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About a month ago a single mother and her 2yr old daughter moved into the house across the street from me. The house had been vacant for about 6 months and was in pretty bad shape. It has an absentee landlord who does nothing with the house. The foundation is sinking and the inside was a mess..the front lawn hadn't been mowed in forever and was about knee high. The woman who moved in there is just newly divorced and is trying to make a life for herself with her daughter. She has been trying so hard to get things in order around that house and is constantly apologizing to everyone for the state its in even though its not her fault. We keep telling her its not necessary and have been offering to help her if she needs it.
About two weeks ago she got a letter in the mail from the city telling her that she had two days to mow her lawn or they were going to start charging her $2000 a day for every day it remains unmowed. CRAZY! Where does the city get off thinking they can do this??? Well I guess she went out and borrowed a lawn mower from someone and was desperately trying to mow her lawn. I looked out my front window and saw her out there crying attempting to mow this lawn...with her 2yr old standing on the front porch looking at her. The lawn mower kept cutting out and you could tell it would take her forever with that mower and that she was completely stressed. My boyfriend went out there and offered to help her and we got the lawn mowed for her. It pisses me off though that the city thinks it can do that to her. This city will even give you a ticket for working on your car in your driveway...apparently its against city code. WTH! You will also be charged $100-200 a day for having a car in your driveway with lapsed registration.
To make matters worse...my neighbor had her parents staying with here last weekend to help fix up the house. Her daughter somehow got into her father's heart medication. She didn't swallow any pills but had one in her mouth for a bit so they were understandably scared and called 911. Care flite, fire rescue, and the cops showed up at her house. They checked her daughter out and she was fine...they all left. Yesterday my neighbor tells me that shes been hearing that the wife of one of the firemen who responded to her 911 call has been going around town giving everyone all the information of the visit....exactly where she lives..the exact car that she drives...all the details of why 911 was called...and the fact that her house was "torn apart" and there was "smelly" trash on the side of her house. That my neighbor was acting "weird" when they were there...oh and that the wife called CPS on her because of it. Ummm...first...what right does this witch have to go around telling people my neighbors private information? 2nd...my neighbor explained to the rescue people (after it was determined that he daughter was okay) that the house was a wreck because they were painting and remodeling to get it in some decent order...and that her refridgerator broke so they had to throw all the food out..so sorry for the garbage on the side of the house (theres only one day of garbage pickup). It makes me SOOO angry that people like this think that they can take things out of context to gossip and rumor monger and to try and take peoples kids away.
I just told my neighbor not to worry...if CPS comes around they will be able to see that she takes good care of her little girl. But shes understandably worried because shes involved in custody issues with her ex.
First off the landlord should be responsible for the grass being high since she just moved in. DH and I rent and our landlords are fabulous...thank god...he sounds like a real slum lord.
As for the jerk of a firemen, has he ever heard of Hippa?! He has no right to spread her info around town especially being someone in his position.
The poor woman is trying to get her life together and it sounds like people in town are trying to tear her down. Luckily she has nice neighbors like yourself and bf to help her out.
Sounds like a she is having a hard time and people need to keep their nose out of her business. I feel for her, small towns are the worse in that aspect. I think it is great that you offered to help and are standing by her when she needs it most. I hope others give this women a break for trying to give her child a great live. As for the medication who hasn't had something almost did happen, children are sneaky. I managed to spray mace in my eyes when I was 4, no one should be talking badly about her. She did hte right thing and was worried about her daughter. People drive me nuts when they try to make something seem Horrible when its not. I am keeping her in my t&p's.
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I really don't see what any of this has to do with small towns. I live in a small town and there is no ordinance about how high grass can be or any fines if you don't cut it.
I don't know WTH is wrong with that firefighter regarding the pill issue. It's not even legal to repeat specific information of a call. My mom was visiting us when Cammie was 3-ish, and Cammie got into her Ativan. She wasn't Ok, she did swallow some and we had to take her to the ER and have her stomach pumped and everything. Even the ER doctor didn't call child welfare because he was able to recognize an accident over negligence.
And being a former FF/EMT I can tell you most people don't need 911 the same day they cleaned their house lol
Just keep up being a good neighbor to her, and tell her not to sweat it with the child welfare people. My BFF's ex has called child services on her 6 times (so far) claiming neglect, but they're not stupid and they see the truth when they see the kids and the house themselves.
oh man that sucks. Small towns can be rough. I hope it all works out for her and people get off her back. I'm sure she is doing all she can. She needs support not harassment.
That poor woman!! I'm glad she's got people like you looking out for her. Has she made a complaint about the fireman's big ol mouth? If not, she should.
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I can semi relate. I lived in a small town where the lawn had to be mowed or you got a fine. And a bunch of other things. I think growing up my mom paid over $2000 in fines between working on cars in driveways to not getting the grass mowed. Sometimes it happens. Oh and let me mention the $450 fine for having a broke down car that was being fixed up with expired tags. Kind of hard to get inspection to get tags when oh yea the car is broke.
So sorry they are going through this.
As for the busy body wife, there is legal actions she can take because unless the woman was there who is spreading the nonsense....she should have no information about it....and therefore has no right to discuss it....anyways!
Small towns = fewer citizens to get tax money from through sales, so they can be harder on people.
$2k per day for grass is excessive.
Jess, info about 911 responses isn't subject to HIPAA laws. Firefighters aren't held to the same confidentiality laws as doctors and hospitals. In some areas, this information is even published in the local newspaper for all to read. In small towns, the 911 blotter is sometimes entertainment.
Apparently she did call the fire station and lodged a complaint. The lady that she talked to there apologized to her and said that she would bring it up at their next meeting because it is against their policy to give out information from rescue calls. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop what has already been said.
I also believe that the landlord should have been responsible for the unmowed lawn. I mean...it was sitting there for six months not mowed and I'm sure the landlord wasn't racking up $2k a day in fines.
That's terrible what she is going through, thank goodness for you and your boyfriend who are there to offer help to her, that landlord is a real jerk, as for the $2000 dollars a day, that's redicilous, I live in a small town and we don't even have codes and regulations like that, hell if you're having a problem, go to your mayor (that's what ppl do here, our Mayor is a real sweet lady, and understands most situations).
As for the fire fighter sharing personal information, it's not necessarily bound by HIPPA to maintain confidentiality, but any fire fighter/ EMT should do it out of respect. Our fire department doesn't have regulations but Kris (our fire chief, she's also our mayor) expects that of our members, it's respectful!
