Brickbat: Keep It Trimmed

Burhan Chowdhury, 72, was trying to explain that the treatment for his lymphoma has left him too weak to do yard work. But Hamtramck, Michigan, Judge Alexis Krot, wasn't having any of it. Chowdhury was in her court for a citation for not keeping vegetation in the back of his house trimmed out of the walkway. "You should be ashamed of yourself," Krot said. "Have you seen that photo? That is shameful. If I could give you jail time on this I would." Chowdhury's son said he and his mother and father normally keep the vegetation trimmed, but the son was out of the country for several months and his mother had injured her back. He said as soon as he returned home and found out about the problem he fixed it.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

A judge who pines to incarcerate a defendant, ill or not, for code violations seems like an indication that we might have a courts problem.

[Chumby]

Needs to be a grassroots campaign against this.

[Dillinger]

idiot judiciary is a broad landscape

[Utkonos]

Weed out that crab! He needs to leaf office—he blows!

[Chumby]

To mow down his competition?

[Utkonos]

Her outburst was a shear outrage which needs to be nipped in the bud.

[Chumby]

Using the lawn arm of the law.

[Dillinger]

mulch-needed reforms on the horizon

[Utkonos]

With a bad seed like this on the bench, there are fertile grounds for such reforms!

[Chumby]

Maybe she will read her press clippings.

[Adans smith]

This judge is an ass . No empathy for a old man with cancer. This tells you all you need to know about him.

[SQRLSY One]

Judge Alexis Krot is, indeed, a top-krotch asshole, infected with severe krot-rot! Needs a roto-krooter rotated up his pooter for a cleanup, stat!

[Bob1062]

Her. And there is a petition circulating in that district to have her removed.

[Chumby]

Must be a fairway to do this.

[Utkonos]

Not just more patchwork!

[Chumby]

This verdict may loam over career, soiling her reputation.

[Brandybuck]

The sad part is that government at all levels are infected with asses like this. Government attracts asses. Which is why government needs to be kept SMALL and LIMITED.

[Chumby]

Maybe this is just mulch ado about nothing.

[Utkonos]

You mean this whole story was planted?

[Chumby]

Something they want to brush aside.

[Inigo Montoya]

Jeez, what an asshole of a judge.

I wonder who reported the “code violation” of an unmoved BACKyard in the first place. It seems this busybody neighbor could at least have said something to the family first, at which point they’d have learned about the circumstances and dropped the issue—or even offered to cut the grass. (Okay, the latter wouldn’t be something a busybody asshole would think of.)

[GroundTruth]

This!

Definitely a case to start with TALK (Try A Little Kindness).

Aside from "my drunk neighbor is out there using my photo as a target for gun practice at 2AM every morning", most neighbor to neighbor situations should not start with a call to the "proper town authorities".

[IceTrey]

It was probably a code enforcer driving by.

[m4019597]

In my town, code enforcement would reach out to the resident and if they can’t get a response, they’ll send a crew to clean it up.

It’s not free, but it deals with the problem immediately.

Usually, the problem is with the landscaping service the resident hired before going on a long vacation.

Occasionally the resident is immobile or had died in a nursing home, without leaving an arrangement with a friend.

But whatever the case, my town won’t sue to get landscaping done. Courts don’t cut grass.

[Chumby]

Seems like a rye judgement.

[m4019597]

If you don’t know the neighbors, don’t judge. They’re often not the homeowner anymore, so much renting going on. They don’t give a damn about the way things look and get belligerent when challenged.

[Chumby]

Don’t live in urban/suburban areas.

Overgrown areas provide habitat for vermin. Have seen a town infested with rats mostly due to only three properties that wanted to look like a jungle instead of something that dissuades Mrs. Frisby and company moving in.

[GroundTruth]

Rats are eating something more than just grass and brush, more likely the spilled feed from Ms Muffy's backyard chicken (from experience).

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Not in my experience. My HOA had a creek that ran through the property. The adjacent homeowners were prohibited from removing or cutting any vegetation in the watershed area, but they had big rats that were definitely living in the banks. I would guess they started out eating small frogs and bird eggs and when that supply got low they foraged around the houses.

People advocate against outdoor cats because they kill birds, but they kill rats too.

[Dillinger]

my indoor/outdoor cat patrols about a square block of my hood

[Chumby]

The tall grass provides the shelter leg of habitat. Hiding places. They do need food. And water. Sat in on the rat expert presentation. Breaking one leg of that pyramid can be enough to keep them from showing up. But once there, they are real fuckers to get rid of even if the grass is then mowed.

[TangoDelta]

This is exactly why I have a night scope on my .22 gas springer. I'm thinking I should switch to a pcp for quicker reload times.

[R Mac]

Fun facts from someone who lives 45 minutes from Hamtramck: It’s a city almost completely surrounded by Detroit that used to be mostly Polish auto workers, but is now majority Muslim, with the entire council being Muslim. They changed their noise ordinance so that the local mosque can play the Muslim call to prayer over loud speakers.

[m4019597]

True. They’re vermin, providing material support for terrorism worldwide.

[Will Nonya]

Speaking of shameful, wishing you could jail someone for an overgrown sidewalk seems to fit the bill.
It's one thing to uphold the fine as legitimate as it seems it was but to lack even cursory compassion for these people is an undesirable trait for a judge.

[kcuch]

Local story. Everyone has a sob story, but the condition of the outhouse indicates property maintenance has never been their strong suit.

Nuisance/zoning ordinances. If you accept they are necessary you spend time arguing over limits and the costs of enforcement.

[Jerry B.]

Judge Krot was elected running as a nonpartisan, but per Open Secrets, she contributes to Democratic candidates.

So...

Democrat. Feh.

[docduracoat]

How do I find out if those running for judges are Democrat or Republican?

Here in Florida they are non-partisan and I have no idea if they are told th on crime or a Soros funded progressive.

[m4019597]

Check their donations history.

If they ever gave to a federal candidate it will be in open secrets dot com. Local donations would be kept in state records.

In many states, you can ask the board of elections for the history of party registration of candidates.

[Dillinger]

Alexis Krot sounds like the kind of judge they'll pull over for DUI after she finishes off the daily box of Franzia

[Chumby]

She shrubs folks the wrong way.

[Dillinger]

prickly old lady

[Utkonos]

It all stems from being such a stick in the mud! She really should pause to take stalk!

[Chumby]

Maybe it is from too many folks wanting to needle her. Or perhaps she really is a beech.

[Think It Through]

Michigan Judge Alexis Krot has apologized to an elderly cancer patient she berated and threatened with jail time over some unkempt weeds outside his home. And she said she's reporting herself to a state commission that probes judicial misbehavior.

"I made a mistake," Krot said in a statement shared with the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, by the court Thursday. "I acted intemperately. I'm very embarrassed that I did so. I apologize to the person who appeared before me and to our entire community for having failed to meet the high standards that we expect of our judicial officers, and that I expect of myself."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-says-she-made-a-mistake-berating-an-elderly-cancer-patient-over-weeds/ar-AAT0pCQ?ocid=entnewsntp

[m4019597]

If she was truly sorry, she’d put one of her limbs in a woodchipper.

[Utkonos]

“I’ve been a Knotty girl!”

[Chumby]

Judicial branch

[Utkonos]

Word is, her college nickname was Twiggy…But I can’t get to the root of that rumor.

[Chumby]

That is sarc’s nickname. But give him a case of beer and he’ll be feeling chipper in no time.

[TangoDelta]

I think the judge has a case of Krot rot.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

She should've kept it trimmed.

[Chumby]

She’ll never make it to the SC. She’s bound to remain stuck in the bush leagues.

[Its_Not_Inevitable]

Damn. I was hoping this would be about how the models prep for the SI Feb Swimsuit issue. And lots of pics!

[m4019597]

Shouldn’t you be in the shed?