On Mar 14, 11:06 am, "Wayne Harrison" wrote:
"Tim J."

There was a business up here in MA that ran into a similar problem about
10-12 years ago. After a zoning change, the owner was told he's have to
remove the tires he'd been collecting for more than a decade because of
the fire hazard, about the same number you mentioned, or go to jail.

. Faced with paying many

hundreds of thousands of dollars he didn't have, he ended up serving time
and losing the business.

whoa, nellie! that would be unconstitutional on more than one basis,
imo. most obviously, the imposition of a criminal penalty against conduct
that was not criminal at the time it was initiated would be a clear
violation of the "ex post facto" clause.

i don't get it. any details on this "prosecution"? news articles? the
guy's name?

yfitons
wayno(not that i don't believe you--i just think there's something missing)

The guy's name was Carl Trant, and IIRC, he wasn't jailed for
possession of the tires, but for contempt of court, because he didn't
pay the fines that were levied against him. He served a short time in
jail, moved away from the area. and was killed in an accident
involving a car crusher at another junkyard. The taxpayers ultimately
paid to have the tires removed.....I think there were close to
1,000,000 of them.