Posted on 11/08/2004 5:41:35 AM PST by 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
I'll bet she has, but if she refuses help, there's not much they can do.
"Note to self: Vacuum sometime today."
Note to self: Vacuum sometime next year.
LOL
The smell would be bad enough but can you imagine the flies and rats and other assorted pests that would come with this kind of dump?
Talk about a health hazard.
You know me....I'm never shy of guns....
Note to self: Vacuum sometime next year.
Note to self: Buy a vacuum cleaner.
Ruh roh, I'd better get serious about doing that Flylady thing! ;o)
A few things I'd like to know: How old is this woman? Does she own the house and, if yes, how long has she owned it? The article says they've been after her for six years to clean it up -- has she ever had a mental evaluation?
My former husband was in a property management company. One apartment was so filled with trash (and the front door was rigged with a rusty gun and wire), it was cheaper to remove the picture window to clean it out. The former tenant was court referred to mental health.
There's a show on TV about this called "How Clean is Your House?" or something like that. The people featured are generally young professionals. They're not mentally ill, just lazy pigs.
I think I dated her in college. Real popular, as I remember, at the frat parties.
Seriesly, people can't live like this in Omaha. If you want to live like this, move to rural West Virginia.
It wasn't just her and her kids, either. The woman had nine of her closest friends (can you say "crack house"?) living in her one-bedroom apartment with her. Some of them had kids in diapers as well.
Halfway through the summer, they destroyed the plumbing in the bathroom. For a week, they would walk a few blocks down to a convenience store to use the public restroom. After that, they decided to use their backyard. In broad daylight. Nice.
After they were finally evicted, the city sent a cleanup crew to take care of over one hundred garbage bags full of rotting filth from the garage. One of the city workers threw up in the driveway, and he does this for a living. I spoke with him after they were done. He said he'd never had a job as bad as that one. It took us until winter to finally be able to drive out all of the rats and raccoons who had been enjoying the feast.
It's worth checking out. My favorite episode involved two 20-something Asian sisters whose bathroom was so caked in mildew that the team of inspectors had to don hazmat suits before entering it. The bathroom had to be gutted.
Surprisingly, the sisters were able to keep the house clean. They passed inspection months later.
"No one ever showed us how to do this," they said.
A gent I once worked for told me a story about visiting a home filled with debris nearly waist high. A path was cleared from the back door to the sofa and other "high traffic" areas. While he and his potential customer were having a conversation, a rabbit ran by. The homeowner threw a boot at the rabbit missing it. He explained that the rabbit was purchased last year as a birthday gift for his daughter and they haven't been able to catch it since.
Now I'm thinking, a rabbit probably emits 10 pellets per day. After 365 days, that's a lot of pellets. Whoa!
Jail time is not going to fix this problem, I'm afraid. What is needed is some psychiatric treatment and a crew to clean up the place.
This kind of hoarding of trash is symptomatic of mental illness. Just jailing this person is going to do no good whatever.
These situations rise to the level of health hazards. I cathc a lot of flack for it as well, but I have had to live with this kind of neighbor in the past. I have to live with the destablilization of my property's value. I had to keep my kids from playing in our own backyard--all summer long--because I couldn't risk their getting bit by rats. With rights come responsibilities.
GASP - what a shocking concept. It's too bad that more people don't understand that. :-)
I know, but jail time? I can't imagine the pain that her family is going through with all of this, too.
I am from rural West Virginia. I may be poor and dumb but I am not dirty. Furthermore, we do not need anyone like this. Before wishing this on a countrymen I would recommend that she be sent to CANADA or Mexico.
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