89-Year-Old Woman Arrested For Taking Ball

[Pudge]

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/17755843/detail.html


BLUE ASH, Ohio -- She took a teenager's ball and wouldn't give it back. Now 89 year-old Edna Jester from Blue Ash is facing charges.

"I said go ahead and arrest me. Handcuff me if you'd like, because I said I'm not guilty of anything," said Jester.

Blue Ash Police arrested Jester Thursday for petty theft after taking her teenage neighbor's football that was in her yard.


The incident was caught on tape by people across the street who support Jester.

"Taken down and interrogated, a 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 has five children and said Jester has taken balls from her children before. So she called the police.

"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."

Blue Ash Police said they didn't want to arrest Jester. Instead, they just wanted her to give the ball back.

Jester said that wasn't going to happen.

"I was giving it back sooner or later, but not right now, so they could make a laughing stock out of me," Jester said.

Neighbors said the issue of where the kids should and shouldn't play has been ongoing for quite some time.

Jester's court date is Nov. 12.


....and did I mention......?

[Jenna]

She took a teenager's ball and wouldn't give it back. Now 89 year-old Edna Jester from Blue Ash is facing charges.

What kind of Jester is she?

[armsmaster270]

They sure showed each other.

[Odd]

Neighbors need to involve the power of the state to decide a dispute about a ball in a yard?

[pac201]

if he kept his balls in his own yard she wouldn't have access to them, (it) or whatever... and yeah nobody wants to resolve anything anymore, they gotta call the poleeece to take care of it.

[Willowdared]

Hmmmm, is she the neighborhood's "mean, crazy" lady? The one whose house no one trick-or-treats at?

We have a lady who calls on the neighbor kids at least 3 times a day....they jump on their trampoline, which harasses her. Oh yeah, and their parents work on their cars in the driveway, which harasses her.

[Cross240]

That'll teach her to take the kids balls.

[Bob Loblaw]

I understand she's 89 years old...but that old bitch needs to stop being such an ass about it. Who gives a shit if a football/baseball/frisbee lands in your yard? It didn't harm anything. I can see if it breaks a window or messes up the garden...but someone holding a bunch of balls (i know, hilarious!!!) hostage because she's a crotchety old biddy is ridiculous. Why can't people be good neighbors anymore? I had some people over the other day..we got a bit loud, so my neighbor knocked on the door and asked us to keep it down, which we did. Could've been a dick and called the cops, but he didn't. There is no reason for this old skank to keep the football..except for the reason to act like a bitch.

[Ducky]

Speaking as someone who has to deal with kids in a retail environment, it's entirely possible that the kids are obnoxious little tyrants who would do things intentionally to harass the neighbors. There's general rudeness, I'm sure everyone is familiar with that, then there's the 'neighbor' rudeness which are things like encouraging the dog to bark at a particular person and intentionally hitting their house with thing like nerf balls, frizbees, etc. If the yard isn't fenced, there's the added joy of letting your dog crap on their yard, using their yard as a cut through, "accidentally" running into (or through) the bushes and other landscaping, throwing trash into their yard, etc etc ad nauseum. Anytime the neighbor would complain to the parent of the little hellions, the kids would snuffle at Mommy Dearest and say how the mean old lady is lying, how they'd never do that, and Mommy Dearest would buy it hook, line and sinker. She develops a raging case of 'Not MY Child!" (anyone familiar with THAT syndrome?) and after a few episodes of this nature proceeds to call the cops.

Neighbors said the issue of where the kids should and shouldn't play has been ongoing for quite some time.

Sounds like the kids are repeat offenders. The other neighbors are siding with the old lady.

Got a video interview, I'd bet I called it spot on with the mother. The last 10 seconds of the video, the mother said "they can't play in our back yard because they hit the fence, and she gets mad. They can't play in her back yard for the same reason." Gee lady, I'd get pissy if kids were throwing balls against my fence, too. And hell NO they can't play in my back yard, either! They want to throw a ball and have a postage stamp sized yard, then they need to learn where the park is.
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story...4-66f507a85520


/rant. Sorry, I have some bad neighbors, too.

[Cross240]

When i lived in the hood, for some reason everbody thought i had land mines in my yard. When balls landed in my yard, they stayed there untill i saw them and threw them back across the yard.

People avoided my yard like the plauge.

I dont know why they thought i had land mines in my yard..........

[Odd]

Ran across this update

BLUE ASH, Ohio -- Charges were dropped Wednesday evening against an 89-year-old Blue Ash woman charged with stealing a football from some neighbor children.

Edna Jester was charged earlier this week with petty theft for refusing to return a child's football that landed in her yard, but City Solicitor Mark Vanderlaan and City Prosecutor Mark Arnzen said they lacked sufficient culpability to prosecute.

Police said Jester and her neighbors had been involved in an ongoing dispute over children playing in her yard.

Blue Ash Police Capt. James Schaffer said Monday that police warned Jester twice and finally arrested her after she refused to accept a citation.

Schaffer said the woman told police to handcuff her, but they wouldn't do that.

Jester had been scheduled to appear next month in mayor's court, but city officials will attempt to mediate the dispute through the police department’s neighborhood liaison program.

A conviction for petty theft could have brought Jester up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

http://www.wlwt.com/cnn-news/17782609/detail.html