89-year-old charged with keeping kids' ball

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:02 pm

Quote:

89-year-old charged with keeping kids' ball

BLUE ASH, Ohio – 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.

Elite Baiter Joined: 19 Jan 2008 Posts: 1043

What the hell is the world coming to. I had plenty of balls confiscated for a day or even stabbed when they went over the old people's home wall behind my house.

If it kept happening all day and they kept asking for it back, I'd have taken it too.

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:19 pm

Quote:

The maximum penalty for a petty theft conviction in Ohio is six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

Is this what the courts have stooped down to? They let white-collar criminals get off easy but they're willing to bully an old lady by sending her to prison for half a year because some snot-nosed upper-middle class brats kept lobbing footballs at her house. How does that even make sense?

Sorry to sound antiquated, but if those kids lived in my town, I would find them and give them a savage beating. Evil or Very Mad

Baiting Guru Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 2922

^^^

I do like pro-active policing. Very Happy

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:23 pm

When I was a kid we played many a game of baseball in the empty lot next to our house. If you hit the ball towards 1st base you were safe. If you hit the ball towards second base you stood in terror praying that it didn't break the Nelson's picture glass window. But if you hit the ball over third base you ran like hell for home! It surely meant that the ball would land in Mrs. Robinson's prize flower garden. Only once did I have to go to Mrs. Robinson's house to apologize and work off my sentence which included mowing her lawn for two months. Sometimes I think she prayed that a ball would land in her flower garden just so she could get free lawn service. Laughing

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:32 pm

Donato wrote:

^^^

I do like pro-active policing. Very Happy

Strictly off-duty activity, of course. Wink

It's a great fantasy, for sure, but I wouldn't really let my emotions destroy my professional demeanor.

Looking at this situation realistically, the old lady needs to be cut loose and those snoblets need to have their allowances "cancelled". Maybe working on their own would teach them respect for others.

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:39 pm

Don't the police have anything better to do?

And the neighbor who swore out the complaint ought to be charged for the time of the police and courts. It's absurd - just another example of our litigious society.

Fer cryin' out loud, we have young people being killed in random drive-by shootings, and the police go after an 89-year-old woman for keeping something relatively worthless that someone placed on her property? Confused

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:48 pm

Here's something else, I don't know what the laws are in Ohio, but here, if something lands in your yard, its technically yours. I have yet to hear about a person going to prison for 6 months for cleaning other people's crap off their own laws.

I've used the word before and I'll use it again, this is nothing more than bullying. A snobbish family bullying an old lady for not wanting to be their spoilt kids's personal maid. Look deeper into this story and I'll warrant these idiots are buddies with some of the higher authority figures in town.

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 10:50 pm

If she warned them with a "You damn kids better get off my lawn" first, then she is justified.

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:33 pm

Edna Jester....NOT

If this doesn't get thrown out, that's the only crime here.

D

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:34 pm

I wonder how many times the kids tromped through her yard doing petty damages and such.

Sounds like the type of parent who would sue her if their little brats stubbed their toes while trespassing to retrieve the ball.

Fortunately, the media coverage and general sentiment against this my just force the parents to change their phone number and the prosecutor to discover any future ambitions shot to hell. Remember the Washington D.C. judge who sued the dry cleaners for million for losing a pair of pants? He's been ousted.

Then again, she could be a wicked witch who kept several of the balls, even after the children asked politely and apologized.

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:03 am

I say lock her up. Obviously a menace to society.

*** BANNED *** Joined: 18 Jul 2004 Posts: 2049

ernieh1969 wrote:

I wonder how many times the kids tromped through her yard doing petty damages and such.

Exactly!!!!!!!

First time - throw it back
Second time - admonish the young rascals
Third time - beat the little fekers with your cane - and if they hit back, have them arrested.

Never trust anyone under the age of 29. Evil or Very Mad

Master Baiter Joined: 07 Oct 2008 Posts: 116

I throw back a lot of balls but if the kids were obnoxious, I'd keep them. My yard, my ball. That's the law in Maine and I'll bet it is in most states.

I always find the balls when nobody's playing, so I suspect my neighbors' kids have a lot of extras so they can just go get another one instead of pestering me.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 689

Send her (and the kids parents) to Judge Judy

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:47 am

throw it back ( after cutting it in half throw one half back one day and the next half the next day ) Twisted Evil

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:01 am

Fill the ball with lead, and then throw it back, if still possible.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Oh goodness if I kept every ball that had landed in our garden I'd be up to my oxters in them!

But then again I'm not a 89 year old lady possibly intimidated and pestered by kids playing ball.

I'd have thought the sensible reaction of the parents would be to talk to the lady, then tell the kids to play elsewhere.

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:59 am

I get footballs landing in my garden all the time... the kids say sorry, I say no problem, it happens, and they get their ball back.

When I was a kid though, you accepted the risk of puntured / lost footballs as an "occupational hazard" of kicking them around near people's houses. I had many a ball confiscated. You just have to accept that playtime is over for the day, and then try and get another some other time.

The real shame here is that we live in such a litiginous society nowadays. Why do people feel the need to sue for everything? (Another thing we can thank America for!) Laughing

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:17 pm

It is crazy. I mean unless there is something more to the story of the lady beating the kids with her cane or something.

Also if we are going to go around charging people with crimes for this, why not the kids for trespassing? If you put something onto someone else's property it meets the definition of trespass.

I say charge no one, but if you MUST file charges, charge EVERYONE.

If I were to represent her you can bet it would go to a Jury trial.

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:26 pm

N N N wrote:

Send her (and the kids parents) to Judge Judy

Funny you should mention that, Judge Judy actually deals with internet scams sometimes. Link

EDIT: Spelling error - shuold -> should

Master Baiter Joined: 07 Oct 2008 Posts: 116

Cool, I thought she only did breakups and beat-downs.

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:30 pm

I caught the news footage video on Yahoo. Hilarious! That old lady isn't scared of anybody, seems like she just tired of the kids tromping through her yard.

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 3:25 pm

Kids seem to have a sixth sense for people who can be irritated to the point of doing something about the irritation, and then the kids can get their parents to do something about the "mean old lady." The parents, of course, believe that their kids are totally innocent.

There is a rule in our apartment complex that scooters, skateboards, and roller skates are for use only outside the complex, not on the pathways inside. That doesn't stop kids from seeing my wheelchair ramp as a tempting place to take off from (although it's so short it's of little use to them). My roommate started opening the door and yelling at them to go away. I made her stop that, as I didn't want to antagonize anyone. Instead, I open the door and say politely, "Hi. The ramp is not a toy. I don't want you to get hurt by using it for something it wasn't built for." The kids stare at me for a moment and then scatter.

I know from experience that once a call is made to the police and a "crime" is found to have been committed, an arrest is mandatory. I wouldn't be surprised to see nearly every attorney in that city lined up willing to take her as a client pro bono. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the judge throw the case out - I would hope with a lecture to the parents about wasting the city's time and resources for a petty revenge.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 3123

The old lady is perfectly right. I know I tell my children to avoid playing with a ball on the street or pavement (for more reasons than one).

I take balls from kids all the time, I did not invite them to kick a ball into my garden. If I live to 89 (which I doubt), I will continue my ball confiscating habit. Go to the park, kids.

On an unrelated matter, but also regarding kids, on the 31st, I like to hose the driveway, pray it is minus something and watch the kids fall Laughing

89-year-old charged with keeping kids' ball	View next topic View previous topic