Man Ticketed for How He’s Living on His Own Land
Russ Chastain 06.19.19
Tompkins Township, MI — A down-on-his-luck man reportedly living in a fifth wheel camping trailer on his own land has been fined by the government which truly does own the land. How sad.
When medical bills forced Robert Sharp to sell his home in 2018, he ended up on this 19-acre plot in Jackson County’s Tompkins Township.
‘I bought this with my own money. It’s right by my parents old house. It’s the neighborhood I grew up in and I always wanted to stay here,’ Sharp said.
A former construction worker — retired after several spinal surgeries. [sic] Sharp got his permit to build a house in December of 2018.
But now he’s received a ticket because he’s stayed in his trailer a little longer than his local “authorities” think he should. Here’s this poor guy trying to get his ducks in a row, and his local government is making things even harder on him.
Sadly enough, he says he got verbal permission from the Tompkins Township Supervisor, who declined to comment and who has apparently decided to single him out.
‘If you’re going to single me out you’ve got to single out everybody else,’ Sharp said.
Down the road, a mile away from his land, another camper sits in the yard of a house in progress.
‘There’s several,’ Sharp said. ‘There’s one on Hopcraft road five minutes from my house, there’s one Onedega road two minutes from my house, I mean they’re everywhere in Tompkins Township.’
His own proposed home is not currently in progress, which is probably the reason for the ticket. That doesn’t make it right of course. He should be able to live in a grass hut if he wants to!
‘The weather since I dug the hole on May 4th has done nothing but rain every other day, which makes it incredibly hard to pour concrete because it will mess up the ground, make it settle,’ Sharp said. ‘So I’m just waiting for some good days and plus I only get paid once a month.’
When money is tight, you can count on government to make it even tighter. How is he supposed to build if he has to spend his time and money appeasing busybodies?
The Township Supervisor says the maximum fine for the ticket is five-hundred [sic] dollars with no jail time.
However, Sharp says that between building his house, court and medical fees, he doesn’t have the money and has no place to go.
‘I have been here a little longer than he wanted but the whole issue is, I’m basically homeless and I needed this place. It’s what’s going to get me to my house,’ Sharp said.
What a crock. It’s clear that no matter whose name is on a deed, the government actually owns the land. The government can kick you off unless you pay the proper bribe (er, I mean “property taxes”), and it can and will harass and heckle until you comply or sell up and move away.
Is this what George Washington and his cohorts were longing for when they fought the American Revolution?
