Some gamer got evicted down my block!

[zombiecraig]

Yeah, I couldn't have taken anything, even if other people were, like you said. I'm not trying to personally attack your decision. People are different. Me personally, it just wouldn't feel right.

 

It makes me a little sick to hear about that happening to someone.

[Osbo]

Nice to see you found a new low... congratulations!

[Trooper]

I see high and mighty is the popular road to walk in this thread......as well.

[Zenoff64]

Take what you can get, when you can get it. No regrets.

[IceCold]

I see high and mighty is the popular road to walk in this thread......as well.

Actually I was surprised more by how many people were like "yeah dude I'm glad you got some games". In fact, I just basically told him what he did was illegal, and, IMO was not right. It's not like Stich is some 40 year old guy with no money who happened to come across some games, he's a young kid who seems to be doing pretty well for himself(and I was at his age too, I'm not being "high and mighty" I'm just telling it like I see it). If a property owner puts your stuff out on the front lawn, it is NOT stuff that can be legally taken. Here in Ohio(which is not Texas, or any other place you'd consider to be a place that is "gun happy") I could've legally shot Stich. He was taking property without being legally allowed, and he was trespassing. In Ohio(as well as like 90% of the US), Castle Doctrine has been reintroduced which basically mean if people are taking your shit, and they're invading where you live, if there is ANY reasonable concern for your safety, shoot the guy. In this case, a mob of people on my front lawn, it would be very reasonable to have concern for my safety.

 

Anyways, stuff on front lawn = do not take. Stuff on curb = ok to take. Pretty easy.....

Edited June 7, 2009 by IceCold

[IceCold]

Just wanted to add - castle doctrine is not what's being discussed here. I only brought it up to prove a point - which is that not only is taking somebody's stuff off of their front lawn wrong, but in many places you could get arrested, or worse(such as being shot).

[Tempest]

Personally I don't see any problem with it. The guy was long gone, the games weren't neatly piled up like someone was coming back for them. Instead they were strewn across the lawn like garbage. I've seen a few people get evicted in my time (nice neighborhoods too, it happens on all levels), and if they leave stuff like that, they're not coming back for it. It was either going to get thrown out or someone else was going to grab it. I say lucky you! Congrats.

 

Tempest

[jboypacman]

Look at it this way guys would you rather have someone that is a collector that loves video games grab this stuff or someone who could careless about the games and just wants to put them on Ebay and sale them at a inflated price?

[atarian63]

Look at it this way guys would you rather have someone that is a collector that loves video games grab this stuff or someone who could careless about the games and just wants to put them on Ebay and sale them at a inflated price?

good point! That is probably what would have happened or worse, they get rained on(ohio...) and then are just junk.

[nathanallan]

From Stitch's description this was more of a rescue/salvage thing than stealing and invading. The kind of thing happens here in my neck of the woods, too. People get evicted/move out/whatever and they leave stuff. The landowner doesn't move things out right away, and sometimes it can take months for him/her to find a person willing to do that kind of work. The landowner sure doesn't want to do it.

 

Good for you stitch, you scored medium (medium based on what you said you found).

 

This reminds me of when I found an Atari Touch Me handheld in a dumpster. The first response was "what were you doing looking in a dumpster?" Response: looking for atari stuff, and I found some. I didn't feel bad about it and don't think that Stitch should feel bad about rescuing tossed out stuff that was destined to go to the landfill anyway.

Edited June 7, 2009 by nathanallan

[Snider-man]

I think if it'd been some other poster, the crap he got would've been a bit less. But Stitch kind of pushed some buttons in the recent past with another thread, so folks are willing to give him a bit more crap than usual.

[nathanallan]

I must have missed that thread.

[IceCold]

I think if it'd been some other poster, the crap he got would've been a bit less. But Stitch kind of pushed some buttons in the recent past with another thread, so folks are willing to give him a bit more crap than usual.

You're probably right. Wasn't my intention, but it may have influenced my post a bit. I guess if it was somebody like nathanallan I would be more confident that it actually was stuff that was going to be thrown away. But, I don't know how much I trust Stich's decision making, so I'm worried that the poor guy got evicted and couldn't take his stuff in one car load and was coming back for it, and it was all stolen. This is illegal though in most places regardless, on cops they are arrested a couple people for doing this exact thing. Mind you some people were even entering the residence(since the person had been evicted) and were taking things from inside, but it's theft regardless. I stand by my original post of: If it's on the curb it's fair game. If it's in the yard, it is not.

[shadow460]

This kind of thing makes me sick.

 

EDIT: I don't like having to evict people, either.

Edited June 7, 2009 by shadow460

[IceCold]

I must have missed that thread.

Without going into too much detail(as I'm not trying to harass or flame Stich), it was a thread about his parents. Which(unsurprisingly) made a lot of people upset, as AtariAge is composed largely of older folk many of whom have children. Whether Stich's interaction with his parents was justified or not is not the topic of this thread. I was just helping explain why some people do not like Stich, and I think I was very neutral and nice about explaining it.

 

shadow - you probably have more first hand knowledge of this than any of us, maybe you can help enlighten us a little bit. I've never been evicted, but I do know people who have and it is very rough. I would imagine in most cases it's rough on the tenant and on the person evicting them. I'm guessing by your post you agree with me, that taking somebody's stuff off their front lawn is theft, but I was hoping you could maybe explain the process a little more(such as if the stuff is put on the front lawn and the person has a certain amount of time to pick it up, then it goes on the curb, etc. or if it goes down a different way)

 

It sucks for anybody to get evicted, but there's even a little more empathy seeing that the guy was clearly a gamer. Could have been any of us, especially with the economy how it is. I just can't imagine being able to be happy about seeing somebody get evicted(even if I had gotten a bunch of free stuff out of it)

[A2600]

This thread is starting to remind me of the classic AA thread of the guy that stole from a goodwill store to make funds to pay for his college tuition. Im not going to say names just use the search option

[+remowilliams]

 

Good news everyone! I've managed to profit off another human beings misfortune!

 

Why are you all looking at me like that?

[jsoper]

A mint gameboy SP was too much trouble for him to take and not worth the trouble of selling?

Edited June 8, 2009 by jsoper

[BDW]

I remember having something like this happen to me when I was a kid. My next door neighbor's house was foreclosed, and the bank gave him a month to leave. He was moving into a small apartment, and all of his stuff wouldn't fit. He had 20 Atari games, but no one would buy them. By now, it was into the NES era and few people were interested in atari. It was the last day that he had to move out, he just took his Atari games, controllers, and accesories in a bin and dropped it by the bushes. He taped a sign that read :"Fair Game" on the box, walked over to me, shook my hand and said goodbye. When he left (I didnt want to tear into his stuff in front of him) I just picked up the box and went home.

 

That was how I got started collecting Atari 2600 games.

Edited June 8, 2009 by brandondwright

[shadow460]

The way it works in Oklahoma is that if you're evicted, the landlord holds your stuff for 30 days or until you pay any rent or fees you owe them. Fees are outlined in the lease before you move in.

If you don't pay up and remove your stuff, it becomes the property of the landlord. Most landlords elect to have the stuff thrown away by their staff, and this usually happens once a new lease has been signed by a new tenant. That new tenant waits for a few days to move in while the dwelling is being cleaned and things are being fixed.

 

If you're served with an eviction notice in Oklahoma, you have the right to remove as much of your stuff as possible before the actual time you are removed from or locked out of the dwelling. In my experience, not very many evcitess remove everything. They take part of their stuff and the rest just sits there for a month.

 

In reality, what happens to the things left behind is that 99% of it goes in the dumpster and whoever cleans the apartment out keeps the valuables if any are left. Some landlords will actually have all of the remaining property gathered up and they will sell it. In that case, the management company takes whatever money is made.

 

Evictions mean another apartment for a leasing agent to fill, and they usually mean a big mess for the make ready crew to clean up. The last one I dealt with was from a third floor apartment. There was little of value--perhaps $1 worth of change and a stolen DTV box which was returned to its rightful owner. There was torn up furniture in all the rooms, dirty dishes in the kitchen, and trash that had been sitting there for weeks.

I hate dealing with evictions because of the mess that's usually left behind. Most make ready guys just chuck everything they don't want. I take the useable stuff to the thrift shop, save for clothes and dishes. If there's anything I want, I keep it, but usually it's all just junk. If I find something that's obviously rented, like a cable box, I'll call whoever issued it and arrange for its return.

 

I see both sides of the issue, though. Thinking about someone losing all their stuff makes me sick, but so does the fact that the morality police descended on this thread. Several people pointed out rather bluntly that they thought what Stich did was wrong. It probably was, but the person who was evicted may not have had any legal right to the stuff either.

 

I digress. All that can be done now is to move on. I think the benefit of the doubt can be given in this case, and I hope that Stich is able to use some of what was found. At one point the shoe was on my foot, and some of what I left actually made its way back to me. I hope some of the rest has been put to good use.

 

EDIT: I remember some stealing from the Goodwill" threads. The one I remember best was where someone put a game into the NES and paid the price listed on the NES but didn't disclose the fact a game was in there. I've purchased systems with games in them...from the Goodwill, in fact. Every single time I've pointed out that there's either a game in the system or there's multiple games in a box, they tell me to keep the extras. I'd like to know how anyone here would feel if they'd seen a price of, say, $20 on a used NES only open it and see Stadium Events or a gray NWC in there. I'm sure those same folks who were saying what was done was wrong would decline to open the NES at checkout. Or maybe it's a used PlayStation and there's Intelligent Qube or Wild Arms in there. I actually did have that happen with Wild Arms. I pointed it out and they told me to keep it.

 

I'm done.

Edited June 8, 2009 by shadow460

[kool kitty89]

That's interesting, if that happened and I was in that position (as stitch) I'd collect anything that looked woth it (maybe those old PC's as well), and try to get in touch wit hthe original owner if I could, otherwise keep it, give it to someone who wants it, or thrift store.

 

It really sounds like that stuff was left to rot, stitch even mentioned the TV he got was all wet (presumably from sprinklers on the lawn), so it sounds like a lot of this stuff was really being salvaged/rescued and would otherwise be ruinined and/or trashed. (assuming noone else came along and picked it up)

[IceCold]

I see both sides of the issue, though. Thinking about someone losing all their stuff makes me sick, but so does the fact that the morality police descended on this thread. Several people pointed out rather bluntly that they thought what Stich did was wrong. It probably was, but the person who was evicted may not have had any legal right to the stuff either.

 

I digress. All that can be done now is to move on. I think the benefit of the doubt can be given in this case, and I hope that Stich is able to use some of what was found. At one point the shoe was on my foot, and some of what I left actually made its way back to me. I hope some of the rest has been put to good use.

 

I'm done.

You make some good points. I do think a large reason why many of us felt the need to point this out to Stich is 2 reasons:

 

1. There is reason to believe that the person evicted didn't get a chance to get very much stuff before being thrown out.(otherwise games and especially the GBA SP wouldn't have been left) While ideally landlords follow the law, this is often not the case(especially in the case of somebody owning a couple houses and renting them on the side. They might not even know the laws concerning it)

 

2. Stich is quite young, and at least in Ohio, what he did was illegal. Whether it's right or wrong, he needs to understand that he's taking a risk by doing this. With the economy, we will see more and more people evicted, so this could be something he's faced with again soon. I just don't like this mob mentality of "oh sweet some guy got thrown out. DIBS!!". Anyways, at least in Ohio, in the county and city I live in, the law is: on the curb, fair game; on the lawn, constitutes theft. I'd feel like a dumbass if I ended up spending a night in county because of an N64.

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

woa-woa-woa!

 

wtf people?

 

 

I commend him for finding the stash. just a little info for those of you that dont know long island law, when a person gets evicted and they dont claim thier items on the day of the eviction, or prior, the items are to be placed at the curbside FOR ANYONE TO TAKE. It is meant for garabage pick up THUS anyone is allowed to take garbage. we had a tenant thrown out of one of our house and all his crap was placed at the curb. we went to craigs list and put up an ad reading "CURB ALERT" and allowed people to come and take what they want or else the stuff gets taken by sanatation. you should see the swarms of people that came to grab the stuff. the latinos grab EVERYTHING!

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

Just wanted to add - castle doctrine is not what's being discussed here. I only brought it up to prove a point - which is that not only is taking somebody's stuff off of their front lawn wrong, but in many places you could get arrested, or worse(such as being shot).

 

 

In new york, one cannot get shot UNLESS the intruder is in the home and he has a weapon and you have no other way out and you are cornered THEN AND ONLY THEN can you use deadly force.

 

someone taking something from your lawn is not considered an exuse to take the 12 gauge out and act like dirty hairy. believe it or not, we are a bit more civilized here.

Edited June 8, 2009 by CARTRIDGE STEALER

[Osbo]

the latinos grab EVERYTHING!

 

Hey, watch your friking mouth.