Stephens County Marshal’s Office says disabled family hasn’t been fined for nuisance property
Pictured is the property county resident Bill Stephens discussed during a recent Stephens County Board of Commissioners Meeting, prior to it being cleaned up.
WNEG News has learned from the Stephens County Marshal’s Office that the disabled family WNEG News reported about, on Tuesday, has not been fined despite the comments Bill Stephens made during the recent Stephens County Board of Commissioners meeting.
The Marshal’s Office says as long as the family has the property cleaned up by their next court date, August 26, they will not have to pay a fee.
Pictured is the property county resident Bill Stephens discussed during a recent Stephens County Board of Commissioners meeting after the clean up started.
The Marshal’s Office also explained that they often encounter properties where the property owners are physically unable to clean up the nuisance items; in these cases, the Marshal’s Office works with the property owners to rally volunteers to help clean.
WNEG News included Stephens’ comment in Tuesday’s newscasts that the Marshal would not allow the group of volunteers to put up a privacy fence.
Pictured is the property county resident Bill Stephens discussed during a recent Stephens County Board of Commissioners meeting after clean up started.
“We raised a bunch of money and decided to put up a privacy fence, around the back yard, the County didn’t ask us to do that, but we decided to do it. I raised a bunch of money, me and some ladies did. Home Depot was going to give us 20 percent discount on the material. I was going to get volunteers to help me put it up, but no, another different County Marshal come out Friday and stopped me. They told me a stack of firewood, that they heat with, was debris. They call a stack of split fire wood debris on the phone with me Thursday, and again in public,” he said.
The Marshal’s Office says the issue isn’t the privacy fence; but, rather, the family had moved the nuisance items from the front of the residence to the back side, and the fence would just mask or cover the items from being seen from the road.
Those nuisance items often attract rodents and in turn begin to move to neighboring properties. Creating an issue not just for the original property owner but also anyone who lives next door.
If you are interested in volunteering to help clean up properties in the County where the owners are unable to, you can do so by calling the Stephens County Marshal’s Office at 706-886-9491 extension 9307.