There's a post somewhere in the archives where someone's professor put a concrete base under his fence and only the actual fence material counted for height
I agree in principal that people should be able to do as they like on their property- but there are limits. Doing burnouts in your driveway, blaring music, erecting a 50ft billboard with porn on constant loop.... the limits are more obvious on some things than others. Many states do t allow electric fences at all, but even in those that do there can be specific laws and limitations down to the local level on what is ok and where. Generally- electric fences are either not ok or require to be set back a certain distance and have adequate signage where they are legal in residential areas, urban environments, or where they border public land or major highways or roads. Having a potentially dangerous device so close to public spaces endangers people who aren’t a threat- like someone tripping or being pushed into the fence. It can provide a hazard to government employees or private citizens who have legal rights to access the area as well. So I’d agree in principal but disagree in detail.
How is it insane? People won't keep their kids out of his lawn, he's offering incentive. Insane would be sitting on the porch everyday with a shotgun on the off chance a kid wanders too close and pointing it at them and screaming when they do. Insane would be letting your kids terrorize a neighbourhood and run all over other peoples' property and then calling THEM crazy when they take measures to prevent it. This might be a little on the unusual/extreme side, but oh well. I imagine it keeps people from letting their dogs poop all over his lawn as well. As long as he puts proper signage up (in this case I think there should be several with at least one on all approachable sides of the fence), and the voltage isn't high enough to kill, leave him be.
I wouldn’t say it’s insane, but it was illegal and they made him take it down because it was put up on an easement, and while Virginia doesn’t have much solid law on residential electric fences, the general laws for fencing placement and warning signs of electric fences apply. “Not enough to kill” is a very wide range. For instance a person in poor health, or who uses devices like a pace maker, or who has an arrhythmia (they may not even be aware of) will take far less to die than another. In 2008 an elderly woman was killed by a “mild” electric fence and the owner was convicted of negligent homocide. If the issue of the fence had been pushed not this case instead of being taken down, it is very likely that it would either have resulted in a battle of definitions, or Virginia simply would have enacted laws on electrified fences near public areas as many states already have. So while not insane, it was extreme, especially when the measure was being taken against school children.
How big is the probability that some kids with no bad intention whatsoever accidentally touch the fence? Pretty big I think. Somehow I hope he would accidentally touch it himself to see how easy accident would happens to anyone, with bad intention or not.
He'll probably have signs on it and I would think it would only be a voltage high enough to sting or slightly hurt, not anything lasting or fatal. So it shouldn't be a big deal then.
there was no sign, that's what people were so upset about, and his whole intention was to keep small children at the nearby school bus stop from going in his yard
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