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...a man has been arrested in what was described as a "leaf rage" incident.

Michael Peters, 67, became angry when city employees told him they would not remove leaves from his property, police said. He was arrested Monday after confronting town workers clearing leaves in his neighborhood.

Operations supervisor Robert Gerbert said Peters was a "raving maniac."

Peters said he's frustrated that his leaves have not been picked up in the more than three decades he has lived at his home.

"After 34 years, things build up. I am a taxpayer. ... All I am trying to do is get a service that's being offered to all of my neighbors."

Officials said the leaves weren't collected because they were on Peters' right of way, not the street where workers collect them, officials said.

City worker Jim Crabb said crews would have likely come back to Peters' home — perhaps later that day — to pick up the leaves had he asked politely.

"We're not big, mean ogres," he said.

"There have been issues where we've had to talk to residents and tried to calm them down, but nothing where we've had to call police," he said. "People get very emotional about leaves."

Frank Fedeli, supervisor of the Citizens' Service Center, said Peters called the center after his arrest to complain that his leaves had still not been picked up.

"That's chutzpah," Fedeli said.

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Frank Fedeli, supervisor of the Citizens' Service Center, said Peters called the center after his arrest to complain that his leaves had still not been picked up.

"That's chutzpah," Fedeli said.

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Also, 'shin, I'm beginning to suspect that you only post these news articles as an excuse for making puns.

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That's chutzpah.

[ November 17, 2004, 02:09 PM: Message edited by: kaioshin00 ]
 

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Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
 
Personally, I think this poor man is being made the fall guy in a complicated situation.

So his language got a little colorful after years and years of built up frustration. That's no reason to rake him over the coals.

They should drop the charges and leaf him alone.
 

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Posted by kaioshin00 (Member # 3740) on :
 
If you let him go, his complaints could the root of many more. Plain and simple: the guy needs treetment, and he needs it fast.
 

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Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
 
So, did I mention that so far, I used 50 55 gallon trash bags? That's right. 50 bags of the 55 gallon size, stuffed, squashed, restuffed, sat on, restuffed, laid on, restuffed, and mushed around until not another leaf would fit. On the up side, you can see my grass again, though for a while, when the leaves first fell, I had an orange lawn. It was pretty.

When the trash men came, I went out and asked them how many I could put out at the curb at one time. They said I could put them all out and I said I'd do that next week. They then asked if I wanted to put them out that day. They were almost done with their route and could swing by after finishing the next street. I said that would be great and started hauling the bags to the curb. They forgot to come back.

50 bags.

So far.
 

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Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
 
Wow.

Especially to an Arizonan who can't really remember ever raking leaves on his own proberty, and only a couple times for his workplace or church, that sounds awful.
 

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