12 replies to this topic

[camay2327]

This is pretty sad.  Community Service or something, but 30 DAYS IN JAIL??

 

 

 

Garbage Man Sentenced To 30 DAYS IN JAIL For Picking Up Trash Too Early

Well this is garbage

.

A sanitation worker in an Atlanta suburb has been sentenced to 30 days in jail for working too early.

Kevin McGill had been working for only a few months for a company contracted to do sanitation work in Sandy Springs when he was cited for picking up trash just after 5 a.m. one morning, according to WSB-TV.

 

That violated a city ordinance which limits trash pickup to between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The statute is in place because residents have complained that early pick-up disrupts their sleep.

When McGill showed up to court to answer the citation, Sandy Springs prosecutor Bill Riley sought the maximum punishment against him — 30 days in jail.

 

And in a trashy move, a judge granted Riley the request.

 

“Fines don’t seem to work,” Riley told WSB. “The only thing that seems to stop the activity is actually going to jail.”

 

Riley, who jailed another sanitation worker for the same infraction last year, said that residents swamp 911 with calls when trash pick-up occurs too early in the morning.

 

“The solicitor said it’s automatic jail time,” McGill told WSB. “He didn’t want to hear nothing I had to say. I said it’s my first time.”

 

“I was stunned. I didn’t know what to think. I was shocked,” he added.

 

McGill, a family man, did not have an attorney during his sentencing. He pleaded no contest and took the punishment, agreeing to serve his 30 days spread out on the weekends. He began serving the sentence last weekend and will do so for 14 more.

 

“I just want this to be over with,” McGill told WSB. “I’m away from my family, my wife, and she’s got to take care of the two little boys and I have four dogs.”

 

McGill has an attorney now, and she believes the sentence is too harsh.

 

“Give him a warning,” the lawyer, Kimberly Bandoh, told WSB. “I mean he’s the employee. He’s not the employer. Sentencing him to jail is doing what?”

 

But Riley appears to be unmoved, saying that McGill, and not his employer, is responsible for operating his own garbage truck.

 

“The company doesn’t start that truck up,” Riley told WSB. “The company doesn’t drive that truck down the street.”

 

http://news.yahoo.co...-001158483.html

[mrdavex]

Wow, the punishment is pretty harsh, and I disagree with the prosecutor going after the individual employee.

 

While he was in violation with the ordinance, and I think it is a fair law, he was working on behalf of his employer.  The employer is violating the ordinance and should be the one reprimanded by the city, especially if it turned out that the garbage man's supervisor was asking him to start early.  Now if it turned out that the garbage man decided to start early, he should be fired, but not jailed.

[supermom]

Wow, the punishment is pretty harsh, and I disagree with the prosecutor going after the individual employee.

 

While he was in violation with the ordinance, and I think it is a fair law, he was working on behalf of his employer.  The employer is violating the ordinance and should be the one reprimanded by the city, especially if it turned out that the garbage man's supervisor was asking him to start early.  Now if it turned out that the garbage man decided to start early, he should be fired, but not jailed.

agreed/ especially since it is the supervisor who is in charge of shifts.

I guess the employer is the the city. We cant have the mayor in jail because residents dont like getting woke up at 5am, right?

[Rich_T]

<< Fines don’t seem to work,” Riley told WSB. “The only thing that seems to stop the activity is actually going to jail." >>
 

Something tells me this was a long-standing issue that wasn't going to be taken seriously any other way.  But if it really was this individual's first time, then jail is the wrong decision.

[mrdavex]

agreed/ especially since it is the supervisor who is in charge of shifts.

I guess the employer is the the city. We cant have the mayor in jail because residents dont like getting woke up at 5am, right?

 

According to the news story, the garbage man worked for a private contractor:

 

"Kevin McGill had been working for only a few months for a company contracted to do sanitation work in Sandy Springs"

 

<< Fines don’t seem to work,” Riley told WSB. “The only thing that seems to stop the activity is actually going to jail." >>
 

Something tells me this was a long-standing issue that wasn't going to be taken seriously any other way.  But if it really was this individual's first time, then jail is the wrong decision.

 

The city could cancel the trash pickup contract with the private contractor.  That would certainly cause the contractor to change their ways.  If the contract explicitly stated that the trash pickup could only be within the permitted time window, I think that would be grounds for cancellation.

[Rich_T]

 

The city could cancel the trash pickup contract with the private contractor.  That would certainly cause the contractor to change their ways.  If the contract explicitly stated that the trash pickup could only be within the permitted time window, I think that would be grounds for cancellation.

 

Sounds like the right approach.

 

I just never know whether we are getting all the relevant information in a national media article.

[mrdavex]

 

I just never know whether we are getting all the relevant information in a national media article.

 

Agree, since it seems like a headline about a garbage man being arrested seems to be more for link bait, rather than showing concern for this issue:

 

Here is a lengthier article: http://www.dailymail...s-rap-star.html

 

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Waste Management has previously violated the ordinance, but no one in the city and/or company has been willing to take it seriously, so the DA decided to scapegoat an employee, hoping to get the employer's attention.  If the WM supervisor had forced the employee to start early in violation of the ordinance, I think it could be grounds for him to sue WM for wrongful imprisonment.   

[camay2327]

Update:

 

http://www.dailymail...s-rap-star.html

[Rich_T]

Odd that the Daily Mail (UK publication) is our news source for this.

 

Is this the same "Waste Management" company that left Folsom to pay lower taxes in Texas?

 

The article includes this:

 

<< She said that Waste Management, which had amassed thousands of dollars in fines with the municipality in the last year, suspended McGill for violating its policies before he went to court. >>

 

That doesn't seem to jibe with the rest of the story as it's been presented.

 

But my favorite aspect of this story is how the municipality is so concerned with disturbing the super-wealthy residents in that neighborhood. Just imagine if they had cargo planes cruising over their neighborhood at 4:00 AM.  Why, they'd have to reroute the planes.

[mrdavex]

 

Is this the same "Waste Management" company that left Folsom to pay lower taxes in Texas?

 

 

 

No, the company that left Folsom was Waste Connections

[Rich_T]

 

No, the company that left Folsom was Waste Connections

 

oh yeah - thanks!

[TruthSeeker]

More stupid moronic idiotic lawyers adding to the dumbing down of our country

[supermom]

You cant make a CEO of a oil pipeline company go to jail after a major spill that nearly destroyed the fishing industry on part of our (American) coast, but you can make a lowly garbage man go to jail for waking people up too early.

 

Priorities people!!