Judge Sends 88 Year Old WWII Vet To Jail Day After Christmas For Not Having Funds To Repair His Store (Video)
by Bob Cull
Kenneth
Knudson, and 88 year old veteran of WWII and lifelong resident of
Horton, Kansas describes himself as a salt of the Earth type of guy who
has never been in trouble with the law and has devoted his life to his
city.
“I
was on the planning commission for Horton, I’ve been the president of
the chamber, I’ve been on the appeals board,” He said in an interview
with the local Fox affiliate.
For
more than a year he has been faced with code violations because the
exterior wall of his downtown office building has cracks in it and he
does not have the money to make repairs.
On December 26 he was arrested and jailed on contempt of court charges because he has not yet made the repairs.
Knudson
says that his jewelry store and the beauty salon he and his wife own
next door are barely keeping their heads above water and that he cannot
possibly afford the $10,000 that the city offered to tack onto his tax
bill if he wanted them to make the repairs for him.
“I went around and tried to get contractors to bid on it and fix it and no one was interested,” he said.
“You should be able to buy the whole downtown for five thousand," he joked, showing that he has not yet lost his sense of humor.
His
wife, Veda Knudson, says that never in their 66 years of marriage did
she think that her husband would ever spend a day in jail. Knudson says
that she told him, "'They can’t throw you in jail for that, you didn’t
do nothing.' I said no, that’s why they’re throwing you in jail. I
didn’t get nothing done,” he said.
The judge has ordered him to have the work done before he returns to court next month but he says that he doesn't know what he will do because, “I just don’t have the money to fix it," he said.
Watch the report below.
h/t: Mail Online
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