Neighbors allege ex-mayoral candidate tried scaring them with knife during property dispute
A judge ordered Columbus authorities to clean out cars in Winfred Shipman’s Abbey Drive yard Wednesday at a court hearing where neighbors alleged the former Columbus mayoral candidate has been glaring at them with a knife in his teeth.
Residents’ complaints about Shipman’s 6324 Abbey Drive yard in the Brittany II neighborhood off Billings Road have escalated into an ongoing dispute in which Shipman’s now trying to intimidate them, they said.
Neighbor David Holt told Environmental Court Judge Mike Joyner that Shipman’s “erratic behavior” includes his parading about his yard with a 10- to 12-inch chef’s knife in his mouth and staring down nearby residents.
A second witness corroborated that, saying Shipman with the knife between his teeth took an “aggressive stance” as he stared at the neighbor.
Residents also fretted over Shipman’s having firearms, but Joyner said the court can’t infringe on Shipman’s Second Amendment right to have a gun on his own property, as long he doesn’t threaten anyone with it. If he does, “take it straight to CPD,” the judge said in reference to the Columbus Police Department.
Wednesday’s hearing was a follow-up to one on Oct. 3, when the Army veteran was fined $1,400 for various violations involving junked vehicles, stockpiled goods, improper fencing and overgrown weeds.
What Joyner held Wednesday was an “abatement hearing” to decide whether Shipman had taken so little action to mitigate the violations that the city had to perform the cleanup and charge him for the work.
For the city to do that, the judge has to decide the violations pose a public health risk, not just an eyesore.
“Health is the issue the city has to address for everyone’s sake,” Joyner said.
Besides neighbors who said Shipman since Oct. 3 had done nothing but cut his grass, Joyner heard from city code enforcement officers and health department inspectors about complaints that rats are living in Shipman’s old vehicles, and standing water in his yard provides a breeding habitat for mosquitoes.
Those officials said they checked for rats in nearby sewers and determined the rodent infestation comes from Shipman’s cars.
Shipman denied that. “Rats come from the sewers,” he said. “I do not harbor rats.”
Witnesses also said the weeds in Shipman’s yard had not been cut Tuesday, but they were trimmed Wednesday morning before the 9 a.m. court hearing.
Shipman said he didn’t cut the grass to please neighbors. “I keep my yard clean every day,” he told Joyner, of the complaints adding, “Those are lies. My grass is cut.”
Holt complained a rat that apparently came from Shipman’s yard had nested in one of his automobiles, using scraps from military wear for nesting material. Those scraps could not have come from Holt’s place, he said.
Shipman said he had one white vehicle that might have a rat in it: “The other cars, there are no rats in them.”
Joyner decided the city had to step in: “I’m going to sign the order for abatement,” he said, telling the enforcement officers, “Anything that’s dealing with vermin, I want it dealt with.” If Shipman refuses to unlock the vehicles, authorities will have a locksmith do it, he said.
John Hudgison, the city’s director of inspections and codes, said the work requires hiring a contractor. The city has a slate of vendors who regularly bid on such tasks, and they’ll be asked to submit proposals within two weeks, after which the lowest bid wins, he said.
The vendor will not go to Shipman’s alone, he said: Law enforcement will provide an escort.
The abatement deals only with what’s in Shipman’s yard, not inside his house, and the city cannot seize his automobiles, which are on private property, not on a public road or right of way, Hudgison said.
If Shipman won’t repay the city for the cleanup costs, it will file a lien on his property, the director said.
As the hearing ended, Shipman threatened to file suit: “When we come back, we ain’t going to be playing,” he said.
“We’re not playing now,” Joyner said.