“… Don’t berate the son for not flying home on weekends from several continents away to do lawn work.”
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LOL - I was berating him for not helping out AFTER he returned home.
He did do it once he returned.
The infraction, and the fine which resulted in the later ZOOM court appearance were incurred were for the period back in August while the son was overseas.
There’s a YouTube discussion by Michigan Attorney Steve Lehto that covers this case. This younger judge was out-of-line for singling out a sick, elderly man and his disabled wife for not doing yard chores during this short period when he was weak from undergoing chemotherapy. In fact, there’s a good case she was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act for such demands that he and his disabled wife personally do such upkeep of his property merely to keep his neighbors from being offended at seeing unkempt lawns and flower gardens for what amounts to a civil infraction.
She did not show any compassion at all for their condition or the facts of the case, she simply did not care they could not do the work, and threatened him with a sentence that she did not have the power to impose on him for something he could not afford to have done professionally due to medical expenses.
I do think the son should have arranged lawn care at his expense while he was away… he apparently has a well paying job. He apparently did not think of it. That was the mistake here.
She, as an elective judge, may not hold her bench at the next election over this lack of compassion. Her berating of him went viral and she is being roundly criticized by her electorate in her district.
In addition, what he was being fined for not maintaining, was the walk way behind his house in the ALLEY… from the looks of it, the garage has not been opened in a long time. I suspect it was longer than the three months, so you are likely correct that area was neglected much longer. I suspect that area is actually not even his property, but a public right-of-way that the city requires the adjacent property owner to keep clear by ordinance. Everyone seems to think its about mowing, it’s not, although he had not kept the moving up, either due to inability to do it. That garage looks like it needs some work, too. I do think the $100 fine is appropriate. The shaming was not.