Posted on 12/21/2007 9:44:07 AM PST by Cagey
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- An 86-year-old man jailed for seven days has an unlikely group of people making sure he doesn't land in jail again: the prison staff.
John Allen was sent to jail after being convicted of violating a Union Township law stating private property must be clear of junk, rubbish, garbage and unruly grass.
Union Township Police Chief Joseph Lombardo said Allen refused to adhere to warnings to clean up his property, which was so filled with junk it had become an eyesore to complaining neighbors. He also refused the help of an organization that assists the elderly and he rejected offers from his neighbors.
Allen said he doesn't like having local people in his home. But after seven days in jail, he softened his position.
During the past three days, Allen has allowed the jail staff to clean up his property. They have filled a garbage bin to the brim with old furniture and other household items. Once they are finished inside, and the snow melts, they will get to the yard, including mowing the high grass.
This sort of issue is going to be on the rise as the boomers age. People are living longer and their minds start to go before their bodies. This man sounds like he needs an evaluation to see if he is capable of caring for himself. I wonder what the INSIDE of his house looks like. The poor guy probably has dementia.
Much as I don’t like the nanny state, not everyone has a family to take care of them when they get up in years and sometimes there comes a time when older people become a danger to themselves and others. Jail is not the answer, but there are many services available that might be.
It seems to me that there have been more stories about the letter of the law overriding the spirit of the law - and about the elderly getting shafted instead of treated.
Most often the elderly don’t like unkept yards either. Usually what happens is that they cannot physically care, don’t have family to help or the finances to keep a home up.
Hate to have to be the one to clue you in, 1rudeboy, but em2vn is right... this has been a problem in some areas also in Pennsylvania. When long-time residents have tried to get the cleanup of junk cars, rubbish, etc., from the yards of new Mexican residents, they couldn't get relief...yet the same statutes were being used against "anglos."
My former co-worker moved out of the house his wife's family had lived in for generations to get away from a similar situation, moving out of the neighborhood into a newly constructed place. (He was always railing against "McMansions" and new development, so but he found one that was modest.) Sure, it was a culture clash between a family that had been in America for 300 years and new immigrants, but I have to wonder if the new immigrants were in part trying to push out the old ones. It seemed more than just inconsiderate or uncaring.
Personally, I believe in property rights, and if the resident is minding his own business, then he shouldn't be hassled, whether it's about "unruly" grass or junk autos, but in any case, the enforcement should be equal, without fear of "ethnicity-bias" claims.
How would the guy get help with something like this?
Like it or not, jail worked. He finally accepted help.
However, kudos to the guards who have more honor and integrity than those responsible for the judicial system.
Kudos to the guards, and to the charities and neighbors whose help was refused. We're still a great nation.
Maybe the Heritage Foundation or John Lott or some other reputable organization could do a study on, not whether people towards the bottom of the socio-economic scale have a greater tendency to have junked vehicles and tall grass in the front of their houses, but whether their immigration status determines whether they’ll be asked to clean it up.
Put yourself in HIS place. He’s 86, he still wants to maintain his independence and he wants to prove that he can still take care of the things that are his.
Jail proved NOTHING except an oppressive judicial system has the power (and nothing else - PARTICULARLY wisdom) to do with him as it will.
The only winners here are the folks with good hearts who stepped in to help out.
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