Not even children’s cardboard play forts are safe from the hands of big government these days.
Jeremy Trentelman and his wife Dee came up with a brilliant way to entertain their young kids last weekend. Using cardboard boxes and their imaginations, the family created a giant “castle” to play in on their front lawn in Ogden, Utah.
It never occurred to them that the city might try to enter this “Game of Thrones.”
When Trentelman got home from work Wednesday, he recounted for the Standard Examiner, that he had a notification on his door from the city.
It informed him that he was in violation of Ogden City’s code 12-4-2: Waste Materials or Junk, prohibited on premises. It said he had 15 days to get the boxes off his lawn or he could be charged $125 with the first violation with fees and legal actions proceeding from there, the paper reported.
The family had never planned to leave the fort up for very long, but it only took one day to receive the notice, Dee told KUTV.
“If it had been out for months or something then yeah, that would make a lot of sense, but it was a day,” she said.
“I’m going to send him [the code enforcement officer] a letter, but I haven’t been able to get myself calmed down enough about it to do it,” Trentelman told the Standard.
“I just thought it was an awesome way to use boxes and my kids’ imagination,” he added.
The Trentelmans have received support from neighbors and from people who have seen the story pop up in the news.
A Facebook page, Support Jeremy Trentelman! Cardboard Fort Campaign in Ogden, was set up and calls for people in Ogden to set up their own forts in their front yards. Hundreds of people outside the area have used the page to send messages of support.
The Trentelmans have decided to leave the fort where it is up until the last day before the city will impose the fine.
“They gave us 15 days in the notification so I’ll be damned, it’s gonna stay up for 14 days,” Trentelman said.
