Posted on 02/23/2008 6:23:06 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
I sincerely doubt the case of Mr. Edward Haas - a respectable 76-year-old citizen of West Bend who now stands charged with pointing a shotgun in the general direction of a snowplow driver who nailed his mailbox - will ever go to trial.
But I know who I'd call if I were his defense attorney.
Dan Danielson has lived on Park Ave. in West Bend for about 20 years. His mailbox, he says, has been hit by a snowplow "at least 20 times."
Correction: make that mailboxes. He is, he says, on at least his third or fourth.
His box has been hit so many times, he says, he is "pretty much used to it."
He says he realizes that snowplows often throw off huge ice boulders that drivers cannot control.
He has adapted by putting some "rocking room" into his current box. It has a little bit of give in it, in other words, like those buildings in San Francisco that are supposed to be flexible enough to withstand an earthquake.
He is, in sum, an understanding guy but not an overly serious one.
When I asked Danielson if he had ever pulled a gun on a snowplow driver, he joked: "Not yet."
Snowplow drivers in West Bend, suffice it to say, are not very popular people - partly because the city has a policy of not reimbursing residents whose mailboxes get crushed.
The West Bend municipal code actually states that the city has "no obligation to repair or replace mailboxes or supports damaged by snowplowing operations."
Almost three dozen people have complained about their boxes being nailed this year alone, but the city will not pay.
This, to me frankly, seems very cold-hearted.
Some will, no doubt, say the same thing of Mr. Haas. (They are the ones, I predict, reading this online from Hawaii, or someplace.)
Not me. I do not know Mr. Haas. The gentleman did not answer his door when I stopped by. But I do know, from police reports, a little of what happened.
According to police reports, Mr. Haas is retired. He is no more than 5-foot-7 and weighs about 155 pounds. There are ice chunks as big as he is.
If he is like the rest of us, he has snowplowed or shoveled his sidewalk and his pretty sizable driveway 50 gazillion times this winter, and he is apparently sick of it. He is also sick of his mailbox getting hit by the plow - an occurrence he reported to the city once before this winter and which, he told a police officer, has happened other times as well.
He also told a West Bend police officer that when he saw the plow coming down his street Feb. 18, he pulled his minivan to the end of his driveway to prevent the driver from "filling" his driveway apron. His mailbox is right at the end of the driveway, however, and he said that as the plow passed his driveway it turned hard and struck his mailbox on purpose.
What happened next is in dispute.
The driver told police that Mr. Haas picked up a chunk of ice and threw it at the plow. The driver also told police that a man who was apparently Mr. Haas shortly after that used his van to cut the plow off on a nearby street, got out and yelled at the driver and then pulled a shotgun out of the van and pointed it in the snowplow driver's direction.
Mr. Haas himself told police that he did throw a snowball at the plow after the driver knocked over his mailbox and then smiled or laughed at him and kept on driving. He also told police, according to reports, that he did confront the driver. But he adamantly denied brandishing a gun. He insisted that he had only held a broomstick.
Police did later retrieve a shotgun from his house, which is presumably why prosecutors were confident enough to charge Mr. Haas with pointing a firearm and disorderly conduct. They did not find a broomstick anywhere.
On the other hand, a witness to the altercation insists Mr. Haas did not have a gun in his hand.
"I am sure it was not a gun," Ray Sell, a 71-year-old West Bend man, said in an interview with me. "It was wood."
Sell said that he was 60 or 70 feet away from the plow and Mr. Haas at the time and that it could have been a 2-by-4.
This could be a tough case for prosecutors.
If I were them, I think I would try to hold the trial in, say, July - after this miserable, never-ending, ever-mounting, frozen mess is but a nightmarish memory.
Conversely, if I really were Mr. Haas' attorney, I'd demand immediate justice.
Then hope it snows again the day they seat that jury.
Which, if that day is like every other this godforsaken year, is a pretty good possibility.
Case closed.
No offense to snow plowers out there. I'm sure a destroyed mailbox or two is not as annoying as working 20 hour days making $75+ an hour, but still. ;)
4-8 more inches coming our way starting Sunday afternoon. *SPIT*
we havent had the snow you all have had this year, but
i sure am glad our mailbox is attached to the house and
fortunate to have my own personal plow guy. ;)
Well, lets see - so far this year my equipment expenses have run about $30k, I broke my own darn leg on the ice, and we have made under a grand.
Anybody want to buy a snowplow business? Anybody? Anybody? Buehler? Buehler?
LOL! Timing IS everything. Don’t worry. There will be many more winters to come. :)
How can that be? Global warming and all.
i don’t have a problem with my mailbox, which is attached to my house, but i have a problem that all the snow gets pushed to my side of the street, which means a good portion of it ends up at the end of my driveway.
very frustrating to get an extra couple feet of snow and ice at the end of my driveway making a snowy/ icy barrier.
I have a very good friend who suffered mailbox destruction from Friday night vandals. They ride around whomping mailboxes for fun.
They got his several times and he made a new one.
He got a mailbox length of 10” or 12” diameter schedule 80 pipe having a wall thickness of at least a quarter inch. He welded similar steel on the end and ptovided a thick hemispherical hinged cap for the front. The box was attached to a smaller, but substantial schedule 80 pipe and embedded several feet in the ground with concrete.
It is painted flat black and is actually nice looking.
It has been whacked but withstood the blow
Hopefully they’ll use a metal bat on it next time.
*SPROING* Witnessing THAT would be worth the price of admission right there, LOL!
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.