We are instituting a new department: Comment of the Day. We will post a comment which strikes us as being particularly important, well said, quirky, pithy, beautiful or funny, but we will do that only occasionally. Paul @Blogfinger
This comment from Mary Beth Jahn (Committeewoman, Neptune Township) dated June 10, 2011, was in response to our post “Beatrice Fails to Appear in Court—Question: Is This the Second Time?”
“The Township will continue to pursue this case until the house is fixed and/or sold to someone who will fix it. We will not continue to allow this owner or any other owner to willfully ignore Code citations or court orders and endanger the lives of other, law abiding neighbors, no matter how long it takes or how much money it costs. We cannot and will not put a price tag on the safety of our residents, plain and simple – lives are absolutely irreplaceable. We will not play Russian roulette with the health and well-being of this property’s immediate neighbors. We have no lives to spare to the selfish whim of derelict homeowners.”
I attended Municipal Court last Thursday. The judge and township attorney discussed the violator’s failure to appear and her lawyer’s letter recieved by the court on the issue. There was no postponement and I understood the judge would check the records to determine if it was the 1st or 2nd such failure to appear. The arrest warrant for a property maintenance violation certainly surprised me. The Park View case is awaiting a final agreement that sets a specific timetable to complete a series of steps which will correct all the open violations. Any deviation would trigger a very large $ fine. The entire proceeding went quickly as the judge moved things along in a no-nonsense manner that made me wary of having to be before her.
Anonymous – you need to brush up on your civics classes. You are saying the judge should be swayed, which is judicial misconduct. Furthermore, the judge has final say. Lastly, and this should be noted roundly, the vast majority of rights sit with the property owner. As my 12th grade government teacher was wont to say, a land use case will live for years in court just to give the owner enough time to make their case. It’s one of those things the Founding Fathers were big on – immutable property rights.
Really folks, this stuff was covered in high school civics classes.
Anonymous, you are welcome to question Judge Wernik about her decisions next Thursday at the next Municipal Court session. No one – not attorney, township committee members, members of the public – can interfere with the decision of a judge. Implying that somehow Judge Wernik is not independent and is the handmaiden of the township committee is not only wrong, it’s just laughable.
Good luck with dressing her down on Thursday. You are SO going to need it.
I am not 100% sure, but isn’t this the same judge that was appointed on Jan 1 by OUR Township Committee????? Now I am not saying she should be swayed by a political connection, but if the Township attorney says it’s the 2nd time this woman failed to show, shouldn’t that be enough for the Judge??????? The problem with ALL court cases is the lawyers can string it out for months, years. If she fails to show, do what is allowed by LAW. Lets not wait for another fire or possible loss of life??????
My comment is the same as to the original post. -It won’t happen if the the judge can’t count.
The judge has the ultimate say, and from past cases it looks like she doesn’t care about the condition of the houses and the dangers they are for the neighbors. She just keeps granting the lawyers postponements.