I guess its illegal to simply live.

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/north_central/madison-county-evicts-man-from-trailer

MADISON COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) - 72-year-old Dick Thompson isn't sure if he wants to fight or give up.

"I want to get the hell out of here right now — too much hate," Thompson says one minute.

"I think it's a bunch of bull," he says another, vowing to stay.

Thompson faces eviction from his 38 acres in Madison County. The county lawyer tells 24-Hour News 8 it's because Thompson is breaking too many rules, laws and ordinances; Thompson has no water, no sewer and no electricity in his recreational trailer that he calls home.

"I'm a country boy," explains Thompson. "I just want to be left alone."

Thompson is mighty fine, thank you very much — along with his dog, Ace, his horse, Fritz, his bird, Sunshine, and many more.

The eviction papers state go-time is “Nov. 30 at noon,”' though no one came — not yet.

horrible story, no back information, just a view of a poor old man...

My guess is that there is some bad blood between him and the county.. Such as he pissed someone off years ago and they're throwing the book at him..

I'll bet that guy is not 100% innocent.

Either that..

Or the county wants his land for a housing development.. Don't get me started about that.

I'm sure it was all fine until he angered someone and they reported him. If he is out in the country how would they ever know what his living conditions were like?

He should just claim that he is Amish. They get away without following all the codes everyday.

I'm guessing the township zoning wants more money. it happens quite often where I grew up. Building/zoning laws change and they try to force out people that are grandfathered in. This usually happens when a high-income/ higher class of person moves into a surrounding area.

I grew up in agricultural land and have heard the stories of the urban transplants creating legal battles over manure spreading & other natural farm smells.

At what point wouldhis lifestyle be acceptable? If he had running water would they back off? If a generator or extension cord was there, would the do gooders leave him alone?

Maybe he's a grumpy old gremudgeon, so what?

STFU.

GhiaMonster wrote: If he is out in the country how would they ever know what his living conditions were like?

The city/county or at least the utility companies know if you have service (Water, sewer, electric, gas, etc).

What a crock.

Ugh. This reeks of ulterior motives.

Maybe we could create a marketing campaign that addresses this guy's plight and the TSA debacle.

Message: "LEAVE MY DICK ALONE"

One thing that the article doesn't mention - who owns the land? Is he being kicked off land that he has a clear title to, or is he renting it from the county, or what?

The video in the article stated that he's going to sell the land . . .

WTMcF w/ extra cheese

In my mind the only ordinances he may be violating are structural safety ones. Though based on experience with cities, he is may not have the trailer registered which can be a no-no if it is visible from a road. The health code violations do not surprise me much after thinking about it. He has to dispose of his waste somewhere, the porta potty in the trailer can't just be dumped on the ground outside according to code would be my guess. As others have said, there is definitely more to this story than we are reading

internetautomart wrote: In my mind the only ordinances he may be violating are structural safety ones. Though based on experience with cities, he is may not have the trailer registered which can be a no-no if it is visible from a road. The health code violations do not surprise me much after thinking about it. He has to dispose of his waste somewhere, the porta potty in the trailer can't just be dumped on the ground outside according to code would be my guess. As others have said, there is definitely more to this story than we are reading

maybe he has it hooked up to a septic tank? if travel trailers permanently or semi-permanently on your land have to meet structural building codes, then there are a ton of hunting camps all over texas in violation.

sounds like someone is using ordinances that were originally intended to maintain a certain standard in new housing to run this guy off his land.

The article does leave a lot of questions unanswered. How long has he been living here like this? How close are his neighbours? Where does he go to the bathroom? I couldn't just park a trailer in a vacant lot in the middle of the city and live in it, should he be able to do it just because he's in the middle of a field? There are just too many questions to really form an opinion. While I do feel that "it's his property, let him do what he wants", there are rules that you have to live by when living in a society, and building codes/regulations are one of them. There's probably a bylaw that states that your permanent residence has to have running water, electricity, sewage, etc, and he's probably not been there long enough to be grandfathered in since the bylaw is probably older than his trailer. I also wonder what other rules he's broken, how much his neighbours have complained, etc.

Strizzo wrote:

internetautomart wrote: In my mind the only ordinances he may be violating are structural safety ones. Though based on experience with cities, he is may not have the trailer registered which can be a no-no if it is visible from a road. The health code violations do not surprise me much after thinking about it. He has to dispose of his waste somewhere, the porta potty in the trailer can't just be dumped on the ground outside according to code would be my guess. As others have said, there is definitely more to this story than we are reading

maybe he has it hooked up to a septic tank? if travel trailers permanently or semi-permanently on your land have to meet structural building codes, then there are a ton of hunting camps all over texas in violation. sounds like someone is using ordinances that were originally intended to maintain a certain standard in new housing to run this guy off his land.

in my mind the difference is permanent residence versus temporary residence, He is using the trailer as a full time home. The hunting trailers are not full time residences.

internetautomart wrote:

Strizzo wrote:

internetautomart wrote: In my mind the only ordinances he may be violating are structural safety ones. Though based on experience with cities, he is may not have the trailer registered which can be a no-no if it is visible from a road. The health code violations do not surprise me much after thinking about it. He has to dispose of his waste somewhere, the porta potty in the trailer can't just be dumped on the ground outside according to code would be my guess. As others have said, there is definitely more to this story than we are reading

maybe he has it hooked up to a septic tank? if travel trailers permanently or semi-permanently on your land have to meet structural building codes, then there are a ton of hunting camps all over texas in violation. sounds like someone is using ordinances that were originally intended to maintain a certain standard in new housing to run this guy off his land.

in my mind the difference is permanent residence versus temporary residence, He is using the trailer as a full time home. The hunting trailers are not full time residences.

they are on the property full time, does it matter whether someone is living in it full time or not?

if i build a house, does it matter if its going to be a full time or part time residence?

He lives in a trailer with no hookups, how hard could it possibly be to relocate this guy? Give me an F350 and the cover of darkness and he is the next county's problem.

Schmidlap wrote: ...should he be able to do it just because he's in the middle of a field?

If he owns the property, yes. I'm of the opinion that people should mind their own f'n business. If he owns the land he can sleep in the middle of it in a sleeping bag for all I care, as long as he's not hurting anyone else. And no, I don't think that property value BS counts as hurting someone.

How can this guy live in a trailer in Indiana with no heat?

Part of the problem with many communities is the hassle of trying to get utilities run to a property. You have to do A before you get B. Then C and D and on down the road. I suspect this guy has an authority problem. Even in our county, which has no zoning, its illegal to live full time in an RV. A lot of people do it.

propane doesn't need electricity to make heat.

About 10 years ago I had an aquaintance named Earl. Earl was in his mid 80's. He and his brother owned the 80 acre farm that had been in the family 90-100 years. The brother was living there in a converted chicken coop. He had all the amenities, but the do gooders in the McMansion settlement across the road considered it an eyesore. The neighbors tried to have him run out on code violations. So Earl and brother go to a township zoning meeting and put out their plan to make the farm earn it keep so brother can move a new double wide on to the place. The plan was to raise1,000-1,500 hogs every 3 months. It was all legit and zoned for farming. The neighbors decided that maybe it wasn't such an eyesore after all and they left the old boy alone for the next several years until he died.

He bought the land from his parents - had an outhouse. County introduces zoning regulations - he becomes out of reg. Neighbor complains and he gets eviction notice. I suspect Indianapolis sprawl caught up to his country boy lifestyle. Most of the internet stories are a rehash - . The real story is more likely in documents like the madison county transportation development plan - that talks about the Indy sprawl and the effects on the county.

People want space and out of the city - so they spread out - get a little space, then realize they really liked some of the amenities of city life and start demanding them - things like municipal water and sewer and oh, they want things to look neat so their property value stays up, so we need some zoning regulations to keep those pesky neighbors in line.

My wife says she wants to live in the country - I've told her she doesn't really understand what that is - she grew up in a suburb of chicago. I grew up on a farm the family has had since the 1700s.

city folk

Disgusting. The guy could live in a cardboard box on his own property and they'd still have something against it.

The county lawyer told 24-Hour News 8 it’s because Thompson is breaking too many rules, laws and ordinances; Thompson has no water, no sewer and no electricity in his recreational trailer that he calls home. Bottom line: You can’t permanently live in a recreational vehicle.

Quoted from this article: http://www.prisonplanet.com/indiana-land-owner-dick-thompson-facing-eviction-sells-land-and-is-leaving-corrupt-county.html

oldsaw wrote: The county lawyer told 24-Hour News 8 it’s because Thompson is breaking too many rules, laws and ordinances; Thompson has no water, no sewer and no electricity in his recreational trailer that he calls home. Bottom line: You can’t permanently live in a recreational vehicle. Quoted from this article: http://www.prisonplanet.com/indiana-land-owner-dick-thompson-facing-eviction-sells-land-and-is-leaving-corrupt-county.html

That's funny...they complain he doesn't have permenant utilities in one sentence and then in the same breath complain that you can't live permenantly in a recreational trailer.

So...if he got utilities, they'd have hard proof he was permenantly living there. To have it parked there and camp out (albiet every night) without utilities...how do they define permenant residence?

Just a curious point.

Clem

sounds like if someone were to go out there and build a shack, run power, water and plumb it to at least a septic tank, he could say he's living there and they can't really do much about it