No Trespassing

[Renato Tonelli]

Randy - I think you will appreciate this one: some Summers ago a family traveling through Italy stopped by my house there to ask for directions. They had asked elsewhere and were directed to my house because "there is an American there". (Funny how that works - in New York I'm referred to as Italian). Anyway, they had kids of the same age as mine and we all decided to have a picnic together. They didn't want to go far, so I suggested a field with a large shady tree near my house. "Will anyone chase us out?" "No, the field belongs to me." We walk across the field and the kids' mother asks "what is that black stuff" on the field. I explain that the pellett looking stuff is sheep shit and the pie-shaped stuff is cow shit while the piled big-caliber stuff is horse shit. The kids are having a grand time identifying the different types. Their mother orders them not to poke at the stuff and starts complaining and whining about all the misc. shit, the flies, the crickets, you name it. Picnic is over and the kids want to play hide-and-seek. The mother asks if it's safe. "Yes, but be aware of your surroundings", I tell them. "What could be out there besides those filthy sheep?(or something like that)" "Wild boar and vipers but they all run away as soon as they hear you, see you or smell you." Her kids were forbidden to leave her sight. When we left, it was to the complaints of the cow and sheep shit and why doesn't someone clean it up.

[Michael Graves]

Randy - I think you will appreciate this one: some Summers ago a family traveling through Italy stopped by my house there to ask for directions. They had asked elsewhere and were directed to my house because "there is an American there". (Funny how that works - in New York I'm referred to as Italian). Anyway, they had kids of the same age as mine and we all decided to have a picnic together. They didn't want to go far, so I suggested a field with a large shady tree near my house. "Will anyone chase us out?" "No, the field belongs to me." We walk across the field and the kids' mother asks "what is that black stuff" on the field. I explain that the pellett looking stuff is sheep shit and the pie-shaped stuff is cow shit while the piled big-caliber stuff is horse shit. The kids are having a grand time identifying the different types. Their mother orders them not to poke at the stuff and starts complaining and whining about all the misc. shit, the flies, the crickets, you name it. Picnic is over and the kids want to play hide-and-seek. The mother asks if it's safe. "Yes, but be aware of your surroundings", I tell them. "What could be out there besides those filthy sheep?(or something like that)" "Wild boar and vipers but they all run away as soon as they hear you, see you or smell you." Her kids were forbidden to leave her sight. When we left, it was to the complaints of the cow and sheep shit and why doesn't someone clean it up.

Some people just can't keep their shit together. What can you say?

[Randy H]

"Wild boar and vipers but they all run away as soon as they hear you, see you or smell you." Her kids were forbidden to leave her sight. When we left, it was to the complaints of the cow and sheep shit and why doesn't someone clean it up.

That's good!!
Is that a case of don't know shit from shinola?

[Matt Blaze]

My favorite attempt at a no trespassing sign:

[Terence McDonagh]

This is also the reason for pumping out half-assed lawyers faster than a Mickey-D happy meal.
In the late 90's, I was living in mid-town Manhattan, and the city had actually had to hire a "Sidewalk Surveyor Crew" or some such nonsense, that did nothing but walk the city looking for offsets(within certain dimensional criteria)
in sidewalks and crossings. Seems the city had been sued by so many people for their klutziness and inability to walk and chew gum at the same time, that it was cheaper for them to hire a full crew to look out for Joe "sue-the-socks-off them / get rich quick".
Now, if you got some ass doing that because they can't walk down a city sidewalk without acting stupid, Do I want them walking through my pasture full of slippery cow-shit and gopher holes? Or on my construction site, or my abandoned building?
Duh... O.K. It is, after all, their "constitutional right" to sue me for everything I own, because they were walking around with their head up their backside, and got hurt while tespassing w/o permission.

You're close. It was actually a lawyers' association that ran the operation. They surveyed every sidewalk in the city, noting cracks, broken pavement, etc. with an extensive index f types of damage and provided the report to the city. This allowed people suing to say, "Hey, the city KNEW about that crack in the sidewalk BEFORE I tripped on it, and they did NOTHING about it, so obviously they were NEGLIGENT." The NY Times had a series of articles on it.

Again, too many lawyers, too little time to hunt them all down.

[Michael Roberts]

Interesting thread. I got curious about the laws on the books and did some checking. In Colorado, criminal trespass can be either a petty offense, a misdemeanor, or a felony, depending on what kind of property you are trespassing on and what your intentions are. For our photographic purposes, you would be looking at either a Class 1 Petty Offense or a Misdemeanor depending mostly on whether property is fenced (misdemeanor) or not (petty offense). The rub is, even a Class 1 Petty Offense can carry a fine of up to $500 and up to six months jail time in a county jail. This would be for going onto someone's unfenced, and unposted property! The consequences are more dire when the property is fenced or posted.

So the criminal trespass law assumes you will find out who owns the property in question and ask their permission to be on it, ignorance is not an excuse.

I would assume other states' laws are similar.

[c.d.ewen]

You're close. It was actually a lawyers' association that ran the operation. They surveyed every sidewalk in the city, noting cracks, broken pavement, etc. with an extensive index f types of damage and provided the report to the city. This allowed people suing to say, "Hey, the city KNEW about that crack in the sidewalk BEFORE I tripped on it, and they did NOTHING about it, so obviously they were NEGLIGENT." The NY Times had a series of articles on it.

Again, too many lawyers, too little time to hunt them all down.

Terence:

I remember the NYT articles. The survey was in response to a law that NYC passed that said they couldn't be sued for any crack they hadn't been notifed of. The lawyer's group then did the survey and filed the necessary notices. I suspect that the way the survey was paid for was by having any lawyer with a potential suit 'buy' a copy of the notice.

Charley

[robert amsden]

Wear camouflage and pack heat to intimidate unreasonable a holes.

[Dave Parker]

Wear camouflage and pack heat to intimidate unreasonable a holes.

Better watch out! often times here in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, where I do a lot of shooting, the a hole, will out gun you almost every time, I know guys that own AK-47's, Bazookas as well as RPG's!

What is funny as I am typing this out, there is a story on CNN about a elderly lady in TX that confronted a journalist that crossed her property to get pictures of GWB and she was armed and ready to rock, in TX, the law says you can confront as well as use firearms against Trespassers!

[robert amsden]

The great Woody Guthrie was right This land was made for you and me.