Get Off My Lawn! Virginia Man Living Near School Bus Stop Puts Up Electric Fence To Keep Kids Off Property
A Virginia man has installed an electric fence to keep neighborhood children off of his property, but parents are concerned that children who get off the school bus near the man’s home may be in danger.
It’s a joke that’s been around almost as long as humans have been living near each other: the cranky old codger who yells at children to get off of his lawn. But as WWBT-TV (Richmond) reports, to homeowner Bryan Tucker, it’s no laughing matter. The man says that middle school children who get off the bus near his home have been leaving trash in the yard.
“They don’t respect other peoples’ land. I pick up trash every day.”
Tucker had other concerns as well. He tells WTVR-TV (Richmond) that the kids also get off the bus stop and fight and curse on his yard. Besides just a general view that children shouldn’t be traipsing about on his property, he was concerned that if one of them got hurt, he would be financially responsible.
Tucker claims he got no help from the school district or the transportation company that manages the school district’s bus routes. He says he was told that all he can do is tell them to stay off his lawn.
“I’m not in charge of other people’s children.”
Figuring his only option was the nuclear option (so to speak), Tucker put up an electric fence.
This man put up an electric fence near a school bus stop to keep kids off his lawn https://t.co/mSyHjtzhBu pic.twitter.com/6Ce4EKeBkP
— CNN (@CNN) September 5, 2018
Neighbors aren’t impressed. One, who asked not to be identified, considers the timing of the installation to be a giant middle finger to all of the school kids and their parents.
“The first day of school, really? C’mon now. It would have been different if it was a few days later or something.”
Another said that kids could get hurt.
“My daughter walked out and said he’s got a fence up. Then someone said it was electric and I said ‘whoa no!’ If something happens to one of those kids they’re going to have lot of angry parents.”
As it turns out, the fence likely isn’t going to be allowed to stay, although the reason for that depends on whom you ask.
Once neighbors started calling city and county officials, it was determined that Tucker’s fence violates the law. Tucker has moved it, but he claims it’s because it was run along property that belonged to the county, not him. He says he’ll put it up again if he needs to, but for now, he says, his message has “gotten across.”
