January 7, 2002

5:55 AM

Judge to referee road hockey complaint.HAMILTON, ONT. - A Hamilton man whose son likes to play road hockey will have to face off in court Monday against a neighbour who's fed up with stray tennis balls landing on her property.
posted by mantaray (16 comments total)

You just have to love the 'children should be locked in closets and not heard' crowd. I'd just like to hear if there was any real damage to the neighbor's property.
posted by darukaru at 6:25 AM on January 7, 2002

Road Hockey is the National Sport of Canada - you can't take that away from kids!
posted by kristin at 6:43 AM on January 7, 2002

I heard a short interview with Ms. Ciuriak. Aside from the "trampling the garden" issue, which I can actually understand, and which would normally be rectified by the kids moving down the street (which they didn't do), Ms. Ciuriak's concern now is that the defendand (the father of the players) is teaching his son and other neighbourhood boys that it's okay to disrespect other people's property, and to flaunt the law.
posted by nprigoda at 6:50 AM on January 7, 2002

Any law or even speech against hockey should be considered treason in Canada.
posted by adampsyche at 6:55 AM on January 7, 2002

I, like nprigoda have been watching and reading different items on this story. I happened to watch some coverage on the local news regarding the situation last night. When the cameras were shooting the boys playing hockey I couldn't help but notice how lovely Ms.Ciuriak's front yard was. I didn't see any damage. Now I don't think it's right to disrespect someone else's property, I think this just a case of people being "un-neighbourly". Adults should watch their kids work out their problems with each other, they could learn something.
posted by mantaray at 7:20 AM on January 7, 2002

Well, I must say, I have some neighbors I'd like to sue.
In fact, they also play street hockey. I can't tell you how many dings and dents I have in my car that are "unexplained". These kids, although they're between 16-19, just have no respect for anyone. One time, my family had a party at our house, and we had a lot of cars parked in our cul-de-sac. The kids played their game, and we politely asked them if they could move it to another cul-de-sac down the street. They told us to f*ck off, and their father, who was watching the game, simply gave us the finger. Now, these are neighbors we were once close to - they live next door, actually - but, through their children's actions, we've grown distant.

I'm not saying a lawsuit would remedy our problem, in fact, it would probably make it worse, but I'm just saying - I can see where she's coming from!
posted by MeetMegan at 7:51 AM on January 7, 2002

It's not against the law to be "unneighborly".

Are you saying, mantaray, that law should only be respected where the people it's protecting are "nice"?

What's to be learnt? The instant these kids impinge on this lady's property, they've stepped on her rights. Once, twice, three times, this can and should be ignored. Four, five, six times should illict a warning. Sounds like it did.

Beyond this, the lady has full rights to ask the law be invoked. To make it more useful, I'd make the punishment a simple fine, payable to the 'victim'. Say, $5 for every ball batted into her yard. That's a penalty that encourages the kids to be careful, but doesn't stop them from playing. Fair trade.
posted by dissent at 8:03 AM on January 7, 2002

I am all for enforcing the law. The women should be charged with multiple counts of theft under $500 for stealing the kid's tennis balls and the kids should be be fined for playing on the road.

Then they can make it an election issue in the next municipal buffoon selection contest.

As an aside; Do you think her tulips have a snowball's chance in hell now that she has publically declared herself as anti-hockey in a steeltown like Hamilton? This woman's garden is now a prime target for every guerilla gardner in Hamilton to plant noxious weeds in.
posted by srboisvert at 9:50 AM on January 7, 2002

woman = singular
women = plural
posted by yesster at 10:08 AM on January 7, 2002

Thanks yesster. Your correction of my typo was invaluable and likely prevented a major disaster. However, your misuse of the equal sign, which denotes equality and not category membership as you have misused it, might cause an entirely new catastrophe. Please feel free to continue your self-esteem enhancing grammar and spelling crusade. Even if others find it obsessively small-minded and nitpicky I know that I, for one, appreciate the noble sacrifice of an individual willing to take the time to be a human F7 key in the battle against the chaos of poor grammar and misspellings. Fight on brave language paladin.
posted by srboisvert at 12:16 PM on January 7, 2002

srboisvert - sorry, that particular error strikes me odd, if only because I have seen it quite frequently in chat/blog sites on the net. It is prevalent enough that I wonder if there is an l33t group out there to whom the "error" is meaningful, as the "free speach" thing is/was. So I wasn't so much being pedantic as I was fishing for that l33t story (if there is one).
posted by yesster at 12:44 PM on January 7, 2002

Not at all dissent. What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that if this whole road hockey/balls in garden standoff is the biggest crisis in all of these people's lives they're pretty lucky.
posted by mantaray at 1:52 PM on January 7, 2002

Sorry, all I can think of is "Game On!"
posted by Kevs at 3:49 PM on January 7, 2002

It's been dismissed!
posted by sauril at 4:32 PM on January 7, 2002

Glad to hear this case has been dismissed. What a waste of taxpayer money and time.

The answer to this is surprisingly easy! Just create a string fence! Put up stakes on all corners of your property (just inside the neighbour-approval required fence line) and get some "unbreakable" twine. Tie the twine about 8-12 inches up the stake and run it around the area you want to protect. Don't forget a warning sign and a private property sign!

These disrespectful kids will one day forget about it and land flat on their face, trespassing on your property. They'll think twice after that! :)

(BTW: IANAL, and you might want to consult one before doing this -- depending on how crazy your area is it you might be asking for trouble)

Oh, and don't forget to keep all the tennis balls. Another little sign, "Missing your tennis balls? Knock on the door." would help ensure you aren't accused of stealing them. When they run out of tennis balls they'll come up to your door and you can give them the bitch fest of your life.

Really, I just don't understand why these people needed to go to court with so many other solutions avialiable to them.
posted by shepd at 7:14 PM on January 7, 2002

As someone who spent many many hours between the ages of 13 and 18 playing street hockey - and hell, wish I still lived around people that did - what always irked me off was the fact that the adults would never talk to us; they'd wait until we're not around, then talk to the parents of the guy who's house we played at, who would then talk to him, who would then pass the message on to us.

14 year olds can be jackasses.

14 year olds are less like jackasses when they're treated more like adults, in my experience.
posted by AdamJ at 11:59 PM on January 7, 2002