Woman, 89, who kept boy's football, sues parents

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wildTrose

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Someone looking for a quick buck!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090101/ap_on_fe_st/odd_football_charge

BLUE ASH, Ohio – An 89-year-old Cincinnati-area woman arrested for confiscating the neighbor kid's football is now suing the boy's parents. Edna Jester filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court claiming she has suffered emotional distress because footballs and other playthings belonging to her next-door neighbors keep landing in her yard.
 
What a pitiful, cantankerous old woman! What a sad life she must have to be so vindictive against a child for a football landing in her yard! What a shame that she can't be a little kinder and forgiving of a child who lets a ball roll into her yard!
 
There is probably more to the story, then what is stated in the article. I have a sneaky suspicion that the elderly lady thinks the kids are doing this on purpose, especially if she talked with the parents about it.

Yeah kids are going to be kids and play. But they also capable of understanding how to keep things in there own yard and not playing to close to the neighbors yard where the chance of something getting into the neighbors yard is high.

E*E
 
Reading further, I notice that the family has five kids and they continually throw toys into her yard. Now, if her yard is fenced and they expect this 89 yo woman to throw them back every time or have her arrested, like they did before, I'm starting to lean towards the elderly woman's side.
 
I can't believe the old woman was booked for petty theft! I'm sorry but if my kids were bothering my neighbors of any age, I would make sure it didn't happen- I'd take their toys away! At 89, that woman has earned the right to be cantankerous. :)
 
Goodness, I hope the neighbors don't have trees that have leaves blowing into her yard! The horror!!!! (((shudders))))
 
Could be the five kids are teasing the old lady causing her some grief. Could also be they throw things at her windows to make her come out knowing she will be perturbed. Wouldn't be the first time kids pick on elderly people.

The parents should make sure the kids play in their own yard and home and not disturb the neighbors. If their yard isn't large enough for football then the parents should make sure the kids get some park/playground activity. Everyone has a right to privacy in their own home and yards.
 
Im always finding my neighbors childrens toys in my yard LOL, they know where they are , so they just come get them when they want them, no biggie, sounds to me like the children in the story are just agravating the neighbor lady who probably worries to no end, my grandmother was the same way
 
concernedperson said:
Could be the five kids are teasing the old lady causing her some grief. Could also be they throw things at her windows to make her come out knowing she will be perturbed. Wouldn't be the first time kids pick on elderly people.

The parents should make sure the kids play in their own yard and home and not disturb the neighbors. If their yard isn't large enough for football then the parents should make sure the kids get some park/playground activity. Everyone has a right to privacy in their own home and yards.
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I have to admit- when we were kids, we lived on a little street with only a few neighbors. There was one lady (we called her old back then but honestly she was only about 50) who would yell at us for crossing her yard, so of course we called her "mean old lady P." Yes, once in a while we would pretend we were going to cut across her yard (to tease her) and while she was at work we would run willy nilly through her yard. All of that came to a screaching halt when all our parents went to her house and told her she had their permission to "whip our azzes". :blushing:
 
concernedperson said:
Could be the five kids are teasing the old lady causing her some grief. Could also be they throw things at her windows to make her come out knowing she will be perturbed. Wouldn't be the first time kids pick on elderly people.

The parents should make sure the kids play in their own yard and home and not disturb the neighbors. If their yard isn't large enough for football then the parents should make sure the kids get some park/playground activity. Everyone has a right to privacy in their own home and yards.
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I agree, and just had a talk with my kids about this issue the other day. They normally are very respectful, but the oldest mentioned something about 'how many times the ball would be going over the fence'. I said, 'not at all'. He said 'it can't be helped, our back yard isn't big enough' and I told him that's why it will be happening at the park.
 
:waitasec: When I was on yard duty as a teacher, I got hit on the head by basketballs and rubberballs a few times and I saw stars once. She could be afraid to even go out in the yard. I think it was over the top when an 89 year old woman was arrested for petty theft. There must have been altercations and warnings before about toys in yard etc and then everyone dug their heels in. Notice I said everyone...5 children, parents, and one elderly lady shuffling off to a police station for petty theft. Thank God the DA had common sense not to prosecute. I hope the elderly lady drops the suit on the condition the kids cooperate.
I raised four children and a dog and they stayed in their own yard with their own posessions. They knew I did not have a lot of money (single mom) so they took care of their things. This could have been toned way down before it got so out of hand.
 
My mom is 79 and has a thirteen year old boy living next door. Let's see, he's egged her car, played ball in the front yard and hit my car. Throws sticks in her yard (my mom keeps her yard immaculate). Talking to his parents is useless. When she saw him outside (in his backyard) but pointing a BB gun at her bird feeder she sent my sister over to talk with them. The father said to his son "I told you to leave that old lady alone." It was disrespectful and shows why his son has no respect for my mother. This man is a reverend too (or so he claims).

I bet there was a lot more to this than their toys being in her yard. Although I don't think she's helping matters any by suing the parents.
 
lizzybeth said:
My mom is 79 and has a thirteen year old boy living next door. Let's see, he's egged her car, played ball in the front yard and hit my car. Throws sticks in her yard (my mom keeps her yard immaculate). Talking to his parents is useless. When she saw him outside (in his backyard) but pointing a BB gun at her bird feeder she sent my sister over to talk with them. The father said to his son "I told you to leave that old lady alone." It was disrespectful and shows why his son has no respect for my mother. This man is a reverend too (or so he claims).

I bet there was a lot more to this than their toys being in her yard. Although I don't think she's helping matters any by suing the parents.[/QUOTE]

Bolding mine.

Sometimes the only way to get through to some people is through their pocketbook. Go Granny go!
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The city should be helping the elderly lady put up a tall chain link fence instead of arresting her. That is disgraceful. I hope she wins the lawsuit. The people may be lousy renters and could move on, hopefully. Unruly kids can be a nightmare to live near. I should know, I went around smelling dog poop on my shoes for several days, but nothing was there. I finallly figured out the brat teens next door to me had dropped a glass vial of some type of stink bomb in my yard and I stepped on it. And, they've bounced a football off my vehicle a few times, too.
 
This is a local story for me. What's disgraceful is that this woman was arrested in the first place. She has had numerous problems with these neighbors, as have others on this street. I dont think filing this lawsuit is the answer though.
 
angela said:
This is a local story for me. What's disgraceful is that this woman was arrested in the first place. She has had numerous problems with these neighbors, as have others on this street. I dont think filing this lawsuit is the answer though.
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I agree with you but I'm not sure what the answer is. My fear with my mother is that if she did sue or anything that the neighbors would only up the harassment (for lack of a better word).
 
You have absolute rights to privacy and protection on your own property. In no way are these neighbors in the right harassing this elderly woman. And I would be willing to believe these kids are given the ok to harass her by the parents.
 
The neighbors' side of the story (Don't know how much of it to believe.)

Kelly Tanis denies the allegations and says the simmering dispute has seriously curtailed her five children's outdoor play since the Oct. 16 incident that led to Jester's arrest. . .

Following that episode, Jester, through her attorney, refused to accept the Tanises' offer to meet to discuss "how we could peacefully coexist and how we could retrieve anything that might land or blow in her yard," Kelly Tanis said.
Over the past 2½ months, however, there have been at least two contacts between the neighbors.
One came when Paul Tanis, who had regularly mowed Jester's front lawn until the football flap, offered to do so again when he saw the woman struggling with her lawn mower.
"He said, 'You don't have to do that, Edna - I'll do that for you,' " Kelly Tanis said.
"But she said, 'I'm sorry, Paul. I can't talk to you. It's all in the lawyers' hands now.' "

On another occasion, Paul Tanis was throwing a football with his son when it sailed into Jester's yard. They decided not to retrieve it, and though they did not see Jester, the next morning, the football was gone, Kelly Tanis said.
Kelly Tanis said Jester also still apparently has the original football from October.
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090101/NEWS0107/901010334/1167/NLETTER05
 
It's a shame that the elderly woman wasn't willing to sit down and try to discuss the situation with the neighbors. Maybe that would have been all it would have taken. Maybe a judge will make that happen during the law suit.
 
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