Posted on 12/04/2022 6:14:30 AM PST by devane617
An 82-year-old woman in Alabama was arrested for failing to pay her trash bill, police said.
Martha Louis Minefield, a longtime resident of Valley, Alabama, was arrested on Sunday after she failed to make payments for her trash service for the months of June, July, and August, according to a statement by Valley Police Chief Mike Reynolds.
Code Enforcement attempted to contact Menefield several times and issued a citation in August that advised her to appear in court on September 7, police said. A warrant for Menefield's arrest was subsequently issued after she failed to appear in court, per officials.
Menefield, however, told local news outlet CBS 42 that she was surprised when police officers came to her home on Sunday to arrest her.
The senior told the outlet that she had never received any notice to appear in court and that she thought the $77.80 bill had already been paid because her trash pickup was never suspended.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
She should be bitch-slapped, put in chains, and forced into labor hard labor for ten years.
Thank you. Excellent response. Hole in one.
Could have received it and thought is was junk mail or a scam.
“She should be bitch-slapped, put in chains, and forced into labor hard labor for ten years.”
Oh it’s coming if we keep capitulating and thinking this stuff is acceptable. It is the slow boiling of the Frogs. And some are just dumb enough to help hold the pan for them as they boil us to death.
I do not deny that the court and law enforcement turned a civil matter into a criminal misdemeanor.
My post was to point out that the concept of debtor’s prison was false, a lie.
It would seem to me that failure to appear in a civil matter would result in a judgement in the amount of the debt and court costs.
When are we going to draw the line? In North Korea little Kim throws folks in jail for not producing their monthly quota of human excrement to be used for nationalized fertilizer. It’s a “LAW”. That will be us in five years if we don’t draw a line with this insanity pretty soon.
“It would seem to me that failure to appear in a civil matter would result in a judgement in the amount of the debt and court costs.”
Absolutely! Exactly! Now you are getting it. NOT ARREST AND JAIL.
Back charges, fines or late fees, court costs, seizure, eviction, Etc. But NOT ARREST AND JAIL.
This is a line Bert, Do you have a line Bert? Or are all the corrupted government Kapos heroes to you?
You need to read post 41. This was not the first time. In the past she had been cited many times. In this instance they left a notice on her door that she ignored. Courts don’t have time for such foolishness. Pay your damn garbage bill and be done with it.
Oh my goodness....... what a load of accusatorial newbie crap.
I read it... Repetitive or not, repeat offender or not, there are still limitations to authority. So to teach someone a lesson you can go above your authority? Whatever it takes? The end justifies the means?
No there needs to be a hard line drawn somewhere. If not what will be next? I have fought city hall many times and they make up their own personal laws that are not even codified. Been there with the creative license and abuse of authority from glorified Dog Catchers...
“Oh my goodness....... what a load of accusatorial newbie crap.”
Ouch... That hurt Bert, why are you trying to make me cry?
What I read is “I don’t have jack for a logical rebuttal so I will pull out the old “Newbie” I have more seniority than you card”.
Seniority in no way replaces wisdom or common sense...
She continued to use the service without paying for it. Isn’t that theft?
Hey, how come Martha gets to steal services? If she gets to steal services, we’ll all steal services, it’ll be anarchy!
“She continued to use the service without paying for it. Isn’t that theft?”
Most municipalities force mandated trash and water to “occupy” a residence. In a case like this the normal procedure is eviction from the property, or abatement and seizure of the property if the bill due and fines are not paid.
Not a bench warrant for failure to appear and arrest for not appearing. If you don’t show to court on the matter it is an automatic eviction or abatement without any defense.
So you think “eviction from the property, or abatement and seizure of the property” was the way to go? Hardcore man! Personally, since she is a seasonal nonpayer and refused to answer correspondences, I would have just sent the police to escort her to city hall for a polite face to face chat about the importance of paying your bill or arranging an alternate method of settling her debts. Then possibly a root cause for the chronic nonpayment could be established and maybe have the bills sent to a responsible adult. I don’t think allowing her to ignore/forget bills and have the community get stuck with her debt is the way to go. Oh the irony, the bills for trash pickup were probably going out in the very trash she wasn’t paying to be picked up!
That is how it works. Someone is going to pay the bill.
If you are renting then they slap the landlord with the bill and threaten to abate his property. so he has no choice but to pay it, evict the renter, and then rent to someone who will pay it. Does the landlord lose ou? No this cost comes out of the rent deposits. This is one of the main reasons landlords started charging rent deposits. To cover the trash bill if it is not paid.
Private owner will get an abatement order. And if they do not pay the bill they will lose their property over a couple hundred bucks owed for trash. Be stupid not to pay it.
But they don’t put ou\t a bench warrant and come arrest you for not paying your trash bill.
As described in the 3rd sentence of the excerpt above.
I was replying to the headline. She wasn’t arrested for not paying a bill. She was arrested for not showing up at court.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.