Hero of The Day

Seen on Callahan's Cleveland Diary today....

Sheriff orders deputies not to evict


"HAMILTON: A sheriff in Southwest Ohio has ordered deputies to ignore eviction orders when people have nowhere else to live.

Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones says evictions in winter weather and during an economic recession are heartless and those cases should be sent back to the courts and resolved some other way.

Jones on Tuesday ordered deputies to ensure that people have shelter before they're forced out of their homes. He also sent a letter to Gov. Ted Strickland asking him to issue a state order to stop forced evictions for at least the winter months.

The sheriff could face court action if a bank or landlord challenges his refusal to honor a court-ordered eviction. Jones says he will face any consequences of his order."

According to PolicyMatters Ohio, in 2007 Butler County was the tenth busiest county in Ohio feeding the foreclosure vultures, with 2,783 filings. A number which looks like a puny 5th grader compared to Cuyahoga's 2007 total of 14,946, however Butler's foreclosure rate from 2002-2007 grew by 68.3%. Because it's in NOWHERE OHIO. Nobody lives there. If you've ever been to Middletown, you have forgotten about it three minutes after you left it. So in a community where nobody lives? 2700 is a lot of houses.

But that isn't really the point. Those are just some numbers I looked up out of curiosity. I've actually spent a lot more time in Butler than I realized, looking at the city list, and believe me, I wouldn't want to be homeless in Hamilton.

What this guy is doing is saying "hey, if these people have nowhere else to go, don't kick them out into the street, we'll find someplace for them to go before we change the locks". They're still going to have to go, it's just a matter of having some shelter first. Which is the human thing to do.

And as a renter in Cuyahoga County, where the threat of finding out you live in a foreclosed house is a very real and imminent thing, I can appreciate the gesture. What if I was 80 and had no family? That's really who he's targeting here.

So here's to Sheriff Richard Jones, I hope they don't cut your head off for this.If anything, you deserve a raise for actually doing what your job description entails, protecting your people.

Also, you know, FUCK the American Auto Industry, you fucking asswads who spent the last two decades perfecting TRUCKS. And FUCK you, Bank of America, who can't be bothered to use any of their bailout money to actually, you know, BAIL ANYONE OUT. 1931 called, it wants to know where the strike line forms.

Edit: I've been told by several unnamed adversaries that finding people places to keep warm is the opposite of "human", that in fact kicking people out in the snow is a far more human action. Fair enough. From now on, whenever I use the word "human" as a description of a compassionate action, please just substitute "gay".