82-year-old Martha Menefield of Valley, Alabama was handcuffed and driven to jail last week for failing to pay her Waste Management trash bill for three months- June, July and August.
I did a quick reread when this was sent to me last week because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. An 82-year-old woman? Jailed for failing to pay $77 to a garbage collector? Could this be true?
It was and is, and this writer, who has been researching unusual stories for 40 years, hasn’t heard anything more ridiculous.
There’s a lot of people to blame for this. Menefield is certainly not blameless. Valley police claim they made several attempts to get in touch with her, even posting a notice on her front porch. Menefield also failed to show up in court, when the garbage company sued her for the back balance. In the minds of the law, Menefield was avoiding them, and for that, they apparently were going to throw the book at her.
Happy holidays, Ms. Menefield. Maybe you will be served a decent Christmas dinner while in jail.
The garbage company is to blame for taking Menefield to court. By law it is certainly their right, but sometimes we must look beyond the rule of law. Does it really make sense to imprison an 82-year-old feeble, frail African American woman? Does it make fiscal sense to go after anyone for $77? Why not simply stop collecting her garbage until the back balance is paid? And if it is never paid, write it off and enjoy the tax benefit.
The police and court system share in the blame as well. It is understandable they made several attempts to contact the octogenarian. But to spend the time to arrest and process her seems ridiculous. I’m sure there are more important crimes withing the Valley jurisdiction police officers could work on, than arresting someone, let alone an 82-year-old woman for a $77 bill.
Our court and police system sometimes get their priorities mixed up. I remember a few years back while living in Florida, I was confronted by a couple of federal marshals at my front door to arrest me. They said they had a warrant from Michigan because I had failed to appear at a deposition. They hauled me fifty miles to the Orlando courthouse. I remained in a holding cell for a few hours until I was taken in front of a judge. When the judge found out why I was being detained, he told me, “Get the heck out of my courtroom, these charges are nonsense.”
The charges against Menefield are nonsense as well. The affront has made national news, painting the police and court system in a negative light. Talk about a public relations nightmare. It can’t get any worse. I suggest the powers that be drop these charges and make Menefield’s garbage collection bill go away. Maybe gain some good publicity by giving her free garbage pick-up for the next five years. Anything, something should be done, to get past this nightmare.