OFF THE WIRE
Land of the Free? Woman Sentenced to Jail Time for Having a Messy Yard (Video: http://bit.ly/1wcnX5I)
“It’s not right,” she said. “Why would you put me in jail with child molesters, and people who’ve done real crimes, because I haven’t maintained my yard.”
Lenoir City, TN — Karen Holloway and her husband have two kids and both work full-time, with only one vehicle, they are trying their best to just get by.
Over the summer, the city sent Holloway a citation because her yard wasn’t properly maintained. Unable to trim the over grown shrubs because of their hectic schedule, the city enforced this citation the only way the state knows how, with force.
Last week, Judge Terry Vann handed down a 5 day prison sentence for poorly maintained shrubbery on their own property. Just when you think you live in a free country and own your own property, here comes Uncle Sam to lock you in a cage for not doing with your own property what they demand.
“[The bushes and trees] were overgrown. But that’s certainly not a criminal offense,” Holloway tells Local 8 News.Tuesday Holloway made a final appeal to her overlords asking that she do community service for the “horrid criminal offense” of failure to prune bushes, but the judge held that she must do jail time.
“It’s not right,” she said. “Why would you put me in jail with child molesters, and people who’ve done real crimes, because I haven’t maintained my yard.”
She says she was never read her rights nor told she could have a lawyer present.
“I feel like I’m being bullied,” she said.
“This opens a floodgate to everybody in Lenoir City being put in jail for silly things,” she said.Holloway did manage to get the jail time knocked down to six hours, but still was not happy with it. There is absolutely no crime being committed here, yet the state feels they have the authority to deprive someone of their freedom for not conforming to their set of standards.
This is a disgusting example of police state USA and tragically it’s not an isolated incident.
This is not the first time Holloway has been cited for failing to keep her own property within the standards of the state. She was cited in the past because she was unable to keep up with the work while her husband was overseas in the military, ‘defending America’s freedom.’ Ironic isn’t it?
Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/woman-sentenced-jail-time-messy-yard/#YwT2Aa3ZRadeLA2x.99