THE BLOTTER: Hammer it home

An Atlanta woman was on vacation when she got a startling phone call. Her longtime family home was bulldozed. By mistake.

Her next-door neighbor – sounding panicky – was calling.

“Did you hire someone to tear down your house next door to me?” the neighbor asked.

“No,” the woman replied.

Her neighbor responded gently, “Well, there’s someone over here who just demolished the whole house and tore the entire house down.”

Now, the home on Lakewood Road in Southwest Atlanta had been boarded up for 15 years, the woman told Fox 5 Atlanta. “We kept the home boarded, covered, grass cut,  and the yard is clean.  The taxes are paid and everything is up on it.”

The neighbor said she tried to talk to workers demolishing the home – but workers got nasty when confronted – and allegedly told the neighbor to shut up and mind her own business.

So the Atlanta woman sent a longtime family member over to talk with the workers. “He said, “I want to see a permit or something. And the guy pulled it out and said, “Oh, I’m at the wrong address. And he just packs up everything and leaves and the house is just (destroyed)  down and gone.”

Apparently, workers didn’t even bother to haul away the enormous pile of bulldozed rubble that was once her family home.

“The whole house is tumbled in and a big ole mess,” the woman said. “He didn’t haul nothing off…I think he owes us an apology and he needs to fix the problem.”

Fox 5 Atlanta reached out to the company that destroyed the woman’s family home. “They sent a statement saying they are working to investigate the issue and say they are working to resolve the mishap.”

Umm, mishap? Interesting word choice. More like epic blunder.

“I’m just left with a big ole mess,” the woman said.

TAKE YOUR CLOTHES OFF, NEAR HORSES

Four people are facing charges for allegedly taking over a home in South Fulton County, turning it into an illegal strip club, and bringing in live horses.

Yep, horses.

“A lot of partying, they had an illegal strip club on weekends,” one neighbor told WSB-TV.
Other neighbors in the Thaxton Reserve community said they’ve lost a ton of sleep in the past four months because of “nightmare neighbors” at this particular home.

Finally, a SWAT team descended on the home. Police found two stolen cars outside the home, and inside found a stolen gun, stolen IDs, and stolen credit cards.

No, the four people arrested do not actually own or rent the home. They are squatters who moved in and decided to open a strip club and bring in horses on weekends because… HEY, who the hell would notice or pay attention to naked people dancing among horses, right?

Other neighbors said there were piles of trash at the home, people raced cars in the streets amid sporadic gunfire and the air often “reeked” of marijuana.

Methinks the horses were the last straw.

(DON’T) TAKE ME TO THE RIVER

Georgia officials are posting a warning after a dramatic uptick in alligator spottings along the Chattahoochee River. At least 30 gators have been spotted near the river  in the same area on the RIverwalk behind the civic center in Columbus, Ga.

So Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office issued this dire warning: Keep an eye on your small pets and little ones if you’re going near the river.

Little ones? As in, small people?  Yep., toddlers. Oh OK.

The Chattahoochee River runs from Florida to Atlanta, making it an easy path for gator-travel purposes.

Apparently, at least one gastor is now living under a bridge behind the civic center. That’s alarming, said one local resident, adding, “Little children are inquisitive.”

“Now it is extremely rare for wild

alligators to chase people, but they can run up to 35 miles per hour for short distances on land,” reported WTVM-TV.

Run. 35 miles per hour. Ummm, Gater-relocation services for that gator living under the bridge behind the civic center? That gator probably has nearby friends. J

Just a thought.

JURY-DUTY MAVERICK MOVE

More drama in the Young Thug trial – which hasn’t even started yet!

An Atlanta man spent two nights in jail for his crazy ploy to avoid becoming a potential juror in the Young Thug trial.

  The potential juror wound up in the slammer for  sending dramatic emails to court staffers. In one email, the man wrote, “It’s entirely unrealistic for me to have to keep calling every single night.” In others, the potential juror complained about his dire need for a vacation, and how his potential role in the Young Thug jury was contributing to his wife’s anxiety and depression.

Also, he emailed repeatedly about his adamant belief that the Young Thug defendants are guilty, according to the  Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The judge got increasingly fed up with the man’s blatant moves to dodge jserving on the Young Thug Jury and threw him in jail for 48 h0urs for contempt of court.

Ultimately, the man’s ploy worked. The judge is removing him from the potential jury pool. But the judge is punishing the man further by forcing him to attend one week of the Young Thug trial in person. Just to watch.

Crafty move, judge! Slow cap.

The Blotter Diva compiles reports from the Atlanta Police Department and local news reports and puts them into her own words