MAHONING CO. Junk-filled yard lands man in county jail

By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Robert Brown said he meant to comply with a court order to clean up his junk-filled property, but bad weather and family problems got in the way.
Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court said those reasons weren't good enough, and he ordered the 55-year-old Ellsworth Township man locked up in the county jail for three days. The judge vowed there's more jail time ahead for Brown if he continues to disobey the order.
"Nobody ... nobody can violate a court order," the judge said.
At issue is Brown's property at 8681 Akron-Canfield Road, which township officials say has been littered with junk cars, furniture, wood and other scrap items since 1987.
"It's offensive," Ellsworth Township Trustee Gerald Grace said after Brown's hearing.
Years of complaints
Township Zoning Inspector Diane Dudek said the township has gotten numerous complaints from residents over the years about Brown's property. Years were spent trying to get him to clean it up, to no avail.
"There is junk all over the place," said county Assistant Prosecutor Donald Duda, who represented the township.
In 2002, Dudek filed a civil lawsuit against Brown, alleging he was in violation of the township zoning code. An out-of-court settlement was reached in December 2003, in which Brown agreed to have at least the front yard cleaned up by Jan. 1, even if that just meant moving cars and other items to the back yard.
According to court documents, all unused or unlicensed vehicles, all furniture and other items were to have been either removed from the property or stored in "fully enclosed buildings," out of public sight.
Brown then had until June 1 to finish cleaning up the rest of the property.
Latest inspection
Dudek said she inspected Brown's property Friday morning before going to court, and he still had not complied with the order. She said he'd taken some items off his front porch, but that was all.
"I've attempted to comply," Brown said during questioning by his attorney, T. Robert Bricker. He tried to burn wood and other items, but was stopped by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. He also hauled a load of scrap metal to a scrap yard in Alliance.
But Judge Krichbaum said Brown didn't do those things until mid-April, four months after his deadline for cleaning up the property had passed. He said if Brown needed more time to comply with the order, he should have come back to court and asked.
"This is not about [Brown] or the township," Judge Krichbaum said. "It's about the vindication of the authority of the court."
He said once Brown is released from jail, he must immediately begin cleaning up the property and have it finished by June 1, or he will face more jail time.
bjackson@vindy.com