"MY YARD IS A MESS!" — Senior Citizen Faces Court After Nuisance Zoning Violation!

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]I've got a couple of benchmarks that we'll add on here this morning.

[00:00:04]I appreciate your cooperation, but we'll get at them while I've got you and Deputy Paul is here with my list.

[00:00:17]Good morning everyone.

[00:00:19]You're here for an arraignment.

[00:00:21]And the arraignment is the process where the judge tells you what you're charged with and asks you how you wish to plead to the charge. My name is Judge Milton and I could have my name on there.

[00:00:32]But I call your name, I want you to come right up to the podium and we'll talk about your case. We are on the record and we're live streaming this.

[00:00:40]Um This gentleman is Mr. Keith Stickley. He is the chief public defender for Saugerties County and he will be here if you need any advice or inquiry, but he's not actually representing you. He's just here to make sure that uh we're doing what we need to do.

[00:00:59]Uh so let's start with the first person to check in this morning. Jean Kelly, would you come forward, please?

[00:01:05]license license to your car 26 4450M Are you Jean Marie Kelly?

[00:01:23]>> Yes.

[00:01:23]>> Ms. Kelly, you got a ticket in Three Rivers for violation of open storage.

[00:01:29]>> Yes.

[00:01:30]>> Let's take a look at it.

[00:01:34]Three Rivers ordinance regarding that.

[00:01:36]>> Yes, sir.

[00:01:37]>> You live on Fifth Street.

[00:01:39]Seeking a compliance order.

[00:01:42]>> Mhm.

[00:01:44]>> This is a misdemeanor.

[00:01:47]Um How long have you lived on Fifth Street?

[00:01:52]>> Uh since about 2009.

[00:01:57]>> Um Tim, do you have any knowledge of this? This was a late add-on.

[00:02:03]Um, this is the kind of thing that spring is here.

[00:02:08]>> Uh-huh.

[00:02:08]>> And it's hard to clean stuff up in January and February and maybe even March.

[00:02:15]Uh, but three rivers is making concerted effort to >> [snorts] >> stay on top of these nuisance zoning violations. Of course, right now they just got hit by the tornado.

[00:02:29]I don't think it hit 5th Street, did it?

[00:02:31]>> No, it didn't hit my street. Um, like two or three blocks north of me, they had a difference, but I didn't have damage.

[00:02:41]>> All right, what are we What kind of stuff are we talking about here?

[00:02:45]>> My yard is a mess. Um, my son was collecting scrap metal and uh from people and he put it in the yard and at times he wasn't cleaning it up off the terrace properly.

[00:03:03]And I had to uh go out there I had to say like 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. to make sure he didn't make a mess.

[00:03:12]>> Who's your son?

[00:03:13]>> Edward Frasier.

[00:03:15]>> Okay.

[00:03:16]Yeah, you can't really run a scrap operation out of a residential neighborhood.

[00:03:21]>> No, you can't.

[00:03:23]>> What kind of shape is it in now?

[00:03:25]>> Um, it's better.

[00:03:28]And uh there is a nice wide open space uh in the backyard. Now, this is inside the privacy fence.

[00:03:38]>> Well, what I propose we do here, Tim, is adjourn this about 30 days and see what kind of cleanup you can do between now and uh when we meet again.

[00:03:50]>> Okay, cuz I took pictures this morning looking at it visually myself. Um it looked better, but when I took the pictures with my phone, I thought, well, I'm not impressed with it. You're not going to be impressed with it either.

[00:04:05]So, yes, that would be really helpful.

[00:04:07]>> 1117.

[00:04:09]So, this is on the south end of 5th Street.

[00:04:12]>> Um well, it would be like um where Triple Creek is is a block away on Main.

[00:04:20]>> Okay, that's the south end of 5th Street.

[00:04:21]>> be the south end, but not quite 26.

[00:04:24]>> I drive down that street sometimes [snorts] on Thursdays. I go down the different side streets and Three Rivers just to see what's going on. There was a house on 7th Street that was in real bad shape. There was one on 4th. Let's adjourn this about a month.

[00:04:41]We'll have a pre-trial with the city attorney, Mr. George, and he agrees with this. Today's March 25th.

[00:04:47]Let's adjourn this to April 26th.

[00:04:58]See what you can accomplish in the meantime. We'll set that for 9:00 a.m.

[00:05:07]Is your son still there?

[00:05:09]>> No.

[00:05:10]>> Where are you from originally?

[00:05:11][clears throat] >> Three Rivers.

[00:05:14]>> But you and I are about the same age.

[00:05:16]>> Yes.

[00:05:18]>> Were you in the class of '74?

[00:05:21]>> Uh well, I kind of was held back. I was in the class of '75.

[00:05:28]>> All right.

[00:05:29]My sister was in that class.

[00:05:32]Um what was your maiden name?

[00:05:34]>> Kelly.

[00:05:35]>> Kelly. I can't place you.

[00:05:37]Yes.

[00:05:38]>> April 26th is Sunday.

[00:05:41]>> No, I don't. I can't [laughter] read April 28th.

[00:05:46]I don't want to do >> Okay.

[00:05:48]>> I'm fading fast. I've been having a hard time reading little numbers.

[00:05:53]I've been trying to finish my career without having to get glasses. My wife tells me I need to just give up and do it. Anyway, April 28th. Mr. George doesn't want to do it on Sunday and I don't blame him.

[00:06:13]at 9:00 a.m.

[00:06:17]Continue with cleanup.

[00:06:19]All right. They'll go take a look at it.

[00:06:23]And again, you may want to bring some pictures.

[00:06:26]But I want you to continue to do this.

[00:06:29]Now, you're right. I don't I can't envision your exact house, but if you have a privacy fence, certain things can be behind the fence. But as a general rule and in most towns, you can't run a scrapping operation out of a residential house.

[00:06:44]Um we have problems out in the country, too, but uh I'm glad you didn't get hurt in the tornado, but uh let's see what you and your son can accomplish in the next month and then we'll have a pretrial and see what uh the status is.

[00:07:02]>> Okay.

[00:07:03]>> All right. You're good to go. Thank you.

[00:07:05]>> Thank you.

[00:07:06]>> [cough and clears throat] >> We have quite a bit to do, but we don't have any time crunch. Often on Tuesdays I have the arraignments and the pre-exam conferences and it's every other Tuesday. So this is the Tuesday I don't have them.

[00:07:29]So we've got adequate time to address everything.

[00:07:36]James Sailor All right. you James Donald Sailor?

[00:07:46]>> Yes, I am.

[00:07:47]>> This is file 26 3820D.

[00:07:57]You got a ticket on February 28th >> Mhm.

[00:08:00]>> in Three Rivers for operating while intoxicated.

[00:08:04]We get lots of these, almost every day.

[00:08:07]Uh operating while intoxicated is a misdemeanor.

[00:08:12]Punishable by up to 93 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.

[00:08:21]Carries six points on your driving record and requires that your license be suspended.

[00:08:27]I can't tell anything about this other than it was at 1:00 in the morning, a 0.094.

[00:08:35]I lost Mr. George.

[00:08:38]Um What do you do, sir? What's your occupation?

[00:08:45]>> Uh I am an IT administrator and software developer.

[00:08:48]>> That where?

[00:08:48]>> Uh Fiber Converters in Constantine, Michigan.

[00:08:51]>> Okay.

[00:08:52]How long you've been there?

[00:08:54]>> Uh coming up on the 4 years now.

[00:08:57]>> My cousin, Buddy, worked there for about 40-plus years.

[00:09:02]>> It's a good good place.

[00:09:05]>> All right. Um Mr. George is the Three Rivers City Attorney. Let me tell you what your options are here.

[00:09:18]Uh operating while intoxicated is as I said, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days, fine of up to $500, requires that your license be suspended.

[00:09:29]>> [snorts] >> You live in White Pigeon, work in Constantine. You need your car to get back and forth to work. There is a lesser included charge known as impaired driving.

[00:09:40]Um this is probably the kind of case that Mr. George would be willing to reduce to impaired driving, but he isn't here.

[00:09:51]Um the other problem is I don't know anything about it. I don't know whether there are potential defenses.

[00:09:57]So, what I would normally do would be to appoint a lawyer to help you with this or allow you to hire an attorney of your own choosing.

[00:10:06]You don't seem to have any uh issues with your driver's license.

[00:10:11]You have zero points.

[00:10:13]Um so, if Mr. George were here, here he is.

[00:10:19]If if he were to offer an impaired driving in this case, let me explain what that is.

[00:10:25]This is Mr. James Sailor.

[00:10:28]He has no previous driving record except for speeding ticket and the blood alcohol is 0.094.

[00:10:35]We're discussing whether we should appoint a lawyer for him or whether you would offer a plea to impaired driving.

[00:10:43]Um and he could have that as one of his options.

[00:10:48]Let's take a look at this.

[00:10:50]>> Your Honor.

[00:10:51]>> Yes.

[00:10:51]>> The report indicates that he was pulled for a traffic violation. Uh he did the breath test and it was a 0.0909.

[00:11:01]I said this would be one of the well >> All right. At one point you had a lawyer from Detroit.

[00:11:06]>> Yeah, I I did call for services, but then um I had a second attorney as consultant.

[00:11:12]Uh so, they they just suggested that I get a court-appointed attorney.

[00:11:16]>> All right.

[00:11:17]What? Um >> And I I would have to in this specific circumstance, I would have to see if he actually qualified to get a court-appointed attorney.

[00:11:24]>> Yes. Um you hired a lawyer, then didn't hire him. You're employed, well employed. There may be an issue whether you're eligible for a court-appointed attorney. But, let me explain the plea offer.

[00:11:37]Prosecutor would agree to reduce the charge to impaired driving.

[00:11:41]Impaired driving is a lesser included offense.

[00:11:45]It carries four points rather than six.

[00:11:50]It doesn't require that your license be suspended. That allow you to have a restricted driver's license drive back and forth to work.

[00:11:59]It would carry up uh up to 93 days in jail and a potential for a probation.

[00:12:06]Uh but uh your record sure is not aggravated. Um So, [snorts] here's our options.

[00:12:14]Um you can plead not guilty and we'll set it for a pre-trial with either with a hired lawyer or an appointed lawyer.

[00:12:23]You can plead guilty to the lesser charge of impaired driving.

[00:12:27]And if you do that, I will set the matter for what's called screening and sentencing. Get more information about what to do uh for the sentence.

[00:12:37]So, those are options. Plead not guilty and set it for the pre-trial or plead guilty to the lesser charge of impaired driving.

[00:12:46]What would you like to do here today?

[00:12:48]>> Not guilty.

[00:12:49]>> All right.

[00:12:52]Show a plea of not guilty.

[00:12:56]Screen for eligibility.

[00:12:59]Uh counsel.

[00:13:02]Set up a pre-pre-trial for May 1, 2026 at 8: 30.

[00:13:14]Mr. Stickley, can you do that here this morning?

[00:13:17]>> I can, Your Honor. If he can If he can later, I can step out for a couple of minutes.

[00:13:23]>> Yeah, why don't you uh I'll check with him right now? And I think the next two are going to be pretty straightforward.

[00:13:32]All right, I will note Tim George did offer a paired