$7.45 or Jail?

[Anonymous]

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@llecs wrote:

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@Junejer wrote:
I don't get it. Why not just give the ball back? Why keep it? Why do damage to it? Kids throw balls and sometimes they actually go somewhere other than where intended. Is that a reason to do damage to it or to keep it? If it were my son's ball, I would ask for it back politely, but if granny refused, what the heck are you to do? My question is how much of a jerk do you have to be to keep a little boy's football?

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OK, I didn't read the above story until I saw your post, Byrdman. The above article is from MSNBC. The source I read stated different facts, and I'll see if I can't find it. I saw that the kids would regularly go into her yard and trample her grass, flowers, etc to retreive their ball. So, after complaining to the parents who didn't do a thing, she decided to keep the ball.

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The article I read on MSNBC didn't mention any details other than simply her keeping the ball and being arrested for it.

I'd still have to side with the lil ol' lady. The dad even says that she's kept 10 of HIS kids' balls (she says it's only 3 balls that she's not given back) over the past 7 years that they've been neighbors. He also admits that their whole family knows that they've done damage to her yard and knows that she hates anyone coming onto her property.

I'd say 7 years is long enough to know HOW to be a decent nieghbor -- and that would include not trampling her flowers. I'd also say that if 10 balls have gone into her yard (his statement) that she's kept, how many more went in with the kids sneaking in to get them?

I just can't believe that a 89 yo lady is spry enough to catch every single ball that plops into her yard -- if she's got 10 of them, how many did she NOT see? How many MORE crushed her flowers?

Since one article states that the dad said they've always mowed her lawn for free and despite that, she still was willing to be arrested for the ball, it goes to show how upset she is.

Personally, my kids know better than to trample other people's property and/or not be a nuisance. It's just a shame that guy wasn't able to teach his own kids the same. 

[Junejer]

The article I read didn't have any of that information. Maybe, I didn't read far enough? At any rate, the adults in the situation should have been able to handle this situation.

Last summer, me, my children and a bunch of neighborhood children were playing football in front of my ex's house. When I lived there, we did it all the time (football, kickball, whatever). Anyway, one of the neighbors decided to yell at my son for retrieving the ball that had crept onto her lawn. I kindly stepped in and apologized, even stating that we would move down so that the ball couldn't possibly land on her property. Well, she then became beligerant with me and decided that she would be the watch dog for all neighbors involved. We couldn't step on anyone's lawn or anything, regardless of what the other neighbors thought or whether or not the other neighbor's children were playing the game too. I restrained myself as best I could with the children present, but I did let her have it.

My point in this, I guess, is that people sometimes forget when they were children. I am sure that granny, at some point as a child, played on someone's lawn, skipped rope or drew hop-scotch in front of someone's house (who in turn got ticked off about it) or some other youthful indiscretion. I am not advocating the kids trampling her flowers, I would get p.o.'d about that too. I am also not advocating her keeping the ball. Dad's a jerk for not telling his kid to be careful of her plants. Granny's a jerk for keeping the little boy's balls, whether three or 10. She should've marched down to the house and looked dad and Jr. in the eye and squashed this seven years ago.

Eh, I guess I see both sides of it. Heck, I used to pick Mrs. Matthews' tomatoes out of her garden (the were so darn good), even though I knew that she was going to whip my butt and then take me home to me parents (crying) so that they can give it to me too. Kids are kids, not miniature adults.

[Anonymous]

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ByrdMan wrote:

Eh, I guess I see both sides of it. Heck, I used to pick Mrs. Matthews' tomatoes out of her garden (the were so darn good), even though I knew that she was going to whip my butt and then take me home to me parents (crying) so that they can give it to me too. Kids are kids, not miniature adults.

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I used to sneak into the garden next door to my grandparent's house and eat tomatoes as well. She always grew those cherry tomatoes. I was a wee-kid then. Years later I went to see my mom at the nursing home she was working in and that little ole lady was there. She called me over and talked to me for a few minutes. Then she says, I still remember watching you sneak in my garden everyday to eat tomatoes. I didn't know what to say, all those years I thought she never knew. She said she loved watching for me and watching how I always checked to see if anyone was looking and thought I was really getting by with something. During our conversation she mentioned how she missed having fresh grown tomatoes, so when I left, I went down to the farmer's market and bought her a container and took them back to her. You'd think I'd handed her a million dollars.

[Junejer]

Shoot Side, I wish Mrs. Matthews was as understanding. I bet she would've been had we only taken one or two at a crack. LOL. Anyway, just a youthful indiscretion. I was 7 or 8 at the time.

[Scamp]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I used to sneak into the garden next door to my grandparent's house and eat tomatoes as well. She always grew those cherry tomatoes. I was a wee-kid then. Years later I went to see my mom at the nursing home she was working in and that little ole lady was there. She called me over and talked to me for a few minutes. Then she says, I still remember watching you sneak in my garden everyday to eat tomatoes. I didn't know what to say, all those years I thought she never knew. She said she loved watching for me and watching how I always checked to see if anyone was looking and thought I was really getting by with something. During our conversation she mentioned how she missed having fresh grown tomatoes, so when I left, I went down to the farmer's market and bought her a container and took them back to her. You'd think I'd handed her a million dollars.

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Awwww, sidewinder, that was too sweet.  You gave her something way BETTER than a million dollars!!

Made me go all sniffly, just now.

[MsKiwi]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Junejer wrote:

Eh, I guess I see both sides of it. Heck, I used to pick Mrs. Matthews' tomatoes out of her garden (the were so darn good), even though I knew that she was going to whip my butt and then take me home to me parents (crying) so that they can give it to me too. Kids are kids, not miniature adults.

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I used to sneak into the garden next door to my grandparent's house and eat tomatoes as well. She always grew those cherry tomatoes. I was a wee-kid then. Years later I went to see my mom at the nursing home she was working in and that little ole lady was there. She called me over and talked to me for a few minutes. Then she says, I still remember watching you sneak in my garden everyday to eat tomatoes. I didn't know what to say, all those years I thought she never knew. She said she loved watching for me and watching how I always checked to see if anyone was looking and thought I was really getting by with something. During our conversation she mentioned how she missed having fresh grown tomatoes, so when I left, I went down to the farmer's market and bought her a container and took them back to her. You'd think I'd handed her a million dollars.

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I bet you made her day. What a sweet thing to do!