NationStates Jolt Archive


89-year-old charged with keeping kids' ball

Daistallia 2104
21-10-2008, 03:28
The classic cliche of the mean little old lady keeping the neighborhood kids ball got an interesting twist.

89-year-old charged with keeping kids' ball
Oct 20 03:07 PM US/Eastern

BLUE ASH, Ohio (AP) - Police in Ohio say an 89-year-old woman is facing a charge of petty theft because neighborhood children accuse her of refusing to give back their football.

Edna Jester was arrested last week in the Cincinnati suburb of Blue Ash.

Police say one child's father complained that Jester kept the youngsters' ball after it landed in her yard. Police Capt. James Schaffer says there has been an ongoing dispute in the neighborhood over kids' balls landing in the woman's yard.

Jester said Monday she has received many calls and didn't have time to discuss the matter any more.

Jester is to appear in court next month. The maximum penalty for a petty theft conviction in Ohio is six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93UDFKO0&show_article=1

To me, this brings up all sorts of interesting questions regarding property rights, nuisance problems, etc.

Within the spartan details there, it seems to me like the kids father went "nuclear" over it...
Zayun2
21-10-2008, 03:37
That'll learn them old follks.

Though if this really is a recurring problem, I say the kids should get better at whatever game they play and not send balls into her yard.
Naturality
21-10-2008, 03:40
'there has been an ongoing dispute in the neighborhood over kids' balls landing in the woman's yard.'

There.

Get out of my yard! :mad:
Neesika
21-10-2008, 03:46
This is nothing. Some of the most vicious disputes in law are over petty arguments between neighbours. Property law is rife with cases that make you wonder 'who the fuck would take THIS to the supreme court!?'
Dragontide
21-10-2008, 03:47
Urban sprawn FTL!

All kids need a a close by park to play in.
Wilgrove
21-10-2008, 03:52
I wonder what would happen if I just punctured the ball and give it back to the kids....
Cannot think of a name
21-10-2008, 03:53
Ah, you know-the possibility of a crabby old person 'keep your ball' is part of the growing up experience.
Lackadaisical2
21-10-2008, 03:53
Urban sprawn FTL!

All kids need a a close by park to play in.

What if they were in the park when it went into her yard?

Obviously the real solution is to ban ball playing, computer games for all!
greed and death
21-10-2008, 03:54
silly to bring it to court. though why the parents didn't just tell the kids to play in another yard rather then the one next to crazy old lady.
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
21-10-2008, 04:12
The obvious solution is for the old woman to invade the neighboring lawns, establishing a buffer territory to insure that no balls ever land in her yard again.
Tech-gnosis
21-10-2008, 04:33
This is nothing. Some of the most vicious disputes in law are over petty arguments between neighbours. Property law is rife with cases that make you wonder 'who the fuck would take THIS to the supreme court!?'

Can you name any particularly amusing examples?
Ryadn
21-10-2008, 04:52
While it's bitchy, I do concede that very old people generally have the right to be bitchy, as it is often their only pleasure in life, and that throwing a kid's football/baseball/whatever back over the fence 15 times a day is annoying even for a person of my age.

In my day, people who didn't like kids doing that just kept scary dogs, and it was a matter of who-wants-it-more.
Pyrelos
21-10-2008, 04:54
Talk about petty, the dad must have wanted that ball back pretty badly.

Dad: OFFICER, I HAVE AN EMERGENCY
Officer: Whats the problems sir?
Dad: THIS OLD HAG TOOK MY SONS BALL, ARREST HER PLZ

I personally would have laughed at the man, but it seems the Police has to take everything seriously these days.
Blouman Empire
21-10-2008, 05:01
Maybe the town has such a low crime rate the police are itching to do something.
Chernobyl-Pripyat
21-10-2008, 05:10
hah, this brings back memories.



When I was a kid, my friends and I would play in this one park near this old persons house, who'd habitually take our stuff. One day Militsiya[Police] or KGB nabbed him for something. :$












We never did get our stuff back..
Neu Leonstein
21-10-2008, 05:25
Seems to me like yet another case for Ronald Coase (http://www.sfu.ca/~allen/CoaseJLE1960.pdf) to the rescue!

The old lady values her peace and quiet more highly than the kids value their game? She pays them a sum which should approach the difference. Or vice versa.
Cannot think of a name
21-10-2008, 05:32
Seems to me like yet another case for Ronald Coase (http://www.sfu.ca/~allen/CoaseJLE1960.pdf) to the rescue!

The old lady values her peace and quiet more highly than the kids value their game? She pays them a sum which should approach the difference. Or vice versa.

I keep meaning to see if that guy is bald and fights Superman...
The Shroudlands
21-10-2008, 05:42
Why God? Why is this news?

It is stupid, negligible, idiotic. The idiot who wrote the story should be fired.
G3N13
21-10-2008, 06:35
She should've shot 'em kids. :tongue:
Zombie PotatoHeads
21-10-2008, 06:40
ehh..I dunno. If an old lady grabbed one of my balls and refused to hand it back I think I'd probably call the police.
Tech-gnosis
21-10-2008, 07:32
Seems to me like yet another case for Ronald Coase (http://www.sfu.ca/~allen/CoaseJLE1960.pdf) to the rescue!

The old lady values her peace and quiet more highly than the kids value their game? She pays them a sum which should approach the difference. Or vice versa.

If the transaction costs were nontrivial wouldn't they have done this instead of going though the courts, which they actually did?
Gauthier
21-10-2008, 07:34
ehh..I dunno. If an old lady grabbed one of my balls and refused to hand it back I think I'd probably call the police.

And that's when every gossip TV show spends a whole week talking about Kim Catrall's sexual harassment bust.

:D :D :D
Vault 10
21-10-2008, 08:22
Throwing a ball onto someone else's land is trespass, and it's a strict liability tort.
So she should sue them back.


As for theft, I'm not so sure it will be possible to qualify actions as such, if she did not proceed to take the ball. Depends on whether theft there includes failure to act to return the property, and whether she in this case will be considered obliged to return it, as she has not committed any action to obtain the property.

We need one of the NSG lawyers here.
Neu Leonstein
21-10-2008, 08:48
If the transaction costs were nontrivial wouldn't they have done this instead of going though the courts, which they actually did?
You'd hope so. I suspect hurt pride and a sense of self-importance goes under transaction cost in this case though, in which the challenge is more one of convincing them to act like adults than one of trying to figure out who is right.

Yay for economics arriving at common sense outcomes. :p
Kamsaki-Myu
21-10-2008, 10:07
Why God? Why is this news?

It is stupid, negligible, idiotic. The idiot who wrote the story should be fired.
Police arresting old women for standing up for themselves? Sounds like news to me.

Seriously, fucking around with peoples' gardens isn't nice, and the elderly don't have many means to prevent it when faced with athletic kids. It is ridiculous that the lady should be brought in and charged. Oh, but no, god help us if we somehow think that letting little boys keep their playthings is less important to uphold than protecting old women from abuse.
Tmutarakhan
21-10-2008, 15:31
Can you name any particularly amusing examples?
I don't know if it's particularly amusing, but I remember in Property Law one case that went all the way up about a driveway which allegedly encroached by one inch over the neighbor's property line. They must have really really not gotten along.
The Free Priesthood
21-10-2008, 17:20
I wonder what would happen if I just punctured the ball and give it back to the kids....

You would be put on the list of terrorists.
The One Eyed Weasel
21-10-2008, 17:30
Whatever happened to respect for one's elders? The woman is 89 years old FFS, and she gets ARRESTED? How would you feel if this was your grandmother?

I hope she counter-sues for harassment.
THE LOST PLANET
21-10-2008, 17:57
I read this story an all I could think was "I hope the Sgt. or Lt. of the patrolman who wrote the citation to the old lady chews his ass out royal". This is the kind of thing a cop is supposed to mediate, resolve without it getting to the handcuffs phase. Instead of demanding the old woman give the ball back, you treat her deferentially and ask her what would it take for her to give it back. Would an apology and a promise to stay out of her yard in the future be enough? Anf then you go back to the other side and talk to them and so forth. It's what neighborhood cops do, it's people skills, it's taking the time to act like a real servant of the people who pay your salary. Too many cops these days treat every member of the community they come in contact with like a perp.
Trans Fatty Acids
21-10-2008, 18:05
Seems to me like yet another case for Ronald Coase (http://www.sfu.ca/~allen/CoaseJLE1960.pdf) to the rescue!

The old lady values her peace and quiet more highly than the kids value their game? She pays them a sum which should approach the difference. Or vice versa.

Because property & individual rights only extend as far as the individual has money to pay for them? I are confused.
New Wallonochia
21-10-2008, 19:03
Maybe the town has such a low crime rate the police are itching to do something.

That's quite possible. When I came home from the Army the cops in my hometown followed me around all day until I got Michigan plates put on my car. Apparently those damned furrin' Colorado plates marked me out as dangerous or something.
Kryozerkia
21-10-2008, 20:00
It sounds like they just pushed a cranky old lady too far. Really, would it hurt these kids to show respect in general and politely ask for the return of their ball and perhaps apologise if they've repeatedly kicked or thrown it onto her property?
New Wallonochia
21-10-2008, 20:01
It sounds like they just pushed a cranky old lady too far. Really, would it hurt these kids to show respect in general and politely ask for the return of their ball and perhaps apologise if they've repeatedly kicked or thrown it onto her property?

If they'd done that things may have turned out like they did in The Sandlot.