Comments | hugs: cobb county

hugs

cobb county

Dec 12, 2008 13:38

It amazes me.....

if you hire someone to work on your house, and they purposefully and with intent burn it to the ground... and even if you can PROVE that; you can't press criminal charges.

However; if you leave your garbage can by the curb for more than 12 hours you could face jail time.

Comments 26

weswilson December 12 2008, 18:49:08 UTC

Wait, what?

hugs December 12 2008, 20:19:11 UTC

I had $35,000 worth of damage done to my house. Just two months ago I talked to an officer, an inspector and then stood before a judge and was told the same thing. If you sign a contract with a contractor, it doesn't matter what they are supposed to do or what they do. It doesn't matter if they do it on purpose or by accident. Even if they burn your entire house down because you signed a contract you cannot press criminal charges, it's civil court only.

according to the warning I just got I have violated code 102-18. by leaving the trash can out for more than 12 hours. I have also violated code 102-92 for littering because there were 2 news papers that someone else threw into my yard which I don't read or want and have asked them to stop doing.

if you don't believe me you are welcome to call Inspector K. Wakefield at 770-528-2031 and ask her about it.

weswilson December 12 2008, 20:41:56 UTC

I believe you... I'm just baffled about the contractor thing. I mean, I can SORTOF see where it's coming from in that contractors are going to deliberately demolish some of your home to do your work, and there shouldn't be criminal charges for that... but one would think that showing totally unrelated damages might have probable cause. Are you going to take them to civil court?

asbrand December 12 2008, 22:36:34 UTC

Hell...I've left my trashcan out for days...nobody ever cited me for it.

Nor anything about the papers.

Back when I had the hearse, and parked it on the side of the road, I'd been courteous and parked it 1/2 way on my yard, and 1/2 on the road...so people could get by. Someone in the neighborhood complained, and the cops came out and said it was illegal to have a vehicle parked on a non-hard surface (pavement, concrete, packed gravel, etc.).

Yes...it was illegal for me to have it out of the way...but totally legal for me to have it completely parked in the road. *rolls eyes* So, I did just that. Moved it over about 3 feet, so it was totally blocking one lane of the road, and the cop was happy and left.

Insanity, I tells ya...

-Az

taps7734 December 12 2008, 18:54:40 UTC

Priorities man....

grahamwest December 12 2008, 18:55:01 UTC

Both seem pretty nuts to me. I'm guessing you saw an article or something about the first one - did it actually happen to someone (someone doubly unlucky it would seem)?

hugs December 12 2008, 20:19:16 UTC

grahamwest December 12 2008, 20:57:06 UTC

No, I believed you. I figured there was a story behind the contractor arson thing and wondered what it was. I didn't realise it related specifically to your own stuff.

dwivian December 12 2008, 19:53:00 UTC

nonsense -- if someone burns down your house, intentionally, and without your consent, they are in violation of OCGA 16-7-60. If you can prove it, you have a criminal charge. Title 16 is for criminal code. Chapter 7 is for damage to property. Section 60 is in Article 3, which is the section on arson.

As to the garbage can -- you'd have to show me the ordinance on that one. I've not been able to find any limitations on garbage can location. What your homeowner's association says may differ, but that's not the law, that's civil contract.

hugs December 12 2008, 20:18:27 UTC

See, that's where you would be wrong.

I had $35,000 worth of damage done to my house. Just two months ago I talked to an officer, an inspector and then stood before a judge and was told the same thing. If you sign a contract with a contractor, it doesn't matter what they are supposed to do or what they do. It doesn't matter if they do it on purpose or by accident. Even if they burn your entire house down because you signed a contract you cannot press criminal charges, it's civil court only.

according to the warning I just got I have violated code 102-18. by leaving the trash can out for more than 12 hours. I have also violated code 102-92 for littering because there were 2 news papers that someone else threw into my yard which I don't read or want and have asked them to stop doing.

if you don't believe me you are welcome to call Inspector K. Wakefield at 770-528-2031 and ask her about it.

dwivian December 13 2008, 00:35:32 UTC

I'm not wrong that HOA regs are not the law. As to the others ( ... )

tgrey December 13 2008, 05:04:26 UTC

While IANAL (nor bothered to research at this point), this sounds the most in line with how I understand it too... any btw, copy+paste is not always the best solution... especially when it doesn't actually address any of the suggestions/ideas in the comment(s) presented.

Thread 18