Messy backyard lands elderly man in jail

[Another Bill C.]

"A messy backyard has landed an 88-year-old South St. Paul man in jail."

"A man who is Schulze’s godson said he’s just sick about Bob being sent to jail over this. 'It’s just tools and stuff out here,' godson Bill Millinczek said, 'it seems kind of extreme to throw an 88-year-old man in jail for it.'"

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=102889

[katinmn]

1. Why did the freinds and family wait till he was sent to jail to help?

WTF is wrong with people?

An 88 year old man sent to jail for a messy yard.

The city of South St. Paul could have found a better solution.

Makes no sense.

[indigo32]

4. Agreed on both points

[neweurope]

2. What a country, this land of the free.

Whenever I try to tell somebody over here about what's going on in the US nobody believes me.

----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[katinmn]

3. Every day that goes by I think about leaving

rather than staying and fighting.

Why fight to protect the rights of a nation like this?

[neweurope]

5. Making plans to leave sounds like a good idea.

When push comes to shove the unprepared will have no chance. Although when I'm considering what's goig on in the rest of the world I more and more think we're all fucked. But you most of all :(

----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Demrock6]

6. Tax dollars at work.

Lock an innocent old man up with murders, child molesters and drug dealers.

What a joke.

[electron_blue]

7. He doesn't sound all that innocent

Sounds like an argument that's been going on for years. I still agree - sending an 88 yr old man to jail doesn't seem appropriate.

I liked what his wife "of 60 yrs said" about it all. You just know she's seen this as a long-time coming.

[katinmn]

8. Because its been going on for years

someone should have stepped in long ago.

Why did they wait to help him until after he was in jail?

Why didn't the assistant city attorney get off his ass and get some volunteers and go clean up the yard instead of pushing his paperwork and throwing him in jail?

There is something fundamentally wrong when people stop doing the right thing.

[electron_blue]

9. I agree

[Demrock6]

11. Yes, don't get me wrong..

I don't think he should be let off the hook just because he is old. I just do not think jail time is the answer. Perhaps a fine or something if they felt necessary.

It is his yard, he should do what he wants with it. The city should have left him alone. I understand the good points of covenants but I don't like them. Just more freedoms the government takes away from you.

Similar to a messy yard, I think you should be able to park your boat in front of your garage no matter if people oppose. It is your property.

[Minnesota Raindog]

10. A more humane solution

If it's been going on for years, why didn't the city give him a final warning and then simply hire a contractor to clean up the mess and tack the bill onto his property taxes. Then, if he didn't pay his property taxes, they'd have a legitimate reason to take more serious action.

I sympathize with the guy--to a point. But if you lived next door to him, you'd probably feel a little different. How long do you wait until it becomes another garbage house?

[LissaM]

14. Great point!

At the house I grew up in (still my parents house), we have the most disgusting neighbors. They burn their garbage to the point where we have to close all the windows on a sunny day when it's not warm enough outside to turn on the A/C. We have called the police on them numerous times, and they don't do anything about the burning. It comes dangerously close to the cedar privacy fence we have. There is crap all over their lawn in the back. They still have their Christmas decorations up.... Along with their Bush/Cheney sign. Their lawn is weedy and disgusting. It drags the property value of my parents' house down and they hate it. It's such a drastic difference, looking at my mothers award winning garden and the white trash slobs next to us that can't even put their garbage in a bag and move it to the corner.

That being said, and with the pics I saw on the news, I can believe that this happened. Jail time, not the best answer, but if the neighbors had repeatedly asked for them to clean, or if he was issued multiple orders by the city, then maybe it's what was the best for him.

[Another Bill C.]

12. What is criminal about making a mess?

The man's yard appears to be well fenced off. There were a lot of unfinished projects, lumber, and tools in the yard -- no garbage. Outside of the fence, there are flower gardens.

If a person knows how to challenge these citations, they're not too difficult. Usually, both the laws and the citations are written in such a vague manner that the exact violation can't be defined. If a person appears in court and asks for a formal complaint, he stands a good chance of having the complaint dismissed because of the time involved in writing a formal complaint. If he does receive the complaint, he can then go on to plead "not guilty" and ask for a jury trial, either representing himself or, if income is low, asking for a court-appointed attorney.

Most people allow themselves to be shepherded through the system without questioning the process. That's how local governments get by with crap like this.

[katinmn]

13. I agree with Harry:

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5521511.html
Letters from readers
July 23, 2005 ELET0723A


In reading the July 22 story "One man's junk, city displeasure leads to jailing," I was really taken aback by how the concept of justice and empathy has disappeared in today's society.

• We have Robert G. Schulze, an 88-year-old man who has been a resident of South St. Paul for 60 years, who takes 12 heart pills a day, cannot keep very good track of time or dates, and is absent- minded, being tossed in jail for having a yard full of junk.

• We have the city of South St. Paul, which -- in 24 years, without the assistance of the courts -- could not find a way to have cleaned up the yard of this 88-year-old, 60-year resident of the city.

• We have a judge and a District Attorney's Office, which -- given the many alternatives available under the law short of tossing him in jail -- could not find a way to have cleaned up the yard of an 88-year-old, 60-year resident of South St. Paul.

• We have his son, who -- I presume -- knew of his father's troubles and could not find a way to have cleaned up the yard of his 88-year-old father.

• Finally, we have a neighbor (presumably one of many neighbors) -- who says, "He and his wife friends of mine" for the past 45 years and who is happy something is finally being done -- but who could not find a way to have cleaned up the yard an 88-year-old, 60-year resident of South St. Paul.

To help us all sleep a little better in our complacency, let's all pretend that the above-mentioned people were among the 70 strangers who called to help clear the yard of an 88-year-old, 60-year resident of South St. Paul.

Harry Undheim, Shakopee, Minn.