Man who built sprawling 'Phonehenge West' compound is Ordered Jailed

[tomm2thumbs]

Source: Daily News Wire

A 59-year-old Acton man who was convicted last month of a dozen misdemeanor counts for building a sprawling compound he dubbed "Phonehenge West" today was ordered taken into custody.

Fahey's attorney, Jerry Lennon, argued that Fahey had created a unique compound and the county should show some flexibility.

"He's not hurting anyone, and I don't think there's a mechanical or structural problem he can't resolve," Lennon told the Los Angeles Times.

Read more: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18441063

---

This is what is F*CKED up about America. Fine him. Put a lien on his property so it can't be sold or transfer ownership until taken down.

But prison????

If the guy wants to build lawn art on his property, he should be allowed to do so. As far as I'm concerned, his a** sitting in prison does NOTHING to the benefit of this country except to prevent that space from being used by a real, dangerous felon, of which no doubt many are residing in Congressional offices in Washington and living under names ending in (R)

[geckosfeet]

1. I agree - to the point where your buildings do not pose a risk to people on the property

or adjacent properties.

Unfortunately, it seems he ignored building codes, was cited, ignored the citations, and things escalated from there. Probably some rich neighbors hired an army of lawyers to go after him.

The judge determined that Fahey had failed to comply with the conditions for his release on his own recognizance, which included removing people from unpermitted structures and turning off the power, Jane Robison of the District Attorney's Office said.

Fahey was convicted last month of 12 misdemeanor charges, including 10 counts of maintaining unpermitted structures and one count each of failing to stop construction after getting a written stop-work order and unlawfully installing electrical wiring.

Acton man who built sprawling 'Phonehenge West' compound is ordered jailed

[tomm2thumbs]

3. I guess he just didn't have the bribery money others pay

this is how things really work

article: 2nd LA Building Inspector Pleads Guilty In Bribery Case
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/05/23/2nd-la-building-inspector-pleads-guilty-in-bribery-case/



ironically, I bet that area could reap benefits of tourism, similar to the Watts Towers story, which that artist started in 1921
http://www.wattstowers.us/

lies made up then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOu5yGk2RLE

but then again, if those towers had been built today, the Watts Towers would have been demolished and Simon Rodia, the Italian artist, would have been sitting in prison.


____

adding info in support of the 20+ year artwork

http://zebulonspleen.blogspot.com/2011/06/save-phonehenge-west-from-destruction.html

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. There are no rich neighbors anywhere near there

I have been there...out in the middle of nowhere.

The real issue is that he told LA County to hang it in their ear, and that will not be tolerated.

[geckosfeet]

46. ok - rich overlords - someone who has an army of lawyers got a bug in their butt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

52. Best any of us can tell, it is just LA County that has it in for him

[geckosfeet]

54. That meets my criteria for rich overlords.

[tomm2thumbs]

2. Glamour Magazine has photographed a fashion shoot on the premises

and people have inquired about wedding-hosting there, according to the LA Times

___

sounds like something worthy of prison to me

[Skip_In_Boulder]

4. people have inquired about wedding-hosting there

Wouldn't that make him one of the "Job Creators". Would seem like that would qualify him for no taxes, government subsidies, but not prison.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ixion]

5. Sending this man to prison illustrates the problems with our system.

There is simply no excuse why he should be jailed for code violations. That sucks. Really sucks.

People ought to be allowed to build whatever they want on their property, so long as it doesn't hurt the eco-system. Period.

[quakerboy]

35. A question for you

Although on its face it seems rediculous to jail him for this, we should think through implications.

If the county cannot take action when someone repeatedly and continually commits code violations, and refuses to comply with the requests to fix the situation, what would that mean next time.

This time its a guy building a unique building without permits.

Next time it could be an apartment owner doing something utterly unsafe for his tenants. Or a builder skipping some code issues for a cheaper plumbing fix.

I dont know. My instinctive reaction is pretty much what you said (with the addition of "as long as it is safe for the use it is made for and does not endanger any neighbors safety"). But I notice it was not a judge who convicted him, it was a jury of his peers who decided he was guilty of 12 counts of ignoring the law. And I wonder how much room the law has for interpretation, and how much room we want to give it for interpretation.

What I mean is, if the same exact action of installing electrical would be illegal in a tenement, but someone ignored a court order and did it anyway, would we be in a rush to make sure the owner didn't go to jail?

[ixion]

40. "This time its a guy building a unique building without permits. "

Do you know why he's doing it that way? It's because if you're not using the outdated WW-II building codes that enshrine a certain subset of companies (construction, lumber, concrete, sewer, and so on) then it's pretty much impossible to get a permit -- unless you happen to be a millionaire. Then it's just a matter of forking over the cash.

Again, I stand my my original thesis statement.

[quakerboy]

47. I wouldnt know in that area

never having lived there. But I hear similar arguments from contractors wanting to build substandard here in Oregon, jumping onto the libertarian "its ours and we can do whatever we want with it" argument to try and gain street cred. The thing is I know people who have gotten permits to do their own building without much trouble at all. Which is why I call bullshit on it.

Or to put it another way, ask your local friendly firefighter his thoughts regarding not to code, unapproved and reported additions and alterations to buildings.

[alfredo]

53. I wonder if he is being sent to a for profit prison?

[JAnthony]

7. Agree with O P's opinion. This place actually looks interesting, too!

Prisons are for convicted serious felons, not for nonconformist builders and carpenters.

[spooked911]

8. reminds me of this article I just saw this morning

http://www.grist.org/list/2011-07-08-michigan-woman-could-face-jail-time-for-growing-a-garden

we're just insane these days

[tomm2thumbs]

9. yes, saw that as well

what is with ARRESTING everyone - like those slow dancers at the Jefferson Memorial. What happened to tickets? Ticket them. Let them have their day in court. Arresting everyone is just becoming the ridiculous norm and I think people are really going to get fed up really soon.

[crikkett]

16. And it costs tons of money. But don't worry,

the people who are arrested get billed by the police.

[spooked911]

30. we clearly have a creeping police state

not sure where this goes-- total fascism or rebellion

[awoke_in_2003]

36. I say total fascism...

we don't have the stomach for rebellion it would seem.

[tomm2thumbs]

37. wondering how long it'll be till they take this dangerous criminal down too

http://gothamist.com/2011/07/08/video_how_long_until_doh_cracks_dow.php

imagine the nerve of her, that dangerous Granny

(updated to original link)

[KewlKat]

10. I love that place

I googled up some pics and this has been a work in progress for years. Why the stink now? I hope by some miracle it's allowed to survive.

[nilram]

51. +1. It looks really cool. These people wouldn't like Gaudi either.

[Kurmudgeon]

11. At least while he's building this thing he's not out murdering and raping.

It's not like our local governments don't have more important things to do.
I'm sure this offending someone's sensibilities at the local HMO or who knows who.
Let the old guy build his stuff, he isn't bothering anyone except his own bank account.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. Maybe Simon Rodia was wise to vanish after he finished

Watts Towers....

[Ilsa]

13. You nailed it, Tomm. Thank you. nt

[PatSeg]

14. There are a lot of cool photos on the Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=148971651842809&set=pu.139157559490885&type=1&theater&pid=316212&id=139157559490885

[Downwinder]

15. And they run tours of the Winchester Mansion.

[TreasonousBastard]

17. Need more info, but it looks like he was...

just giving the finger to the Man, and he who gives the finger risks someone taking it.

Yeah, it's cool to have this folk hero doing his thing and being that civil disobedient we all dream of being but don't have the talent or guts but to pull it off, but I wonder what the hero worshippers would do if they were on the zoning, planning, or other boards or offices and saw this thing violating every building code and safety rule and the owner telling the inspectors to fuck off? And with hundreds of other owners just waiting to say "Well, if you let HIM do it..."

It is a neat thing he's built, but was it necessary to be such a dick about it and just beg for trouble?

[tomm2thumbs]

21. oh you treasonous bastard

<grin>

ahhh, but variances are given all the time, and usually JUST to those who sprinkle some money in the direction of those who make the decisions.

they could easily give him a variance, call the site 'significant' and work with him to make it something that could benefit the county and him as well. but I believe in others who are posting that this is not about reason, but about someone else who has a wallet open and is pulling strings.

20 years, and suddenly this becomes 'an issue'

[TreasonousBastard]

24. I have dealt with variances, and never once dipped into my pocket, but...

I haven't heard of doing your own wiring without an electrician signing off on it being approved even if you're willing to pay more than the electrician would have charged. You can pay off an inspector for small stuff, and sometimes big stuff, but it ain't easy to violate electrical or fire codes.

Yes, I have seen strange things approved where no one knows how, but in many, if not most, cases it not what or who you pay, but how you talk to them that counts. At least in the small towns I've lived in-- In NYC, you pretty much had to hire an expediter to get anyone to even look at the forms, and you don't ask where the money goes.

[tomm2thumbs]

25. yep, a neighbor hired 'an expeditor' for 5 grand lately

makes me wonder how that works

[azlatina]

18. Somebody wants his land...

...the views all around are gorgeous!

[ananda]

20. Pics

It's really rather cool and funky.

?1306871488

[Gormy Cuss]

22. He's in jail while awaiting sentencing on July 22 because he hasn't posted bail.

This AP article has different info from the above link, for those that are interested in reading more.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/west/view/20110709phonehenge_west_creator_sent_to_jail/

Kim Fahey was put behind bars for failing to obey an order to cut electricity and keep guests out of the illegal structures....

A judge today put off Fahey’s sentencing for code violations, but ordered him held in lieu of $75,000 bail for disobeying a previous order.

The judge said Fahey’s "blatant refusal" to demolish the structures and disconnect electricity put his family, the community and first-responders at risk because the buildings pose a significant fire hazard.

[Blacksheep214]

23. I heard we have a budget problem

What are WE, not rich bastards of course, paying to jail this citizen for about two weeks?

I live ten miles south of him and Acton is a desert. He should get a fix-it ticket and be able to purchase a limited use permit until it's visitor safe.

If there are no visitors I would let him do whatever on his property.

What say you, Rand Paul?

[Downwinder]

26. Making the world safer.

[felix_numinous]

27. K&R

Facebook has a support page for phonehenge. Perhaps people will help bail this man out.

[tcaudilllg]

28. Good for him. Contact the ACLU, somebody.

[JDPriestly]

29. This post illustrates the fact that most of the crazy, bothersome

expensive regulations that annoy ordinary citizens (like the TeaBaggers) are imposed by local officials. They are unnecessary and should not be passed much less enforced.

This structure looks unsafe. Seems to me that is a problem for the homeowner and his insurance company, not for the local officials.

Enforcing building and zoning codes is helping to bankrupt local governments. The rules about posting signs in a lot of cities are just absurd. And some of the parking regulations are just as bad.

The no parking areas around the corners on my street are so long that they caused serious parking problems when they were first put in. There is no reason to have such long no parking areas around corners on city streets.

But, it's much easier to sit in a council meeting downtown and pass a rule that you don't really understand than to have to comply with the rule.

I bet some neighbor did not like the guy in the OPs house. The neighbor probably got tired of looking at it on his way to work.

By the way, the house looks like fun as long as it doesn't fall down. A kid's dream. I'd like to see it. It's kind of a wooden castle.

Have you ever actually climbed up into a castle keep? Even a small one? And of course while you are there you imagine that you see enemy knights approaching from afar. It's great. Much better than Disneyland.

[struggle4progress]

31. ... Judge Daviann L. Mitchell ... had left him a free man since his conviction in early June

so he could dismantle the illegal portions of his creation ...

But "he blatantly disregarded the court's orders" ... She said her key concerns were fire hazards ... Also .. the property lacks sufficient water and access for firefighters ...

Fahey spent .. years constructing the .. labyrinth .. stopping only when .. code enforcement officials forced him to in 2008 ...

Fahey spoke in his own defense. He told the judge that he was trying to dissemble the property and had removed 70 of 140 windows and a few doors. He said he didn't know how to disconnect the illegal electrical sources without cutting off power and water to his entire property. And although he had asked residents in the illegal structures to leave, they had no place else to go, Fahey said ...

Man jailed for not dismantling Phonehenge West
By Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times
July 9, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-phonehenge-20110709,0,3216941.story



... Patrick David Campbell, the deputy district attorney who is trying Fahey's case, said none of the structures on his property — except the original house and garage — are technically legal, or safe.

"They shouldn't have been built in the first place," he said.

Fahey acknowledges he was cited by the county when he first started to make additions to his property in 1984 ... After about two years of back and forth, he said, county code inspectors stopped visiting his property for 20 years. In their absence, he admits, he "went wild."

In 2006, county inspectors began issuing him citations again, he said ...

A man's castle, under code enforcement siege
By Ann M. Simmons, Los Angeles Times
May 26, 2011
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-phonehenge-west-20110526,0,5819105,full.story



So he's got people living on his property in flammable wooden structures that are not up to code, with illegal wiring and inadequate provision of water for firefighting purposes. And he's known since at least 1984 that he has to follow county code requirements, which he hasn't been doing

[mackerel]

32. That place is off the hook cool!

[tomm2thumbs]

33. if only the courts were as creative-minded

strange how suddenly someone in the county decides to pick up and pursue this case after 20 years of having no issue with it, and then fails to explain why they decided to ignore it for 20 years until now making it their case du jour


I smell a wealthy string-puller

[Kali]

39. uh oh

he is creative, housing homeless people, built without an expert collecting a bunch of $$$

probably doesn't watch teevee or buy enough made-in-china plastic crap

gotta shut that fucker down or we'll have anarchy

[struggle4progress]

42. ... Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Daviann Mitchell put off Kim Fahey's sentencing for code

violations, but ordered him held in lieu of $75,000 bail for disobeying a previous order.

Mitchell said Fahey's "blatant refusal" to demolish the structures and disconnect electricity put his family, the community and first-responders at risk because the buildings pose a significant fire hazard. The judge had allowed Fahey to remain free pending sentencing on the condition that he follow the order ...

Fahey, wearing overalls and his long snow-white hair in a ponytail, told the court he has not
had enough time to tear down the buildings after his conviction last month on a dozen misdemeanor building code violations ...

He added that he's not an electrician and doesn't know how to disconnect the power ...

Calif. oddity's creator ordered jailed by judge
By CHRISTINA HOAG and JOHN ROGERS Associated Press
Posted: 07/08/2011 01:08:14 AM PDT
Updated: 07/08/2011 01:03:49 PM PDT
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18438498?nclick_check=1



... Fahey’s attorney, Jerry Lennon, said Friday that Fahey could pay fines as high as $500 for each of the 12 counts on which he was found guilty. He is likely to be required to do some community service, and would only be allowed to remain out of custody if he complies with the judge’s orders to immediately vacate the buildings that don’t have permits, Lennon said. Before his official sentencing, scheduled for July 8, Fahey has been ordered to consult with county officials to determine a plan for demolishing the unlawful structures, the defense attorney added.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patrick David Campbell argued during the trial that Fahey was a proud and talented artist, but also stubborn, and didn’t feel that code enforcement rules applied to him.

Lennon defended Phonehenge West as an artistic creation. The defense attorney insisted that Fahey was aware of the safety issues and wanted to work with code enforcement officials, but that officials ignored him or were too disorganized to follow through ...

'Phonehenge West' creator found guilty of additional violations
June 10, 2011 | 5:27 pm
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/an-acton-man-already-facing-criminal-penalties-for-building-an-elaborate-structure-called-phonehenge-west-without-permi.html


Maybe he's providing some service to the homeless, but that doesn't seem to be his primary intent, to judge from his comments at city council:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a48iPYWAIlE

[Kali]

43. he doesn't conform to the norm

that is the ultimate problem and will not be tolerated

(please don't make me load a video, I'm on dial-up :cry: )

[jmowreader]

50. Oh, for fuck's sake...

To disconnect the illegal power, you go to the place it's connected, shut off power to it for just a few minutes, cut the illegal cable, cap each of the wires in the cable and turn the juice back on.

[Hawkowl]

34. Police state strikes again!

I want to vomit every time I hear some spewing "Amerika's the freeest kuntree in the world"! :puke:

[DeSwiss]

38. K&R

From: RT's, Adam Kokesh vs. The Man:

Adam Kokesh (reading from viewer email): "On your last show your guest Stefan Molyneux said something that both disturbed and saddened me. Concerning Ron Paul, he stated something like "you do not get into an immoral and criminal enterprise in order to turn it into something better..." -- inferring (?) I assume, to the United States Federal Government. He went on to say that it is foolish to believe that one can go into the belly of the beast and come out a knight in shining armor."

Stefan Molyneux: "I certainly didn't mean to imply that "only" the federal government was an immoral and criminal enterprise. I actually expand that to all levels of government and all organizations that initiate the use of force to get their way. And any individual or group that uses force to get their way, violates the fundamental moral law, the non-aggression principle, and violations of property rights -- so no, I wouldn't limit it to the federal government."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ1xwfrvke8">link

[jwirr]

41. I like his tree house. Waste of time to put him in jail.

[BiggJawn]

44. Welcome to Authoritarianism.

All those years of pinch-assed people stomping their feet and screaming "THERE OUGHT TO BE A **LAW**!!!!"
Well, they finally got their wish.

[Psephos]

49. My feelings exactly. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

45. oh nooooooooooooo! I posted about this guy a few months ago. We need to

use the power of the internet/media to help this guy

[GReedDiamond]

48. Eccentrics and visionaries used to be regarded as...

...well, eccentrics and visionaries.

And as long as nobody was hurt, it seems they were pretty much left alone, not harassed so much, and the passage of time told whether the "visionary" part proved itself, or it turned out that the eccentric part was all there was to it.

Case in point: Simon Rodia's Watts Towers, Los Angeles.

Not sure if Mr. Fahey measures up to a Rodia-like standard (of socially acceptable/historically significant "eccentricity," such as Rodia), but I certainly wouldn't jail the dude.

I'd also contribute some bucks for his defense, if he has anything like that set up.



Edited to add better pic.

[cosmicone]

55. All he had to do was

to draw detailed plans and submit them for approval to make sure that the building is safe and structurally sound. His freedom could cost people life or limb and it is not okay.

[tammywammy]

56. It's especially worrisome if the electricity isn't up to code since so much of the house is built

with wood.

If it's a safe structure he should be able to produce someone that certifies it as safe. If it's unsafe, then no one should be living there.

[StarsInHerHair]

57. out-of whack priorities, as if a bunch of teens are running the entire WORLD!

an immature mind seems to be running tepco too, 1 incapable of realistically simulating long-term results without having to actually taking that disastrous route first-hand. Same with Hoovism being treated as a legitimate way of treating a severe recession.