Posted on 03/21/2006 1:38:11 AM PST by beaversmom
BATAVIA, Ohio -- A man who neighbours say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn is charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard.
Charles Martin, 66, of Union Township, near this city about 30 kilometres east of Cincinnati, shot next-door neighbour Larry Mugrage in the chest with a shotgun about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police said. The youth was pronounced dead at hospital.
Martin was being held without bond yesterday in Clermont County Jail. Police said he told them he had several disputes about neighbours walking on his lawn. But Union Township police Lieut. Scott Gaviglia said Martin had no criminal history and last called police in 2003.
Martin called 911 on Sunday, saying in a calm voice: "I just killed a kid."
He also tells the dispatcher: "It's been going on for five years ... I've been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up."
STUNS NEIGHBOURHOOD
The deadly shooting stunned those in the neighbourhood and students at Glen Este High School, where Martin was a freshman, and grief counsellors were on hand yesterday.
"I think there's a great deal of shock, for two reasons: because of the age of the victim and just how this occurred, killed over some grass," Gaviglia said.
Neighbours said Martin lived alone quietly, often sitting out in front of his one-storey home with its neat lawn, well-trimmed shrubbery and flag pole with U.S. and navy flags flying.
In his fenced backyard, he had several birdhouses and a shed painted like a small red barn with white trim.
." Shoot a kid over a lawn? Sorry. Put him away and throw away the key."
And another reader buys the "action line" of the MSM (as Rush calls it.)
It is just possible that this kid liked watching the old nut go crazy. In any event there is probably a bit more to the story than that some old guy grabbed a gun and shot someone because his lawn got dented once or twice.
We may be a rather hasrh lot here but we're not as stupid as you charge.
I believe there is much more here then just some kid walking across this guys lawn. I believe that was the final straw at least I hope so.
Regardless the shooter will rot in jail for life at least and rot in hell for eternity.
Correction: He will not own a lawn anymore. He is going to jail.
My next door neighbor's kids played on my large side yard for years. They have out grown that kind of play now and I have grass. I prefer kids to grass.
Batavia, Ohio where this story took place is also the home town of the subject of my tag line.
I agree. The article refers to this being a repeated offense.
If the shooter sought police help in the past and received none due to the low severity of the crime, it is understandable that he would feel cornered.
Also, if the parents of this kid did not convey the concept of private property properly, they are partially at fault.
I grew up on a 200 acre farm. Nobody lived on it for years and hence it became public hunting grounds for anyone. As a result, the game populations were horribly depleted, so we posted the property to control the number of hunters each year to manageable levels.
With bright orange posted signs every 100 feet along the boundaries (and many, many more along trails inside the property) we would still get trespassers trying to hunt with no regard.
I have had some of these guys actually threaten me when I was younger! That's when I started to carry an AR-15 and 1911 in a thigh holster and call the state police to haul them away.
The bottom line: there are too many people that have no regard for property rights.
"Only Allah could make a perfect carpet"
That explains it! When I visited the Samarqand rug factory in Uzbekistan, I looked at the rugs for sale and said, "Hey, these are all seconds!"
;^)
A sane voice in the wilderness. Our nation has completely lost it. It starts with this man thinking his immaculately kept lawn was more important than finding a solution to this conflict (i.e. move, police, courts, fence, etc.) and the parents and that boy thinking they could do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted to. Moral depravity gone wild. We're ripe for some more interesting events.
ROFL!!!
Dude, the guy was a fruitcake and proved himself to be a dangerous fruitcake. He blew some kid away who walked on his lawn. Perspective.
"Also, if the parents of this kid did not convey the concept of private property properly, they are partially at fault."
When I was a kid we had all sorts of shortcuts thruyards, some owned by peoples as meticulous as the shooter here. But when I was a teenager ny father told me to stay the hell of other peoples property "or you'll end up getting shot".
I never really listened because I thought he was just being idotic in the usual adult manner.
What he never put into words and what becoming an adult has taught ME is that--there are prople in this world who are reflexivly afraid of a teenager who sports the up to date teenager 'look'. That there are people in this world whom life pisses on day in and day out and whose only control or sanctuary is in their yards and homes. That there are people in this world who simply wish to be left alone.
Did I say he was justified? Did I defend the use of force in this case?
You need to read more carefully and you need to understand that while this story is an over-reaction to a seemingly minor offense, there is an underlying problem with our society....a lack of respect for property rights.
We have people who think it is OK to walk across neighbors lawns without permission.
We have people who think it is their right to download copywrited music for free.
We have people who think that taking private property for increased tax revenue is OK.
We have people who think that the confiscation of firearms in the middle of lawlessness is justified.
Also, from the story, it appears he shot the boy in the chest. That indicates something other than the man threatening the boy and the boy running away. If the truth were known, the boy and man were facing each other and were competing for "Most Disparaging Comment" awards at the time of the shooting. I've seen teens like that. More needs to be brought out about this for everyone's benefit.
Don't deliberately provoke people you know are crazy.
BUMP
We've always lived among thieves, morons and the inconsiderate. This is nothing new.
What is relatively new is how close so many people have gotten to "the last straw."
"Dude, the guy was a fruitcake and proved himself to be a dangerous fruitcake. He blew some kid away who walked on his lawn. Perspective."
Nope, gross oversimplification that shows no understanding of human nature and consrquences down the line.
This kid was probably shot for activly asserting his right to be on that lawn.
In a reasonable society one call to the parents would have solved the problem. In a slightly less reasonable society one call to the cops would have solved the problem.
In a society that only sees simplicities such as you have stated human nature erupts.
The reason I respect others is because I want respect from others. This kid if he is like some guys i grew up with was probably a wise-ass with a passive-aggressive thing going and two really stupid parents. Oh yeah and an angry neighbor.
Needless to say, the response in this case wasn't equal to the provocation. Still, persistent trespassing needs to be addressed by the authorities, and not sloughed off as a minor problem, not worth their time. Why can't there be some contingency for forcing repeat trespassers to post a bond for their future good behavior?
The kid was a teenager, of course he was a moron pushing the limits. That's what they do.
Thank you. You saved me writing all that I wanted to say. I can see how it could have happened, though the shooting isn't justified. But the neighbors who harassed this unstable man are implicated in the boy's death. They are not innocent.
The parents in this story are likely idiots whose son could do no wrong, and assumed their neigbor was not a crazy shooter, they were wrong.
Candor7 , You beat me too it,I'm not the only one that had this thought.
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