Posted on 11/07/2009 2:44:02 PM PST by llevrok
PINELLAS PARK - As Xuan-Nuong Lam Tran pulled her Mercedes ML 350 into a parking spot at a post office, another customer flung open her own car door, causing minor damage.
Tran, a travel agent, might have received a ticket for careless driving that day in July and gone on her way. But she was handcuffed, humiliated and taken to the Pinellas County Jail.
Her crime?
Ten days earlier, according to court records, she failed to answer a charge she had watered her lawn on the wrong day.
At the jail, Tran rolled her fingers in black ink, and her mug shot appeared on the jail's Web site along with those of suspected murderers, drug dealers and child molesters.
Two months later, a man was driving along Central Avenue, without violating any traffic laws, when a St. Petersburg police officer checked his license plate number and found there was a warrant for his arrest.
Like Tran, Glenn Bell, 28, was taken to jail for failing to address a lawn-watering fine.
The two are among an increasing number of people in Pinellas County who find themselves entangled in the criminal justice system because they have failed to pay a $188 fine for watering their lawns on the wrong days.
Only two people were arrested last year, from January through September, in connection with a lawn-watering violation, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. But during the same period this year, the number jumped to 22 — an 11-fold increase.
That's because Pinellas County Utilities and municipalities no longer issue warnings for watering offenses in the midst of what the Southwest Florida Water Management District calls an extreme water shortage, said Terrie Grace, who oversees the water restriction enforcement program for the county utility.
Before Nov. 14, 2008, homeowners and business owners were given a warning the first time an enforcement officer saw the sprinkler system activated on the wrong day, Grace said. After that date, they were slapped with a citation and fine.
That strict stance resulted in the number of citations skyrocketing. From January through September last year, 38 citations were issued by Pinellas County Utilities.
Once the warnings disappeared, however, the number of citations soared, to 1,015 from January through September this year, Grace said.
It wasn't that more people were watering their lawns on the wrong days. The number of violations was virtually the same for the two nine-month stretches — 1,046 violations in 2008 compared with 1,069 violations in 2009, Grace said. In 2008, the majority of violations didn't result in citations because property owners followed watering rules after the warnings.
Violators who receive a citation have two choices. They either can pay the $188 fine or they can contest the fine by showing up in court on a date specified on the citation. An arrest warrant is generated if they do neither.
One such warrant was generated for Luis E. Martinez, a St. Petersburg dentist who suspects his sprinkling system had been tampered with.
The sprinklers outside his office activated on a Sunday morning, four hours after his designated day, Martinez said. He was cited May 7. He said he tried paying the fine online, but couldn't because of an incorrect citation number.
"Little did I know that a warrant would be issued for my arrest for not appearing in court for the watering violation," Martinez wrote in a letter placed in his court file.
Unlike Bell and Tran, Martinez wasn't arrested on the street. Like most violators who miss a court date, he learned in a letter he had to visit the Pinellas County Jail to straighten out the situation.
What he didn't know was that he would be treated like a criminal.
Although Martinez did not have to mix with the jail's population as Bell and Tran did, he had his mug shot taken and was fingerprinted.
"I said, 'Excuse me?' " Martinez said in an interview. "I think it's ridiculous."
Martinez, on his way to the jail, thought it might be a good idea to bring his children to the jail as part of an impromptu educational experience. But he thought otherwise when he found out what was happening.
"I'm texting my family, 'They're booking me,' " Martinez said. He eventually saw his jail photo and thought he looked incredulous.
A warrant also was issued for Mark Lawton, 58, an insurance manager from Largo.
Lawton said he had done electrical work on his home and reset timers for an alarm clock, the television and the microwave. But he forgot to reset the sprinkler system, and it activated at the wrong time. He received the citation but thought his wife had paid it. When he received a letter from the clerk of courts, he realized he had to make a trip to the jail.
"You kind of feel like a criminal, I guess," Lawton said. "You get that letter in the mail saying there's a warrant for your arrest. It's like, 'Wow.' It's something foreign to me, I'll tell you that."
John Carpenter, 38, a self-employed storm chaser, found himself in a similar situation.
Carpenter said a neutral ground wire shorted out and he had to replace the transformer on his sprinkler system. He didn't reset it, however, thinking the old timing schedule would kick in.
He said he was given a citation but forgot about the court date.
"I didn't think it was a big deal," Carpenter said. Then he got the letter saying there was a warrant for his arrest and he needed to go to the jail to post bail.
"I think it runs along the same lines as a scare tactic — 'If you don't take it, we'll show you,' " Carpenter said. "I think it's very, very wrong."
Tran's story is different.
She said she had paid the fine.
Tran was working at her office on a Saturday in May when her home sprinkler system activated. Her then-husband usually managed the timer, but he was in Dallas. Tran didn't know how to work it.
She said she called Pinellas County Utilities the next Monday and tried to pay by phone using her credit card, but was told she would have to wait for a letter from the clerk of the courts. Before the designated court date, she said she paid the fine in June at the courthouse in Largo.
It didn't matter the next month.
After she was told she was under arrest for the lawn-watering violation, she begged two police officers to take her to her office so she could show them a copy of the check and a receipt from the clerk of court. They declined.
As she put her hands behind her back to be handcuffed, she turned her head away from passing motorists "because it was so humiliating," she said. The jail wasn't any better.
She was put in a room with two women, one a prostitute and drug addict, the other a bad-check writer. Nearby, a woman strapped into a chair was screaming for hours.
Tran spent more than seven hours in custody. When she later complained at the clerk of courts office, she said she was told the $188 payment she had made wasn't entered into the system before the warrant was generated. Someone from the office apologized.
"Sorry for what?" Tran asked. "I've been in jail like a criminal for something I didn't do."
Tran and the others say there should be other ways to enforce water-restriction violations. One might call for repeated warnings before a citation kicks in. Others say the violations should be handled differently by the courts — not the same way child rapists and murders are processed.
In Hillsborough County, no one gets arrested for watering on the wrong day. If a $100 initial fine isn't paid, the violator appears before a special magistrate, who may try to work out a payment schedule.
If the fine isn't paid, additional fines can be levied, to the tune of up to $1,000 a day for a first-time violator and up to $5,000 a day for a repeat offender, said Karen Matches, manager of Citizen Boards Support, the administrative office for six quasi-judicial boards in the county. Eventually, liens can be placed on the property where the lawn-sprinkling violation occurred and on the owner's personal property, such as a car.
"I'm sure there are other ways to handle it," said Martinez, the dentist. "Now I have a record because I have a watering violation? That's ridiculous."
Tran now waters her lawn on Wednesdays. As soon as the sprinkler system stops, she unplugs it from the electrical outlet.
"I don't want to go to jail again," she said.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
Littering you say?
Our city just instituted a $2500 fine and/or one year in jail if you toss a butt on the ground.
So her relatives fled the commies in Vietnam for this? Jeez, maybe now the enlightened Floridians will send her to an envirofascist re-education camp.
Aren't THESE the guys we don't have to worry about? ... Just the UN imports?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
While bloodthirsty Muslims wander around unfettered.
Who turned them in?
Is there a fleet of vans running around with addresses and "allowed" days?
"Hey Fred ... 132 ... ain't it supposed to be Toosdees?"
"Lemmee check .... yeah ... the sheet says Toosdee .. what's t'day .. Wensdee?
"Yeah"
OK ... got it"
A a week later a letter shows up?
You can’t water lawns or brain-damaged women in FL without going to jail.
And they say Jersey’s a police state. :(
" .. or has municipal tyranny reached such a state that fear will prevent any opposition to the will of rulers."
Terrorism?
It's no longer just the muzzies.
actually they do have vans that patrol the streets looking for violators...yet another reason why I can’t wait to leave South New York
Sounds like Alice's Restaurant.....
Look ... what a great opportunity to perform some resistance.
Tack strips ... shoot the tires out ... when a neighnor spots them at one end of the street ... make phone calls and cordon the van off with a human wall ... jeez .. i can think of a dozen or more.
If we don't have that much time left anyway ... let's have some fun.
The typical liberal knows how to run everyone else’s life and will seize any opportunity to do so. I hate them.
I am waiting for something along the lines of driving older (antique) vehicles to be restricted or outright outlawed coupled with the seizure of the vehicle and/or jailtime.
Remember, the water didn’t originate on her property. She purchases the water from the Government. It’s important to recall what powers we have given to the government. A rational government would shut off her water at the curb stop, revoke her occupancy permit and send her notice of condemnation of the premises.
Oh yes, we love our government services.
Completely asinine. Up here in the “great” Northwest, during drought season we have even/odd watering regs. I have my system set up to water every THREE days, saving more water. I suppose that one day they’ll come for me, too. After all, I’m not meeting the “letter” of the law, despite the actual fact that I am doing MORE than the law intends.
It is because their own lives and emotions are so out of control that they have the NEED to control everybody else.
You don't know how true that statement is! We have a friend who has experienced a modern day version of that. She got a minor speeding ticket and dutifully went to the courthouse to pay it. While there the clerk pulled up her name and notified her there was a warrant out for her arrest. She was utterly shocked! The gave her no further information. The next thing she knew a police officer came up behind her and handcuffed her and took to jail. He wouldn't even tell her her what she had been charged with. She wasn't even allowed to make a phone call to her husband.
As it turned out, a complaint had been filed by a home-owner’s association for littering at a house that she and her husband had vacated over a year ago. They were forced to walk away from the house when their income plummeted due to the horrible economy and they were unable to maintain the payments. Meanwhile, some time between the officer pulling her over for the traffic infraction and the time she went to court to pay for the ticket, the HOA filed a complaint, and a notice for a court appearance was supposedly sent to their former house. The post office stop forwarding their mail to them over 8 months before. They never received the notice and therefore did not attend the hearing.
Our friend was eventually released from jail. Her fine is now about $2000 for the crime of littering at her former house. They are in dire straits fiendishly as it is. They can't afford to pay the fine brought upon them by an overzealous HOA. Meanwhile, there is no shortage of real criminals in our community. Statistically, the overwhelming majority of them will get away with their offenses. If they are caught most will be granted probation for a first offense or maybe a minor fine amounting to a slap on the hand if they get anything at all. Meanwhile, the city, bowing to a complaint by an HOA, has determined that an honest citizen is the type of “criminal” for whom no mercy will be shown.
Lol! Don’t you hate it when that hapens. Of crouse I nevre nede to yous the speel checher.
It’s generally the water management districts that generate these laws, not the county commission. And the way they do it os odd numbered houses water on one day and even numbers a different day. We just went to one day a week watering, regardless of whether you irrigate with well water or “city” water. I am a professional engineer and do a lot of permitting through the various water management districts and believe me this isn’t the only crazy rule they have in place.
Wait until Pelosi Failure-to-Buy-Health-Insurance arrests start. And if you get five years in the slammer, health care is free! Yippee
Wow. Welcome to Stalinist America.
I had that in the back of my mind — good catch!
I have my problems like anyone but I didn't just blab them and made it a point to tell those people nothing if possible. The not-knowing every detail killed them. The female ones were the worst in that regard. One apparently took it personally that I didn't give a daily report of my life's day to day problems. I also didn't want to hear about anyone else's either. The crying and whining was just too much to listen to.
Another thing that drove them wacko was that I was trying to rise above my place in life as they deemed it. How dare I ever look into advanced education, discuss higher technical stuff with others, go work in those areas on weekends and vacation days to get experience? That offended me to no end. I was in line to be cut and I found somewhere else which has its own problems but people with technical skills are appreciated some.
We are hoping to pull out of this sector in the next year and some change. Any prospective area that even hints of an HOA goes straight to the bottom of the list. Let the busybodies enslave and harass their own kind.
bookmark bump
I agree! I could never live in a neighborhood controlled by an HOA. On the other hand, I do sympathize with my neighbors who live on a street with a house that was recently painted an obscene shade of lime sherbet green. I am sure that their property values plummeted a good $20,000 just having that house in the proximity!
We want to leave for list of reasons, the neighborhood communists being up there but to be closer to some immediate family is the main one. Out where they are, there are HOAs, not too bad as I hear but all it takes is one busybody to change that.
That definitely seems to be the case. HOA’s tend to attract them like high powered magnets. What always astounds me is the sheer power these busybodies in their HOAs manage to wield.
The land of the free has sure gone downhill.
If it comes down to me and some busybody HOA type, that person will find out that I am not going to roll over for them just because they say so. I am a sensible, responsible, clean living type who minds his business, likes American flags and old vehicles. I have an old CJ and it stays as long as I am breathing and I dare any HOA facist to do something about it if it ever happens.
What amazes me is the number of people here who piss and moan about HOA’s but are too damn lazy to run for a seat on said board where they would have the power to do something about the problems.
When I was on our HOA board I met all of you who bitched but were too “busy” to help yourselves. We never had enough volunteers but we had plenty of cry babies.
If I ever live in one and it is some kind of dictatorship-lite, I will run.
It’s amazing what one can get done or undone with a little time and effort on a HOA board.
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