Jackson PD chips away at cars in yards (parking ticket in your own yard)

Carrion Ledger ^ | 11-04-03 | Lora Hines

[flying Elvis]

Jackson police officer Lester Schommer can't drive far without finding a vehicle parked on a front yard in south Jackson.

Last month, he started enforcing the city's ordinance that bans drivers from parking on lawns. He has documented more than 100 violations. But no one has gotten a ticket yet.

[NorthGA]

We have no zoning in our county - we can do with our own land what we want. I buy it, pay taxes on it and then get to use it as I see fit - What a concept!

[N. Theknow]

Dang!

What's a feller to do when Ole Faithful is up on cement Firestones under the shade tree waiting for a guy to save up so's he can make the final payment on a part at the "used auto parts"store?

[SJSAMPLE]

Yeah. Except for the whole "taxes" part.

[toddst]

. . . we can do with our own land what we want. I buy it, pay taxes on it and then get to use it as I see fit . . .

Basically I agree with you. However, when homes are close together it becomes more important to establish some rules addressing minimums of yard appearance. We work hard at keeping our place attractive and I'm not willing to let a neighbor run his own personal "pig-sty" at my expense. Keep those cars and junk piles out of the yard, thanks. The same goes for barking dogs BTW.

[ambrose]

So where are all the Judge Roy Moore supporters going to park their cars?

[freeeee]

If you want homeowner association rules, move into a deeded community.

The law is not your HOA.

[newgeezer]

That is an interesting concept. What happens when someone decides to locate a ____________* next door to you? Just sell your piece o' paradise for $1 and go somewhere else?

*Fill in the blank with whatever piece o' sh*t you'd least like to have next door.

[Sloth]

Filthy Nazi scum.

[freeeee]

"What happens when someone decides to locate a nosy old anal retentive control-freak golf cart riding HOA brownshirt geezer next door to you?"

Why, you remind him this is a free country and spray him with the garden hose.

Or so I'm told.

[MineralMan]

"We work hard at keeping our place attractive and I'm not willing to let a neighbor run his own personal "pig-sty" at my expense. Keep those cars and junk piles out of the yard, thanks."

I see. So your desires are more important than those of your neighbor. Makes perfect sense. I'll tell you a little story:

My neighbors went to sell their house. Now, they weren't very nice people in the first place, but when they put their For Sale sign up, they came and knocked on my door.

"I want that junk pickup out of your driveway while we're selling our house." The guy said.

"Really," I replied.

That junk pickup was a 10 year old Dodge. Sadly, it was one of those that had the lousy paint that peeled off about 8 years after you bought the car. But it was a great truck, and I liked it a lot.

"I don't think so," I told my soon-to-be ex neighbor. "That's my truck, and I drive it every day. It's licensed, so I don't think I'll be moving it. You'll just have to sell your house with my car in my driveway."

Well, then he made a mistake. He told me he was going to report that car as a junk vehicle and have it towed away. I told him to go ahead. Of course, the cops saw that it was operable and had current plates on it, so they left it alone.

But I was ticked. Really ticked. So...I bought a 1959 Volkswagen Beetle...really awful looking, too. It, too, was licensed and ran just fine, but man was it ugly. I decided that it was a classic car and that I would "restore" it. So, I jacked it up, put it on jackstands, took of the tires, and spent 15 minutes a day sanding on the body. I spent more time pounding on the dents in the car, but I'm not a very good body and fender guy, so I tended to make things worse.

This time the neighbor was really ticked, and called the cops again. They showed up, saw that it was licensed. They asked if it was operable, so I said sure. I bolted the wheels back on, fired it up and drove it down the street and back.

"OK," the cops said. It's fine, as long as you keep the license current and keep working on it.

Sometimes, one man's junk is another man's restoration project.

[Sloth]

We work hard at keeping our place attractive and I'm not willing to let a neighbor run his own personal "pig-sty" at my expense. Keep those cars and junk piles out of the yard, thanks.

If you don't want those things to be there, buy their property or move elsewhere.

[CommerceComet]

Reasonable restrictions are the cost that we all have to pay to have a community. If you believe that old junk heaps make attractive lawn ornaments, move out to the boonies.

[Area51]

MY neighbor shut his trap when I suggested that I was about to put a large pig lot and chicken coop upwind of his place if he didn't keep his nose to his own business.

He is one of those rat bastards that move from the city into the country,thinks he runs the area like it is a HOA, then proceeds to instruct their neighbors who have lived here for decades as to what and how they can do things on their own property.

Since that tad bit of instruction I gave him for free, and his checking on the property designation as Agriculture, we have seemed to have a understanding. Well okay so he did finally move away this fall but what can I say; :)

[NorthGA]

I came from where you both seem to be several years ago. I moved from a "nice" neighborhood to this county.

Surprisingly, no zoning works quite well. In our "neighborhood" we have several who work from home, a seamstress, a photographer, car repair in a home garage, someone who has three cars for sale parked in his front yard, small houses, some multi hundred thousand dollar houses, and a few trailers. Surprisingly, some of the nicest and most sharing people are those with the least.

It has helped us teach our children that being a class neighbor is on the inside, not the outside. It has also challenged my ideas of myself and the snob ideas I had about others.

Our old neighborhood was comprised of all expensive houses - and while the yards were often neat, the kids and attitudes of the occupants often left much to be desired. I will take nice people of mixed income any day.

It is funny for me to see "progressive" city planners now try to legislate via zoning what we have - mixed housing.

[toddst]

If you don't want those things to be there, buy their property or move elsewhere.

Nope. We have community-wide rules in our community and I (and others) intend they be enforced. The "Addams Family" as we call them, will have to shape up.

[Trailerpark Badass]

Ah, yes the right to sustained property values that was listed on the lost page of the Declaration of Independence.

[newgeezer]

A straight answer would have been a real surprise.

Oh, well. Rednecks will be rednecks.

[freeeee]

But I gave you a staight answer.

You said:

"*Fill in the blank with whatever piece o' sh*t you'd least like to have next door."

So I did.

[newgeezer]

Hey, I was just wondering. Obviously, it's easy to sustain your property value when you paid next to nothing for it.

Different strokes for different folks. You folks don't have to get all 'badass' about it. Sheesh.