Posted on 06/13/2022 7:53:40 AM PDT by grundle
An Alabama man who planted flowers on the gravesite of his fiancee and was arrested at the direction of the woman’s disapproving father was found guilty of littering this week.
About a month after Winston “Winchester” Hagans got engaged, his fiancee, Hannah Ford, was killed in a three-car crash in January 2021 that shattered what was supposed to be the happiest time of their lives. To honor the 27-year-old, Hagans placed a planter box full of fresh flowers and photos of the two of them on her grave in Auburn, Ala.
But earlier this year, Hagans was arrested on a charge of criminal littering. City officials had reassured him that he could put the planter at Ford’s gravesite unless there was a complaint. Then he discovered that a complaint had been filed — by the Rev. Tom Ford, his fiancee’s father.
“The police don’t enforce the law unless the owner of the plot tries to do something about it,” Hagans told The Washington Post earlier this year, adding that his late fiancee’s father did not approve of their relationship.
Hagans was convicted Thursday on one count of criminal littering and ordered to pay about $300 in fines and court costs, the Opelika-Auburn News reported. The 32-year-old man was also given a suspended jail sentence of 30 days that will remain suspended as long as Hagans does not place any more flowers or planter boxes on his fiancee’s grave.
(Excerpt) Read more at webcache.googleusercontent.com ...
Still looking for the Babylon Bee tag on this one.
YEP. Small minded people often attempt to use the law to do their bidding. Amber Heard comes to mind - And rev Tom...
“City officials had reassured him that he could put the planter at Ford’s gravesite unless there was a complaint. Then he discovered that a complaint had been filed “
Ten times he placed wooden planter boxes that became rotten litter the father had to clean up.
He was asked not to and after nine the complaint was filed
Seems like a dic move to have the guy arrested but I don’t know the whole story. The father clearly hates the guys guts, though.
Yep. The photo gives the “rest of the story”.
He didn’t just “leave flowers”.
Suddenly the story makes sense.
This is what most judges would call a “window case”. Open the window and throw out the papers, the court has more pressing issues.
If I was the father, I would remove the boxes but I wouldn’t contact the authorities. I would just keep removing the boxes until he quit. The former fiance should have worked with the father to see if they could place a memorial that they could agree to. That said, if the former potential son-in-law had done this ten times, it seems like it was an attempt to lay claim to the grave somehow. Weird situation and much more to the story than just the headline.
My approval or disapproval is not a concern.
In this case, I would think that the loss of his daughter would be enough for the father to let go of anger. The only memory I would want for my lost child is for the love for her would endure.
As for the planter itself, I'm not sure if I would want that on my daughter's grave, but I would speak directly to the person who put it there. Perhaps he did.
Can the Freeper sleuths find out what church this scumbag belongs to? His Yelp and Google review profiles might need some updating.... if ya know what I mean... ;-)
More proof that our modern court system is severely screwed up.
Must be an Alabama thing (full disclosure: I live here).
In 1921, a Methodist Episcopal Minister (and Klan member), E.R. Stephenson, had an adult daughter that converted to Catholicism and married a Puerto Rican.
Rev. Stephenson celebrated his daughter's wedding by going to the Catholic church a few hours later and killing the priest that performed the ceremony.
Ping.
[Ten times he placed wooden planter boxes that became rotten litter the father had to clean up.]
Maybe the father could have been less of a doosh and offered to collaborate with the fiance on a meaningful memorial that both could be on board with....
What a world....last week I read about a woman getting paid millions by Geico because she caught an STD banging a dude in her own vehicle and this week a guy gets arrested for leaving flowers at a gravesite.
That may be so, and he may have a legal right to act like an obnoxious bitch, but the court should have simply told the guy to remove the flowers and then dismissed the case.
Geez.. People wonder why religion gets a bad wrap. Why? Because a lot of so called "Christians" are completer jack asses.
>convicted Thursday on one count of criminal littering and ordered to pay about $300 in fines and court costs, the Opelika-Auburn News reported. The 32-year-old man was also given a suspended jail sentence of 30 days that will remain suspended as long as Hagans does not place any more flowers or planter boxes on his fiancee’s grave<
So much wrong with this.
I can see them warning him and ordering him to remove the flowers but after being told he could do it, they do this to him? He should sue someone!
If this is correct it helps to make more sense out of the story, but it should still never have gotten to the "conviction" phase. The judge should have told him to clean it up and stop doing it and then the judge should have dismissed the case.
Sheesh.....SMH
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