Two-Year-Old Cited For Littering, Parents Protest
A 2-year-old from Northeast Washington, who can be described as simply the most polite and tidiest toddler by her parents, has been termed a “violator” by the D.C. government on official letterhead. Harper Westover, known as “Harpie” or sometimes “Lovey,” received a “Notice of Violation” in the mail on Thursday, reporting that she was being fined $75 for alleged littering at the end of an alley near her home in Washington.
Why This 2-Year-Old In US Received A Notice Of Violation: Harper Westover, age 2, had never run afoul of the… https://t.co/RHqWUfVbPr
— Jharna Karfa (@JKarfa) September 3, 2016
The Washington Post notes what findings and evidence led to officials fining the wee-minor.
“Officials included evidence of a discarded envelope a city worker had found with a bag of trash in the alley. Exhibit A against Harpie the Violator was a photograph of that unopened envelope addressed to her from Bucky’s Buddies, a kids club for fans of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the alma mater of her mother, Theresa.”
The outrageous tale of a 2-year-old receiving a fine has resulted in Harper’s mother asking that the fine kindly be rescinded. On Friday, Theresa Westover, who is an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, called the solid waste inspector who was responsible for issuing the ticket and was certain that her toddler would be absolved of the alleged violation.
Westover argued that her daughter certainly did not haul a bag of trash or carry her Bucky’s Buddies envelope to the end of an alley. Theresa Westover shared the conversation had with the inspector over the matter.
“The inspector’s response was there was a piece of trash in the alley with Harper’s name on it. I said, ‘I understand that, but she’s only 2 years old. Are you willing to rescind the ticket?’ She said ‘No,’?” Westover recalled. “They list Harper as a ‘violator.’ As a mom, it bothered me.”
The family was not only issued the one ticket, there were two issued, both amounting to $75, one for Harper and the other for her mother, because there was also a piece of mail found in the trash bag that was addressed to Theresa.
Harper’s mother explained what likely resulted in the trash bag being left in the alley, stating that every week, she or her husband leave the trash bin outside their home in the alley for garbage pick up. Seeing as the collection truck isn’t able to squeeze into the back street, an additional team pulls out the trash bags from everyone’s bins and carries them down the alley to be tossed in the truck. Westover speculates that their bag was pulled out but left behind accidentally by the garbage collection crew.
The Westovers go on to state that regardless of the manner the trash bag came to be left in the alley, they are not litterbugs. The parents of Harper took the matter online and Chuck Westover, the father to Harper, snapped a picture of his daughter’s violation notice, then sent it to Popville blog. The popular blog published it with the headline, “Today in Has the World Gone Mad? 2-year-old issued littering citation in NE.”
It did not take long before readers came to the defense of the 2-year-old and sarcastic remarks were posted to highlight the ridiculousness of the fine.
“I’m glad we’re not letting these young punks get away with this kind of antisocial behavior. Garnishing her allowance for the next three years will teach her an important lesson!”
An additional reader pointed out how ignorant it was of the city to accuse individuals of littering simply because their names were on addressed envelopes.
“This is idiotic. What this is basically saying is that if a USPS worker accidentally dropped or purposely threw your mail on the ground, you are responsible for littering. Or if a thief stole a package and threw the packaging on the ground, or if the trash truck driver dropped some trash containing something with your name on it.”
[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
