A man's castle, under code enforcement siege

This poor guy has invested time, money and creativeness in this project and now TPTB want to make him tear it down or face prison time.

Fahey built a barn and moved in. He traded his motorcycle for a trailer and painted it to look like a rail car. He bartered other possessions for a dump-truck load of rocks and a 60-foot workers' lift. Then he sank 108 utility poles a dozen feet into the hard-packed Antelope Valley ground. Reinforced steel beams came next. A giant tower began creeping skyward. A wing sprouted off the tower. Then another.

A lot of work, right? Traded in his Motorcycle??? that's dedication

But Stonehenge's creators presumably didn't have to worry about building codes.

Los Angeles County code enforcers are now demanding that Fahey's Phonehenge be torn down because of an array of building and fire code violations. The district attorney has charged Fahey with 14 criminal misdemeanor counts of maintenance of un-permitted properties and unlawful use of land, offenses that could carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison. Fahey has refused to settle the case, and a jury trial is set to begin Thursday in Lancaster.

It's just amazing to me how our elected law officials continue to waste taxpayer dollars on frivolous stuff like this.

Stop the madness

www.latimes.com...

Of course they'd pick on the guy that wants to do good things and just happens to look like Santa Claus.

reply to post by neOrevolutionist


Hopefully the Jury will remember that it's not only their job to determine whether or not said person broke any laws, but to also interpret the law and it's necessity as applied to this specific case.. in other words, declare he did indeed break building codes, but the building codes don't apply, so not guilty.

BUT ..

It's LA.....

So I doubt it.

Such a cool place!! Something tells me he doesn't have a shot at beating the system in this case, but I will be pulling for him. A guy like this works hard his whole life to own a piece of property and this man obviously had a vision for what his home would be, and now his dream is being crushed. Unfortunate!

Isn't there some clause in building codes when it comes to sculptures?

reply to post by TheRealTruth84


That's the focal point of the argument ... is it the Governments right to tell us what to do with our property? Is it the Governments job to protect ourselves from ... ourselves?

IMO, Government should remain out of our lives .. regulate mass home builders for sure, leave the little guy alone.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
reply to post by neOrevolutionist

 

Hopefully the Jury will remember that it's not only their job to determine whether or not said person broke any laws, but to also interpret the law and it's necessity as applied to this specific case.. in other words, declare he did indeed break building codes, but the building codes don't apply, so not guilty.

BUT ..

It's LA.....

So I doubt it.

The jury can invoke the right of jury nullification. The only problem is that if in voir dire any potential jurist is asked if they know what jury nullification is, and they answer in the affirmative, they are dismissed immediately. That's the court system for you.

/TOA

reply to post by neOrevolutionist

Los Angeles County code enforcers are now demanding that Fahey's Phonehenge be torn down because of an array of building and fire code violations.

Fire code violations? Who cares. Make him sign a ``no responsibility`` paper then, so if there's a fire in his house, the firefighters will not respond and he won't be able to sue.

Freaking bureaucrats with no life trying to screw with people. What about they PISS OFF?

We'd better tear down the Statue of Liberty while we're at it as I'm sure it does not meet NYC municipal building codes.
Somebody could get hurt ya know!

reply to post by The Old American


True.. I don't think lawyers should have the right to choose juries.. it should be 12 random people picked by the computers, as long as they don't know the person standing trial they should stay regardless of belief or stand on whatever issues.