What a waste!!!

Last Wednesday, I was able to get a misdemeanor dismissed. Let me explain...

Last month, when my mother-in-law and Julie's friend, Barb, were visiting us, Julie and I did a thorough cleaning of the house, and threw out a LOT of trash. There was a lot of stuff left over from our recent garage/yard/estate sale, but also other trash that needed cleaning. There were a ton of garbage bags. And I've been working so much lately, I didn't want to have to deal with it Wednesday night... so I put the bags straight to the curb. The day before the trash normally goes out, we found that the trash had already been picked up, and we had thought that we were maybe the victims of identity theft or something.

The next week, I get a summons to appear in court with a citation of a $75 fine and a misdemeanor charge... for putting out the trash too soon. I had to appear last Wednesday or face a warrant for my arrest! To think of all the crime and problems Cleveland has, to have to appear in court for something SO STUPID was beyond me.

I had to go to Housing Court, where businesses and people with charges FAR more serious than the ones I was up on were ahead of my case. These are people who had properties in major neglect and faced thousands of dollars in fines and possible jail time if they did not comply. Then, they get to my case...

I pleaded NO CONTEST. Thankfully, the court has a program to waive charges on first time offenders, so the charge was dismissed. I was out $8 for my parking, a day off from work, and the inconvenience.

I was glad I was able to have the charges dismissed, but, in my opinion, the whole thing was a waste of time, and of taxpayer money. I am not saying I shouldn't have been cited for it... but a simple warning with a copy of the laws pertaining to trash would have been just as effective AND cost the taxpayers a lot less.