Legal Juice

What mission? Apparently to become an irritant to everyone in town. He's having some success, too. George Gerhold was a policeman in North Jersey for 25 years. Perhaps he shouldn't have retired. Here's what he's been up to since then, per NewJersey.com:

Police Chief William Smith confirmed that Gerhold has driven down his cul-de-sac when children are playing in an effort to chase them away. Smith said it's technically illegal for kids to play on the street and Gerhold seems determined to enforce the letter of the law. But deliberately driving a car on the street when children are there? "He waits until the kids are in the street" the chief lamented.

In July 2007, he signed nearly 40 citizen complaints for what he claimed were parking violations on his dead-end street by visitors to a townwide garage sale. When some of the alleged violators showed up in court Tuesday to fight these complaints and the $54 fine, Gerhold wasn't there. And instead of dismissing the complaints, the judge postponed the hearing!

In another case, Chief Smith said, Gerhold charged a landscaper with criminal trespassing after branches the landscaper cut on a neighbor's tree fell into Gerhold's yard. The landscaper picked up the branches, but Gerhold filed his complaint anyway – and won the case. "I couldn't believe it," the chief said.

Damn! Next time you have a problem with someone in your neighborhood, just think how much worse it could be!