Posted on 10/20/2014 9:25:23 AM PDT by Brother Cracker
LENOIR CITY, Tenn. - Ever fall behind on yard work? This East Tennessee woman did -- and now she's headed to jail.
Karen Holloway was cited by Lenoir City officials for not keeping up her yard.
She says this all started over the summer, when the city sent her a citation, claiming her yard wasn't properly maintained.
"With my husband going to school and working full time, me with my job, with one vehicle, we were trying our best," she said.
Holloway, who has two kids still at home, says she'll be the first to admit this yard needed some attention. But she feels the city has gone too far by imposing jail time.
"[The bushes and trees] were overgrown. But that's certainly not a criminal offense," she said.
She was shocked at a hearing last week, when Judge Terry Vann handed down a five-day jail sentence.
"It's not right," she said. "Why would you put me in jail with child molesters, and people who've done real crimes, because I haven't maintained my yard."
She says she was never read her rights nor told she could have a lawyer present.
"I feel like I'm being bullied," she said.
On Tuesday, Holloway made a final appeal before Vann, who reduced her sentence to six hours. But he admitted she's not a criminal, and says this isn't a criminal case.
Holloway offered to do five days of community service instead of the jail time. But Vann refused, insisting she serve time.
Vann could not be reached for comment on his decision after the hearing.
Holloway turned herself into the jail at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday.
"This opens a floodgate to everybody in Lenoir City being put in jail for silly things," she said.
Holloway says she's been cited by code enforcers in the past, while her husband was serving overseas in the military. She says she fell behind on the yard work again this time because of personal, family issues.
Code enforcement officers directed all questions to Police Chief Don White, who oversees the department. He did not immediately return calls from Local 8 News.
Judge Vann set a follow up hearing for November to check up on the progress. He suggested he might add on more jail time if the city isn't satisfied with the clean-up.
I would say that, unless her yard was a veritable junkyard, it’s not the city’s business.
h/t Jeff Foxworthy...
I would say unless she has crack dealers in her yard it’s not the city’s business.
Not saying she should go to jail for it, but some people are such slobs and they let their property run down. Overgrown bushes, house in disrepair. It’s disrespectful to the neighborhood. What does it cost to keep your place tidy and presentable?
If that picture is what the terrible situation is like then I’m due for some real hard time on a regular basis....ridiculous.
“...has two kids still at home.”
How old are the kids...and have they been shown the on/off switch on the rake?
There was a day when real men would see a family in need and actually do something to help. Would’ve been nice if a judge or law enforcement officer offered to do some yard work or help to hire someone.
There are millions of people who contribute NOTHING to society that are being rewarded for it with free food, free housing, free phones, free education, free transportation, etc. Sounds like this family is at least trying to be responsible. But that will not garner much sympathy from public bureaucrats who, like the millions of leeches, live off the public coffers.
The day is coming when they will have to answer for their crimes.
Living in communists America watch how much freedom you have. It's all over, folks, and nothing to stop it.
Lenoir City Municipal Court Judge - Terry Vann
I was thinking the same thing about the kids.
It was a bit more than overgrown trees as well. The article fails to mention that the grass nearly covers the lawn mower sitting in the yard. Also neglects to mention that this is not the first time she’s been warned. Third time is a charm.
All said and done, she got 6 hours in the hooch. Not a big deal for someone who is apparently very, very lazy.
One of my friends was cited for a “messy yard” (mostly overgrown) as she was moving in. She had just bought the property and hadn’t even moved in yet when the citation appeared.
That's how I got my first home. I bought an eyesore in an otherwise neat and tidy neighborhood. I guess it was a good thing for me as I would not be able to otherwise afford that neighborhood at that time.
As soon as I cleaned up the yard, painted the house, disposed of the tires and car engine part, and took down all the bushes and weeds, the property values of my new neighbors soared and they loved us for it.
A few years later, I sold the house for more than double what I paid for it.
I suspect there’s more to this story than reported. I can’t imagine they just decided to put her in jail. Probably first they sent something saying “clean it up”, when that was ignored they probably sent another “clean it up or else” and when that was ignored, they probably sent the “citation” and after ignoring that, finally is probably when they did the jail sentence.
I (like most of us here) hate government in every aspect of our lives but I had a neighbor who trashed their place. One of our other neighbors called the city, they did make them take their trailer (which took over half the road) off the road but said they couldn’t do anything about the trash. That neighbor then came around and we all signed a petition which was delivered to the neighbor stating their trashy dump was bringing all the property values down and they did clean up their act. Sorry it had to come to that but they did deserve. I think they hated us all after that but too bad. It was a decent middle class neighborhood and they were trying to make it look trashy.
How old are the kids? If old enough they can do yard work.
I survived a lot of yard/garden work as a kid.
Being the control freak that I am, I offer to help people clean their yard, paint the house, whatever needed, to keep the peace in the neighborhood and make the place better for my family and me. It’s not that hard to help people, and use a little tact when dealing with them so you leave them their dignity.
The woman is married, according to the article. Why is she being sent to jail and not her husband too?
And yeah, how old are those kids?
This isn’t the whole story.
LOL, Love it!!
My friend said she thought she was in the Soviet Union - she said the call about her “messy yard” was very threatening. Couldn’t believe it, and she hadn’t even moved in yet!
This is in the same area where we get threatening calls from the city that we either “create a firebreak around our home” or the city will do it and bill us for $800 (our home has a LARGE fire break around it!!).
That’s what I told my kids to do, and my daughter got a beautiful Craftsman home in a tidy, well maintained neighborhood at an affordable price this summer because the property was so run down. The house itself was in great condition. She’s done a lot with it already and should see it increase in value, as well as the neighbors’ properties.
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