Massachusetts sixth-grader going to bus stop cited for trespassing – IOTW Report

Massachusetts sixth-grader going to bus stop cited for trespassing

FOX: A sixth-grader in Massachusetts was served by police with no-trespass orders after neighbors grew wary of the girl cutting through their properties to get to and from her school bus stop.

The mother of 11-year-old Autumn Blanchard told the Cape Cod Times her daughter received three pink no-trespass notices from the Harwich Police Department on March 2.

Krystal Blanchard said she was unaware neighbors had an issue until the police arrived at her door and asked why she wasn’t informed by the neighbors or school officials, who also knew about the problem.

“I am beyond distressed by this situation,” she told the newspaper. “I can’t imagine why it had to go to this level. Someone should have spoken to me.”   read more

35 Comments on Massachusetts sixth-grader going to bus stop cited for trespassing

  1. One neighbor said they got sued for some kid getting hurt in the yard. So I can understand the ‘get off my lawn’.
    BUT, the neighbor should have told the girl, and then go tell the mother as well.
    Schools get complaints from the neighborhood all the time, so if they new, the mom should have been told.
    So much laziness on all parts.

  2. If you don’t want people walking through your yard, fence it in.
    Our neighbors were encroaching when we moved in. We had it surveyed and put in markers. We caught them removing the markers and the wife said her husband fell down. We figured they were looking for a law suit. We put up a beautiful fence within 3 weeks. If there was more trouble and it went to court the judge might ask us why we didn’t fence it in.

  3. I walked to Kindergarden way back in 1958 all by myself probably a half mile or so through a city park and being a kid I probably took a few shortcuts to get there. Nowadays they’d probably arrest my parents for neglect and child abuse. Sheesh, it’s no wonder our kids are turning into pansies and anow flakes. They’re so damn coddled that they can’t do anything without the state’s permission and some nanny/ninny watching their every move.

  4. First, what’s wrong with gently correcting the child and informing the child’s mother. It does not need to get to the Civil court. Sheesh.
    Knowing what kind of lawsuits get filed these days I agree with the Neighbor, BUT I strongly with Mischie.
    If you don’t fence it, any lawyer worth his salt can turn anything in exposed view into an ‘Attractive Nuisance’ and suddenly you’re on the hook for injuries and ’emotional distress’.

  5. The neighbors are COWARDS, too afraid to speak to a child and mother on their own. Instead they have to cower behind the backs of Gubberment authorized LEOs, to get their dirty work done.

  6. The key is it the “I got sued earlier by someone who’s kid fell in my yard and got hurt!” You can thank the liberal fucking courts and the let’s sue each other mentality. They should have contacted the parents and had them sign a HOLD HARMLESS AGREEMENT!

  7. When I went to kindergarten in The Bronx, mid 1960s, my mom walked me the 4 or 5 blocks on the first day and after that I was on my own. Perfectly safe and normal at the time.
    Today, if I went back there to walk that 4 or 5 blocks I’d be sure to have a bazooka with me.

  8. To Mischie and Poor Lazlo, sorry but I disagree about the fence. The principled solution is to instruct everybody, especially kids and judges, about property rights.

    Don’t take me too seriously, though. I understand that in today’s world that would be a gargantuan education effort, and that as a practical matter a fence would be good. But not everyone has that option. In fact, I don’t. There are deed restrictions on my property and a HOA to oversee compliance, and in the subdivision I’m in fences are not allowed. I am not complaining. I knew and understood my responsibilities as a home owner here and signed up at least in part because of them (property values benefit from this setup).

    If some kid were cutting through my property on the way to school, I figure the polite, neighborly thing to do is to ask the kid to please not do that. If the behavior continued, I’d ask again and let the kid know I’d be talking to her parents if she didn’t cut it out. If a parent visit didn’t work at first, I’d explain trespass laws (and I do know how they work) and lay it on the line that failure to honor my property rights, especially my right to ask uninvited people to leave, would result in the use of force to achieve my goal of being left alone. But it would take a long, long time to get there, and I’d make every honest effort to avoid that kind of situation. The idea of calling the cops AS THE VERY FIRST STEP is ridiculous and uncivilized.

  9. Has everyone forgotten how to communicate? I heard our local P.D. responding to a call of a 10 year old refusing to go to school. Not a law enforcement problem, a parent problem!

    Contact parents, discuss issues with them and the neighbors… end of issue. If it continues, the parents get the citation. A citation on a 6th grader is meaningless and is a trivialization of the law enforcement function.

  10. Al, I agree. I too, long for the return of common sense and manners.
    But in the HOA situation you can’t have a pyramid of washing machines in the yard to attract the local daredevils. And the HOA will be the one sued if someone trips and falls on HOA maintained space.
    I’m a property and casualty adjuster. I generally stay out of liability.
    But I had to explain to a guy one time that a trampoline without a safety net in an un-fenced front yard is not a good strategy.
    Basically, anything that you can see on your property (wood pile, pyramid of washing machines, dog turds) from publicly accessible space is an attractive nuisance. That means it’s your fault the little bastard trespassed on your property and ate a dog turd.
    These litigious times are the worst
    I miss the old days where your old man would beat your ass for falling off somebody else’ roof.
    Remember rock salt in the shotguns? Lazlo’s Old Man told how he was salted a few times by the neighbor for stealing peaches out of his orchard. I remember asking if he called the cops.
    My old man laughed

  11. A lot of good comments, but I have some questions. How did the blue-haired one get three (3) trespass slips, and why didn’t she tell the pink-haired one?

    Perhaps the blue-haired one is a slow learner, and maybe there are ‘trust’ issues between her and the pink-haired one.

    Too, from the picture, it appears that the blue-haired one doesn’t need to be taking shortcuts; she could use the exercise. Yeah, I “went there.”

    Many speak about what a litigious society we live in; old folks like me may think that calling the cops in a situation like this is “chicken shit,” but who amongst you want to deal with an allegation of “he(she) touched me” from either the blue OR pink-haired one?

    Leave it to the cops; you’ll be the “asshole” either way, but at least with the cops doing the “dirty work” you won’t be the asshole with a criminal history and/or listing on the sex offender registry.

  12. Up here in North Maine, we call the Massholes that move here “implants” because they’re fake and act like big boobs.
    If the US ever needed an enema, Mass is where they’d put the hose.

  13. You can’t always “reason” with people. Rather than citing the pink hair to turn blame on her neighbor,the mother should teach her child about respecting others’ property. Did the the girl or mother ask if it was OK to cut through? This tiny story should not be national news.

  14. Arrogant fuckin puke.
    3 pink slips?

    “A word to the wise is sufficient.”
    “Three pink slips to a moron isn’t sufficient.”

    Sic the fuckin hyena on her …

    izlamo delenda est …

  15. It is very risky talking to someone else’s kids. I had a talk with some kids who were having a rock fight with rocks they took from my garden. Their dad came running out thinking I was trying to make sexual advances. Next time I’ll call the police.

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