Who’s minding the store? By KAREN KENNEDY Refuse to clean up the junk violations on your property and you could very well wind up enjoying a mini-vacation in the Meade County Jail. Last week, Circuit Judge Sam Monarch incarcerated a man (we’ll call him Mr. H.) for violating a court order to remove certain junk from his property in violation of Meade County’s zoning ordinance. Mr. H. was ordered to have his property remedied by June 1 but didn’t do it. However, Judge Monarch gave Mr. H. an extra month to comply, yet Mr. H. still did not remedy the situation. Given this, Judge Monarch had no choice but to send Mr. H. to jail for two weeks. During the court proceeding, Judge Monarch told Mr. H. that if he continues down the road of noncompliance his next visit to the Meade County Jail will be considerably longer. Mr. H’s “case” actually began back on Feb. 23, 2005, when a neighbor filed a complaint about the property lived on by Mr. H. as well as the property next door, also owned by Mr. H. The complainant cited junk cars, scrap metal, garbage, high weeds, a junk mobile home, and Mr. H’s septic system running onto his property. Meade County’s code enforcement officer, who is only permitted to view the property from the street, paid a visit to Mr. H’s properties. From the street, he noted 13-plus junk or wrecked cars at Mr. H’s residence as well eight junk or wrecked cars, one junk mobile home, scrap metal, and garbage at Mr. H’s property next door. Mr. H. was sent a violation letter on Feb. 25 telling him he had 15 days to clean up the junk and 30 days to clean up the abandoned property. (There was, at that time, an enforceable abandoned property ordinance.) Mr. H’s response was that the trailer had been lived in during the past six months, he was remodeling the trailer, and that he was planning to put in a legal septic system. He told the code enforcement officer the cars were being moved out as they were fixed. Mr. H. also said he might hire a lawyer, that he was disabled, and that he had had a bone marrow transplant. In an attempt to give Mr. H. an opportunity to get his act together, the code enforcement officer gave him an additional 30 days for clean up. In June 2005, the health department advised Mr. H. he had an illegal septic system and that they’d work with him to see what could be done. Soon after, with no action being taken, the health department filed papers in District Court citing Mr. H. for insufficient septic – or lack thereof. Following multiple extensions – the county’s numerous and generous efforts to give Mr. H. ample opportunity to clean up his problems – the violations and excuses for them continued to exist. If you were to listen to a description of the extensive case notes, you would quickly realize the whole thing reads like a comedy of errors. Excuses included his lawyer was on vacation, he and his lawyer both had doctor’s appointments, he needed more time due to rain, the authorities were lying about the condition of his septic system, and so on. He’d call the code enforcement officer and state the properties were now clean, but upon inspection the properties were no better than they had been in the past. If by now you’re not convinced there’s a problem here, you should know that a few years ago the Meade County Sheriff’s Department discovered a meth lab in the junk mobile home on Mr. H’s property. As if the already listed violations weren’t enough, there appears to be at least one more violation that wasn’t even pursued by county authorities. Each time the code enforcement officer did a sight check of the properties, he noted the junk and wrecked cars weren’t always the same ones as the time before. Since Mr. H. had previously stated he was fixing up cars and moving them out, this indicates he has been operating an auto repair business – a business for which his property is not zoned. Finally, on the court date of July 6, Judge Monarch sent both Mr. H’s attorney and Meade County’s code enforcement officer to check the status of Mr. H’s properties and then report back to him in the courtroom. The two men returned to court with the news that Mr. H’s violations remained, leaving Judge Monarch believing he had no choice but to send Mr. H. to jail. Needless to say, the message being sent by Judge Monarch is that court orders must be complied with – even if we’re “just” talking about junk. It’s nice to know that one “court” in this county is indeed minding the store. Got a topic you’d like to see discussed? Contact Karen Kennedy at 422-2155 or send an e-mail to messenger@bbtel.com. The Messenger will consider all topics and select those that best lend themselves to the column’s format. All comments in response to the column should be sent to the Messenger in the form of a Letter to the Editor.
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