88-Year-Old Grandma Arrested For Not Returning Kid's Ball

Good thing she didn't have a garage conversion

NO SYMPATHY!!!

Wow, this is just ridiculous. If the parents won't make the kid stay in their yard or go to a park, what's so wrong with the lady taking matters into her own hands? It's not like she's hurting the kid; she's just teaching him/her a lesson. That sort of thing was commonplace when I grew up, and I was born in the 80s. Elderly neighbors would steal the ball for a few days until the kid came over to deliver a proper apology, at which time the ball would be returned.

"Frustrated that a neighbor’s kid kept on landing in her front yard, Edna Jester decided that she wasn’t going to give it back - so the neighbor called the police on her!"

Hahaha! She took the kid. Wait, what!? O_o

what kind of people would call the cops on an old lady like that?

Wow. I live there.

I read this earlier in the day. The only thing I could think of is "What is wrong with people?" As Stefanie said earlier in the comments that it was common place for the parents to side with the people whose yard was being invaded by the kids' toys. If that were my neighbor growing up and my father found out that my ball kept going in that poor woman's yard I would've 1. gotten a stern talking to 2. been made to apologize to the woman 3. promise to never ever again get in throwing range (let alone sight) of her yard. Seriously, what about the kid harassing a poor old women by going in her yard and invading her privacy and tresspassing to get his football?

Might have been a slight typo in the first sentence ;)

"Frustrated that a neighbor’s kid kept on landing in her front yard, Edna Jester decided that she wasn’t going to give it back - so the neighbor called the police on her!"

Ali S. beat me to it but still man give that kid back!

Oh yeah - that didn't make any sense now huh? First sentence corrected (I hope!)

won't we all feel safer now?

You darn kids! Stay outta my yard!

Obviously the headline of this article was meant to sway the reader's opinion.

Basically the old woman committed a crime and refused to come clean. She was arrested for theft. End of story.

Being an old fart or someone's grandmother doesn't have anything to do with the crime she committed or the leniency the cops could have allowed her.

She's probably got a criminal record a yard long.

soooo.... we don't talk about problems with each other anymore. we simply call the cops. you step on my foot in the bus? no apology needed, go directly to jail. in sovjet usa you dont solve problems, problems solve YOU! and, of course, there was that other country where people really liked to denounciate each other.

Thanks for the acknowledgment Alex. I just had to pass this to you.
And for you all saying "but but but she committed a crime!!!"
The same could be said of the kid and his father for entering private property every time the fumble fingered kid lost his ball to Private Property!

Only the reanimated cadaver of Charlton Heston can save us now.

God Speed, Chucky.

Good thing for the kid they didn't live in Texas. She'd be in her rights to shoot him in the back as he left the yard.

thats dumb. its just a ball in a yard. the kid probably cuts her grass anyway.

Reminds me of a King of the Hill episode where some new neighbors move in and their kid starts to "bully" Hank. So one day when the kid starts doing circles on his lawn w/ his bike, Hank takes the bike away from him and then the parents call the cops on him (the parents saw the kid as just being special not seeing that he was a total turd nugget).

The father calling the cops is totally low, and a waste of tax dollars. She'd told the TEENAGERS (who should have known better) multiple times not to trespass her yard. Picking on a elderly widow who just wants to be left in peace is utterly shameful.

I have a problem with kids throwing their ball in my yard constantly, and I get sick of having to stop what I'm doing to go retrieve it for them. So, now I let my Rottweiler play in my yard (high fence) while the kids are playing. She loves it when a ball comes over and claims it as if it were her own. It's usually ripped to pieces in seconds. So ... will she go to jail if the neighbors call the police?
But coincidence or not, I have noticed when she's out there, the ball rarely, if ever, goes into the backyard.
For a while the kids were climbing my fence to retrieve their own ball. They couldn't trust me to answer my door at 11pm. When they broke the gate off the hinges to get out of the yard, their parents didn't offer to fix it.

If this was in Japan, the old woman would beat the kid. If the kid complained, the parrents would beat the kid.

hmmm ... it's going on someones property called tresspassing?

Most commenters seem to assume that cops must be the bullies while old people must be innocent... Who knows how often the ball is actually kicked into her garden? It is a neighbor compromise, right? While the teenagers and the old lady should talk this out, it seems that neither party wants a compromise and the old lady decides to take the wrong action by confiscating the ball. While it is hardly necessary for the police to come over, and since we did not if the situation escalated to the level of domestic disturbance, we cannot say the police should not take arrest of her.

(P.S. We have an elderly neighbor who cannot take the slightest amount of noise. While we respected that, there is also a reasonable limit of how quiet we can go.)

This really can't be true! But, if so, tell the kid keep the damn ball out of her yard. It's that simple. Grandma needs to buy a pitbull that can make the decision for her. CRAZY

Here's the link to the local newspaper story (the lady ids actually 89:

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20081020/NEWS01%20/310200028

Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis take note..... 89 yr old lady recovers fumble and takes it to the house!!! Sign her before the Steelers do.

Yeah but...didn't they give her a chance to give the ball back - and she refused - before they arrested her. Not that I'm advocating arresting and 89 year old, but still...

I dont get why everyone is saying these people were wrong but it wasn't wrong that this old grouch took the ball just because it landed on her grass? God forbid kids are doing something like playing outside. *gasp* How dare they have fun and do kid things while they still can. Give me a break. I am not saying she should be arrested but just because she is old as dirt doesn't mean it is ok for her to do what she did either.

What kind of people would call the police on an elderly 88 year old woman? Buy the spoiled brats a new football, for heaven's sake! I hope somebody shows a little kindness to the old gal, she may have a stroke over all the excitement! Kids need to learn some respect for the elderly and it's obvious these kids have none. She should sue for harrassment or something!

This lady just made the comment she can now enjoy her view from her front porch.I think she thinks she has the right to say children can not play in the street in front of her house if she wants that right then she needs to buy up her view.Other wise she has nothing to really say about children playing in the street.And taking anyone's property is not the answer.She could have asked them to be more careful, but really give me a break what is the harm with them playing in the street.She doesn't seem to like kids and I'm sure her neighborhood is loaded with them. If so get over it or move.

if she wasn't an evil old hag i could at least attempt to sympathize.

Whether the dad was wrong to call the cops isn't the issue. She handled the situation wrong. If she didn't want to give the ball back to the kids, she could tell them that she'd give it back to the dad, that way the two of them could have a talk about it, LIKE ADULTS.

what a hag, whats the big deal? why couldn't she just give it back?

ABSOLUTE KUDOS TO HER!! I would've done the same thing. It's one thing if it happened once...another if it happens all the time. Sounds like the kids are POS teenagers and the parents even bigger ones!!! They probably started doing it on purpose, too, just to get a rise out of this elderly woman who probably was living there WAY before the wastes of sperm came along. So many kids are not taught how to respect other people these days. Parents don't discipline their kids and this is what happens. Same kind of parents who bring their screaming brats to a restaurant and think its CUTE to let them run around from table to table and bug other people.

How is taking something in your own yard theft?

If someone leaves something in my yard I consider it trash or my property. End of story.

gosh, this all sounds so wrong! in some ways this story is like something from the past. in other aspects it heralds this new world of totally poor boundaries we live in!

My husband's gran fell over and got a giant bruisy scrape last year whilst trying to kick a ball out of the yard. She is only 79! Sorry, but i have to side with the granny, because most of the old people i know find it difficult just to walk let alone bend down.

This past Friday for the 3rd time the kid across the street had his ball kicked into my back yard. He has be repeated warned not to play in the street where the ball could get onto my property. I even had my attorney send them a demand letter warning them the next time it happened I'd sue them. So the ball came in and they came onto the property without permission, I motioned them to leave the property through my bedroom window. I should mention at the time they came onto the property I didn't know the ball was again in my yard. I was down with back spasms and between the pain meds and muscle relaxers I was shall we say very dizzy. So the kids father (6'ft or so...I'm 5'3") came through my yard and started repeatedly ringing my doorbell then banging on the door and then banged on the bedroom window. At the time I had no idea why he was even on the property and in my condition I wasn't about to get out off bed again. So about an hour later just as the wife is getting home the adult came right over and demanded the ball back immediately. The wife told em as soon as she could she'd get it. Shortly there after, the cops showed up to retrieve the ball. Once the wife explained that I didn't know about the ball and was down with the back spasms he said he understood. The wife told them that had they be playing at the park rather than the street next to our house it wouldn't have yet again gotten into our yard. Well the adult said no it came from the park two houses away (let's just say none of these kids are professional soccer or pro football kickers and it would be next to impossible to kick it that far). The cop agreed and left once their little precious ball was returned. We had read this story before so we weren't about to keep it. The video cams have captured all the trespass and will be handed over to the attorney for violations of the demand letter. Oh and the backyard cam showed it came from near our house not the playground where they should have been. Parents and kids these days have no respect for private property and frankly neither do the parents. Hopefully I'll get a district judge who'll actually believes in property rights and will issue a restraining order....check out the videos of all the problems these kids cause me at photobucket using my name. Flipping me off, running through my yard, even got egged on halloween (took us 2 hours to clean the mess up).

justme64_photos - You have serious problems if you've gone to all this trouble and expense over kids walking into your backyard to get a ball. You _know_ that there's no problem, yet you treat it like a huge imposition on your property rights. I'd like to fly out and help those kids egg your house next Halloween.

morons like you that have moron kids