Posted on 06/28/2004 9:09:55 AM PDT by ijcr
Edited on 07/12/2004 3:42:32 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
BOWLING GREEN, Va. -- Lawyer and part-time cattle farmer John F. Ames got off on the wrong foot with his new neighbors in the 1980s when he invoked a 17th-century law to compel them to pay for part of the fence around his 675-acre estate.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Good fences make good neighbors...
One has to actually read the poem to understand that that is not what Frost was "saying".
Robert Frost is a terrifically overrated poet.
I understand your point perfectly. I never said that Ames was outside the law.
I said he was a JERK.
Regardless of who is in the right regarding the fence and the cattle, it doesn't take six shots to stop a 74 year old man armed with a stick.
Ames wouldn't want ME on his jury.
Did I say that was wrong? I said the animosity might have been averted had he started off decently with his new neighbors.
As for property rights, the guy had every reason to expect his neighbor to keep the cattle off his land. At the same time, why didn't he respect the property rights of his neighbor by not using an old law to confiscate his neighbor's financial property?
"Your honor, I guess I'm not sophisticated enough to follow that argument."He claims that the judge cracks-up every time he uses it (but sparingly).
ok if its a cattle prod though, that would be a deadly weapon.
What do you expect? Lawyers' actions are worthy if disdain.
i would agree that he is a jerk, but it seems to me that he put up the fence to keep the other questionable stock out, coming from a cattle family, it wouldnt go over well in ours, but then the wondering bull would have been shot or taken by the authorities.
i prefer robert burns myself!!
But it appears that you and I are ignoring the fact that Brooks kept tearing down fences and making trouble.
I agree with you but we got called "typical lawyer haters" above.
Me? I'm for the deceased. Ames, coming in and using law dating from 1600 is really pushing it, isn't he?
Condolences to the Brooks family.
And you betcha, Ames is gonna get hisself off. He knows how to read the law, and will use it in any way possible.
One lingering question. FIVE bullets in self-defense?
I hope the DA looks into that fact.
One of the cardinal rules here is that you don't mess with your neighbors. You leave them alone -- even when they are doing something you don't like.
This is different than California, where I used to live. There, you do mess with your neighbors. Not here.
If the guy wanted a fence, he should have just built it himself. I don't care what the state law says. That is how things work. You might (very politely) discuss the idea with your neighbors, but that would be the end of it.
People get pretty pissed off when you intrude on their turf. You don't do it.
No where in the report did it say how many time the trespasser was hit.
The first single shot might have been a warning shot into the dirt.
The five rapid shots might have been as a result of the trespasser not heeding the warning to stop advancing.
We all are just speculating.
I have been known to hire lawyers myself when needed and I have (3) in my extended family.
I just think Ames is a jerk and either a pussy who shoots an old man who's only armed with a stick or prod 6 times including as described by a witness as one shot followed thereafter by 5 in succession...(sounds like an execution) or he's a psycho.
The fact Ames is a lawyer and uses that to extort from his neighbors is irrelevant. He's just plain bad news at best.
The article makes no mention of an Ames fan club in the county.
If I shot everyone who has aggravated me, damaged my properties, or threatened or menaced me, I'd need a sizable graveyard to bury them all in.
I'd have shot the bull.
If you are legally allowed to use lethal force in self-defense, it's irrelevant how much lethal force you use.
yes, you're right about that.
Everyone's a loser here, it seems. Too bad there were no calmer heads to prevail here.
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.