knowing she’d get in trouble for it.
So, yes, she can disobey, because, obviously, she did.
Now, she can NOT expect to disobey without punishment, and it doesn’t look like she did since she asked to be cuffed. She can NOT expect the law to side with her in the issue of the arrest, because she did refuse to return someone else’s property. She doesn’t have the legal right to refuse to obey.
But I can’t see how she doesn’t have the right to chose how to respond to a lawful order. Her choice may have been a poor one. And an illegal one. But she does have the right to make the decision. I can’t think what that kind of right is called. A moral right? I natural right? I mean, one always has the right to chose one’s own behavior. That doesn’t make all the choices correct, or reasonable, by any means, but the choice still exists.
I’m not trying to play a semantic game. I’m just trying to understand. It seems to me that there is a distinction between a legal right and a something-else right.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:11 pm“Their authority is limited, but they are still the authorities. They are in charge. You are legally required to obey all lawful orders given by them, under penalty of incarceration and prosecution”
no,the police work for US-to enforce LAWS-not give us “orders”
October 21st, 2008 at 3:28 pmUgh. Again with this?
Fine, yes, she has the “right” to disobey a lawful order from a police officer and go to jail for it. Just like I have the “right” to shoot up an orphanage and get sent to the chair for it.
You’re right. You win. She has the “right” to go to jail for breaking the law.
Are you all happy now? Can we stop this silly semantics game please?
October 21st, 2008 at 3:28 pmGiving lawful orders IS enforcing the law.
I honestly do not see why this is so hard for you to grasp. Police officers have the authority, as agents of the state, to ORDER people to obey the law, and to arrest and charge them when they do not.
October 21st, 2008 at 3:31 pm“got your direct and lawful order right here - Fuck you, Officer!
”
sort of what I told a police captain who barged in my house without a warrant,pretending to have the wrong address.Get the fuck out of my house-IMMEDIATELY-as its protected under both the 4th AND the 2nd amendments
October 21st, 2008 at 3:34 pmI was afraid you’d be annoyed, sam.
Again, I’m not TRYING to play any games. I’m not trying to be obnoxious or difficult or irritating. I’m TRYING to understand your point. I’ve found the things you say in the past to be thoughtful and reasonable and pretty damn near always correct.
So I’m TRYING to grasp what you’re saying, but I guess I still don’t because I don’t know why you put “right” in quotes as though to say it’s not a real right, but an imaginary one.
I wouldn’t belabor the point, except I’m not seeing where things like civil disobedience fit in to your framework.
Are you only referring to the woman’s legal rights? If so, that would clear up my confusion, but if not, then I’m still lost.
I’m trying to determine if you’ve got some way of thinking of these things that I’ve never heard, or if we’re talking past each other.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pmI could not possible agree more with Rachel, and the end of clear property owner rights, to ANY degree, in this country is a long step toward the end of the Republic. Our rights start with free speech/property rights/right to self-defense and all others grow from those.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pmThat’s exactly what I’m saying.
By definition, a “right” is something you are allowed to do without government interference. The right to free speech means we can say whatever we want and the government can’t stop us. The right to keep and bear arms means we can own and (peaceably) operate firearms and (in theory) the government can’t stop us. The right to free exercise of religion means we can practice any religion we choose and hold any religious beliefs we choose and the government can’t stop us.
Saying you have the “right” to commit a crime so long as you’re willing to pay the legal consequences, that you can “choose” to disobey the law so long as you’re willing to go to jail for it, is just asinine. Technically it’s correct, but it’s still asinine. This all started when Rachel asked for one reason why this woman should have been arrested, and I told her why: Because she refused the direct and lawful order of a police officer.
I was very clearly referring to her LEGAL rights, and ONLY her legal rights.
Pointing out that she still had the “right” to disobey a police officer and go to jail for it is just stupid. It doesn’t advance the discussion, it doesn’t prove any points, and it doesn’t change a good gorram thing about this story.
It’s just a bunch of meaningless sophistry.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:55 pmThere was a crabby old couple on the street I grew up on. They blew their corks when a ball made it to their yard. And, because we didn’t like hearing from them, we insisted on playing and throwing balls there. (There was also a variation on ‘tag’ which came from getting contaminated by a push onto the lawn.)
I would be greatly surprised if these kids weren’t as big pains as we were.
On the basis of many maturing years, I’d suggest the best thing for all involved would be for kids to play elsewhere and leave her alone. ‘Could work out pleasantly for all involved.
October 21st, 2008 at 5:23 pmThat bit there was the source of my confusion. Now I grasp where you’re coming from. Thank you.
October 21st, 2008 at 6:06 pmBoy - you sure are a bunch of kid-haters here. We had a mean old biddy like that in my neighborhood. She used to die dead rose stems inside her privet bushes so that any kids who retrieved frisbees would get scratched.
Lamont
October 21st, 2008 at 10:12 pmNow Miss Edna has the opportunity to show the value of restraint and discipline.
While waiting for her court date, do you want to bet that another football lands in her yard? My advice would be to picture the kid asking for the ball. Then file criminal complaints of trespass, damaging private property. File charges against the parents for contributing to the delinquency of a minor (providing the football, allowing the kid to repeatedly trespass with the football), felony child abuse for failing to teach the kid discipline (the kid had to be looking for trouble, or loss of the first football would have told a reasonable kid “let’s play somewhere else”, and public nuisance. The police would need to arrest kid and family, or Miss Edna’s case would be able to claim waiver- the police pick and choose at random about enforcing the law.
I hope she sends the brat a bill for having the footballs hauled off in the trash.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:14 pmMy wife and I have raised 4 kids of our own plus a nephew. My children would be in trouble if they continually threw objects into our neighbors yard. How about the children being nice and have conversations with the lady. We had a situation like this where two of daughters learned to pitch softball and occasionally the ball would go over the fence. The neighbor wasn’t very happy but my daughters spent some time talking to him, apologized for the inconvenience and told him they would work hard not to do it often. He told us that he appreciated them taking the time to speak to him and even though it happened a lot for awhile he was always courteous to them. He also gave them permission to go into his backyard and get the balls when he wasn’t there.
The kids learned some lessons and the gentleman became a neighbor not a crotchety old man.
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:46 amI saw video of this on TV tonight and I think it might be important to emphasize that the police asked her to return the ball once they arrived, and she refused. No matter how effing ridiculous it is to arrest an elderly person in a dispute like this, it is also ridiculous to refuse an attempt by the police to find some other way to handle it. Video of her house and yard seem to indicate that she shares a lawn with the neighbors. No driveway, no fence, just plain grass and her house all shuttered up with No Trespassing signs and drawn shades. That’s fine, I would probably hate kids that left their crap out, too. But I wouldn’t tell a police officer who showed up and tried to settle a dispute reasonably that I was completely unwilling to cooperate. Give them a chance to get the ball back and tell the parents to watch their toys or face littering charges or trespassing or whatever. I don’t care. But when an officer looks you in the eye and says “give me the property that isn’t yours and I will make this go away” you don’t tell them to kiss off. When the cops show up, don’t be the bad guy.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:28 amAs a followup: The morning my wife died, the time between my 911 call and the arrival of someone useful was less than 10 minutes. No amount of time would have saved her, but I clearly remember one of the first MPs to arrive at my quarters saying later that he would have been there sooner if some jackass hadn’t wasted his time by being so uncooperative that they had to make an arrest at the gate. I don’t dispute that the parents in this story must be raising first class douchebags, but if letting a police officer spend a little less time on your petty dispute and a little more time being available for emergencies, you should probably hand the ball back and let them do their jobs. You can always take their ball again tomorrow.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:36 amI didn’t read the whole story, but after mightysamurai brought it up that the police told her to return the ball and she refused, I have to agree with him. The only issue I would have is deciding when “forfeit” would occur. Not in this instance, certainly, because there was activity involving the ball in question going on, but if the kids decided to leave the ball in the yard because they decided they were done playing after it went over the property line, how long would it have to stay there before it became hers?
I mean, thinking on the general question, how long does something have to stay on your property before you have the right to dispose of it as you see fit? Certainly no one would expect to have a ball returned if it had been left there 10 years ago. What about one year? One month? One week? How about, “Anytime before trash day”?
I only bring this up because I always go for the hypothetical boundaries, but if she did not have a legal right to keep it right then, when would she have?
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:22 am“7, the cops had their share of the blame, as mentioned by several people. If they were told that this was an ongoing problem, why didn’t they tell the kids’ parents to either stop throwing the ball into the woman’s yard, or to try to make an arrangement like I mentioned in point 2.”
Because they aren’t “peace officers” anymore that “protect and serve”, they’re “law enforcement officers”. Aka LEOS who get off on the power trips and fully buy into the cult of the child/children do no wrong mentality. At least until the kids start smoking weed/meth.
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:56 pmSio, take your cop-hating rhetoric and stick it where the sun don’t shine.
Police officers can only act if they see a crime in progress, or if a crime is reported to them. If they didn’t take action against these kids, then clearly no one ever thought to report these kids to the cops.
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:21 pmThis made me remember an argument I had with an old co-worker. He came into work one day complaining about how his kids were playing in the street and some “asshole” almost hit them. I turned to him and said with a straight face, “And why were your kids playing in the street?” I think his head spun around 89 times before he called me ignorant and said I can’t have an opinion about this because “I don’t have children.” I calmly reminded him that cars belong in the street, not children and had his child been run over it would have been his fault for letting them play out there in the first place.
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:14 pm