88-year-old arrested for stealing kid's ball
Categories: Teens & tweens, In The News, Weird But True, Toys & Games
The house on the corner where my kid catches the school bus is owned by a couple who look to be in their sixties. They have previously made it clear that they don't want the children on their lawn, so we stand on the street (there are no sidewalks) and try to keep the kids off the grass. This isn't always easy to do with the younger siblings, who get bored waiting for the bus and have a tendency to wander. That tendency to wander resulted in a toddler being sprayed with a garden hose last year, so the parents are extra-vigilant now. So far, there have been no incidents this year. It sounds like Edna Jester of the Cincinnati suburb of Blue Ash has a similar dislike of children on her property. She doesn't want them - or their stuff - on her lawn and recently made her point by confiscating a teen neighbor's football that was in her yard. In this case, 'confiscating' is another word for 'stealing' and the teen's mom called police when Jester refused to return the ball. Jester was unrepentant. "I said go ahead and arrest me. Handcuff me if you'd like, because I said I'm not guilty of anything," she said. Police offered her a chance to sign a ticket saying she would appear in court, but she refused. So, they arrested her on charges of petty theft.
The incident was caught on tape by a neighbor, who supports Jester in her war against the football. "Taken down and interrogated, a (near) 90 year-old lady. It almost hits home like this is the United States, this can't happen and this is absolutely ridiculous," said neighbor Kevin Pike.
Kelly Tanis, the teen's mom, says this isn't the first time Jester has taken her children's balls. "This time it was a ball that my son had just bought with his own money. He works and he makes his own money, and he bought that ball ,and six days later she took it," Tanis said.
Jester says she would have given the ball back sooner or later, but waited because she didn't want to be made a laughing stock. She is due in court on November 12 to answer the charges.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Baron 10-22-2008 @ 9:40AM
The cop would have served better if he sat the kid, the kids parents, and the other person down for a chat. He should explain to the kid and his parents that you can't be on someone else's property without their consent and that, if you place something, such as a ball, purposely or accidentally, on said property, they can take possession of it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_(law)
I find it absurd they would 1) arrest this person and 2) expend the funds for a trial (or even a ticket).
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Christy 10-22-2008 @ 9:45AM
Are we serious here??? First of all, I think that the teen should have been more responsible than to leave his new football which he paid for with his own money in his neighbors yard. Especially if this wasn't the first time. Second of all...do we really have to arrest an 88 year old woman..on petty theft. Why don't we focus a little more in the state of Ohio, from which I was born. Focus more on something like....Voter Registration Fraud!!!! There is a few people there who are worth arresting...not some 88 year old who confiscated a ball in her own yard.
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LS 10-22-2008 @ 10:00AM
What disturbs me more is the "lady" in the beginning of this article who would spray a toddler with a hose. Honestly, what is WRONG with people these days?
As for the football vs old lady issue, sorry, but I've gotta side with her. If the kid does, indeed, have a record of 'placing' his stuff in her yard, after repeatedly being asked not to, she *should* grab it. So what if the kid spent his own money on it? One would think that spending his own money on it would prompt him to take better care of his stuff.
I also agree that she shouldn't have been arrested. I can't believe how ridiculously our money is being spent. And don't even get me started on the ACORN nonsense in Ohio...
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Evelyn 10-22-2008 @ 10:23AM
Get a grip folks. This is absolutely ridiculous. Go find some of the real thieves. Charging this lady when it was in her own yard is absurd. I'm sick and tired of our tax dollars being wasted on crap like this.
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SKL 10-22-2008 @ 10:38AM
If I was that cop, I'd ask the child to go over and apologize to the woman and ask her nicely to give the football back. Then if she still didn't, he could file a claim in small claims court. Meanwhile, I would ask him a few questions about whether he's been illegally trespassing on her lawn.
Don't the cops have any discretion on whether or not they are going to arrest people for an alleged petty "crime"? I mean, they know there's blatant drug dealing and use up and down the streets of many Ohio neighborhoods, so why aren't they arresting folks there by the handful?
This actually happened to my next-door neighbors. Preteen on our left tosses football (again) into fenced yard of old fart on our right; old fart is tired of kids ignoring the fence and trampling his yard which he works hard with his arthritis to maintain; old fart confiscates football for a month. Preteen's football miraculously never lands in old fart's yard again.
Here we have a guy running for president who admits to committing a felony (which, if he'd been arrested and convicted, would make it illegal for him to even vote for himself); and this little old lady who picked up a football that was tossed into her own yard is about to get a criminal record. Wow. Well, I guess it's not quite as bad as the little old lady who was arrested for not shoveling her walk.
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Joy 10-22-2008 @ 11:31AM
I used to live on a "cross-road" and my yard was pretty much the bus stop. It didn't really bother me all that much until my kids were older and didn't ride the bus anymore. BUT...there were times I got irritated when flowers got stepped on and tree's were treated like jungle gyms but thought "hey, these are just little kids playing. Bottom line was I'd rather have them in my yard that on the road.
My intuition is telling met that this is a lonely old woman and it might be the only way she gets any attention. Maybe her kids don't come to see her and she just has nothing else to do.
How is it that the "neighbor" just happened to get this on tape? Do people just stand around taping "nothing" all the time? I don't know anyone who does this. Also, were they just playing catch and the ball went in her yard to which she raced and snatched it or was the ball left in her yard when they went inside?
I don't feel she should have been arrested. I also feel this might have been the "last straw" for her. The kids might do it all the time or just do it to piss her off. Or, she's just very lonely and likes the attention and doesn't know any other way to get the kids to pay attention to her.
It's to bad they can't be friends. That would be my wish. Kids can learn so much from their elders but sadly, they think they know it all. I'm also talking about the kids mom. Why doesn't she try to get to know this older woman and find out what's really wrong because it's not about one damn ball. To call the police over this is a waste of their time as well as our tax dollars. I don't feel there is a winner here no matter how I look at it.
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ame s 10-22-2008 @ 1:12PM
We had neighbors who would keep our balls if they went over their fence when I was growing up. We lived in "the country" so it wasn't worth bothering the sheriff over. Their youngest son tried to pick a fight with me 2 days after we moved in. He was 9, I was 3. He tormented all the neighborhood kids but was smart enough to move in with relatives right before he turned 18 because he knew the neighborhood dads would come have a talk with him.
The "man of the house" was horrible. He once called our dog over into his yard and shot him in the face with a shot gun. Poor dog managed to make it home but had to be put to sleep. Stupid neighbor bragged to another neighbor, but it was hearsay and all. I remember wondering why 4 or 5 of our dogs died in our front yard, near the road but not in it. Yep, same evil old guy "accidentally" drove into our yard several times.
There are worse things than ball-keeping, that's for sure.
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mik 10-22-2008 @ 2:18PM
It seems a lot of people are judging the policeman and the mother harshly. It seems to me that the article doesn't have enough info. Did he leave the ball there or did it hit ground from a bad throw? If he left it there, it was her right. If he missed the ball and felt he couldn't step on her grass to get it or she went and got it real fast before he could, then she is just being a pain.
As neighbors you have no right to trample other people lawns and leave stuff on their lawn. As neighbors, if you hate people that much, move to the country or somewhere with less people so you can have your space. It's just sad that these neighbors couldn't work it out. I could not imagine living next to someone I dislike that much. I am sure I would move.
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natalie 10-24-2008 @ 2:41PM
It is a ball people, c'mon. A good neighbor would tell their next door neighbors to enter back yard and get their own balls back when it goes over. As long as the balls are not breaking anything and they are just being kids the older lady over reacted. If you do not want balls in your yard or children and neighbors in your yard buy a lot of two plus acres and fence yourself in!
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