Woman Sentenced To Jail For Filthy House

local6 ^ | Nov 6 2004

[stainlessbanner]

OMAHA, Neb. -- After ignoring six years of prodding from the city, a woman is going to jail for having a filthy house.

A Douglas County judge Thursday sentenced Rosie Fellman to 45 days behind bars for littering, with breaks every 10 days to clean up her central Omaha home.

Trash and debris has been piled up to 5 feet deep in the house and garage, which are a health and fire hazard, the city's chief housing inspector Kevin Denker said.

Last month, inspectors found more than 100 garbage cans in the driveway.

City Prosecutor Marty Conboy said the city has spent six years trying to get Fellman to clean up. There was not much else the judge could do, Conboy said.

At the end of Fellman's sentence, the judge will decide if she has improved the home's condition. If not, she could be sentenced to another 45 days in jail.

The city has ordered the home demolished, but Fellman, who lives alone, is appealing the order.

"If she doesn't clean it out we'll just tear down everything," Denker said

[jamaly]

How could a sane person choose to live in this manner?

Procrastinator extraordinare.

[nuconvert]

Maybe she'll change her mind about seeking help?

[jamaly]

Ruh roh, I'd better get serious about doing that Flylady thing! ;o)

LOL!

Note to self - reread Sink Reflections.

Maybe Marla Cilley should add a chapter entitled Stop Freeping and Start Cleaning.

[Geritol]

This article sounds bad. Real bad. However, it never defines trash. It never says what "debris" is.

As many here have pointed out, some people live in FILTH for various reasons, few of them any good. The article does not make a solid case that this is the case, though it may be that there is stinking rotting stuff piled over half way to the ceiling.

On the other hand I have known a packrat or 2 that have collections of papers, magazines, tools, containers, toys, furniture, and many other things piled to the ceiling and beyond, with nary a bit of stinking rotting garbage in the mix. This may well be termed "garbage, trash and debris" by some, but it is a totally different situation.

My point? simply that we are making assumptions. They may be spot on, but we do not KNOW that. This may be a case of a city jailing and threatening to demolish a house and haul to the dump a house full of valuable collectibles. The author was too unspecified for me to know that this is not the case. Is there further evidence?

[You Dirty Rats]

I've never recovered from a bus trip through part of West Virginia -- going from Wheeling into the heart of the state on US 250. All those curves ... it was frightening. Some of those hollows were ... interesting. At least the Turnpike was widened years ago -- the two lane Turnpike was awful. Great driving now -- take a sports car from Charleston to Beckley and then east to Charlottesville, Virginia.

There is one guy that needs to be sent to rural West Virginia and stay there -- Bob Byrd. He's past the sell-by date.

I remember the West Virginia legislature passing a left lane law -- it would fine people going too slow in the left lane -- and specifically blaming Ohioans. Unfair to single out one state, but living here I know it's true.

[Fierce Allegiance]

What's a vacuum?

[dansangel]

Note to self: Vacuum sometime today.

ROFL! Dittoes.

[Grammy]

We lived next to an interesting character in our younger days. He had a yard full of odds and ends.... penny weight machines, lamps, cars, all kinds of weird things. He could hardly walk through the yard. He used this stuff to create a "camper". It had lights and a tv and was apparently his little hang out. We used to watch the rats running around the yard at night. Made us glad for the 3rd floor we were living on. We moved as soon as we could.

[cyborg]

Wow what a flashback to childhood *LOL*

[cyborg]

I was watching one with a girl who was a working professional. Her apartment was so filthy. More than that, she had MONEY all over her floor and bathroom,etc. Those two old ladies must have collected hundreds of dollars by the end of the show.

[Chad Fairbanks]

What is this "vacuum" thing of which you all speak?

[xp38]

It sucks a lot.

[RosieCotton]

Ruh roh, I'd better get serious about doing that Flylady thing! ;o)

Yeah, that was my first thought, too!

WHY couldn't I have been born with neat genes? *sigh*

[najida]

I would get the death penalty ;)

[najida]

LOL!!

Thank you!

[sinclair]

I actually have that album somewhere around here. He was a great songwriter IMHO.

[RadioAstronomer]

ROFL!!!!!!!!

[nuconvert]

"a health and fire hazard,"

[RadioAstronomer]

I would get the death penalty ;)

LOL! Me too! hehe

Except my house is stacked full of computer parts!

[najida]

What is this "vacuum" thing of which you all speak?

I believe it is related to that thing that people call an 'iron'.