A Grandma In Florida Is Getting Kicked Out Of The Tree House That She Has Lived In For 25 Years With Her Pet Raccoon
Daily Mail- A Florida grandmother who has lived in a tree house for 25 years, has been told that she must tear it down or face nearly $7,000 in fines. Shawnee Chasser, 65, has spent the last year fighting Miami-Dade County over her home called Shawnee’s Paradise, that sits between an oak and strangler fig tree in her late son Joshua’s yard, according to the Miami Herald. The county has said the tree house was built illegally, is unsafe and must be demolished in the next four months or she could face $7,000 in fines. Chasser said she has already paid $3,000 in fines.
But the grandmother, who mass-produces and sells Shawnee’s Greenthumb Popcorn which is stocked in Whole Foods, vowed that she will not take anything down and will continue to live there with her pet raccoon Coonie. ‘I’ll chain myself to that tree house,’ Chasser told the Herald. Chasser sleeps in a double bed and her home is decorated with family pictures, books and a small couch. ‘When I am up in my tree house in thunder, lightning and rain, I am in heaven,’ Chasser told the Herald.
Problems started a year ago when someone complained that Chasser was running the property like an apartment complex and campground in the middle of a single-family neighborhood. Last September she was issued a citation by county code enforcement for illegally running a rooming house and for work conducted at the property without permits, including the pond, fountain and the tree house. Ricardo Roig, Miami-Dade’s code enforcement division director, told the Herald that Chasser’s case was the first time he’s ever dealt with ‘somebody living in a tree house’. Roig said the county’s issue with Chasser’s cottage is that it’s unsafe and South Florida has strict rules about building codes because of the frequency of hurricanes. He also said that running water and electricity have to be installed with permits and inspections.
Listen, I want to feel bad for Shawnee Chasser. I really do. But I just can’t. She has lived a dream that everyone has as a kid and to be honest most of us still have to this day. Living in a tree house has to be so much fucking fun man. Your entire life is probably on island time without a care in the world. Sure it probably can get kind of brisk in the dead of winter and you always have that kind of “always dirty” feeling you get when you are camping. But still, living in a tree house seems awesome.
All Shawnee had to do was keep a low profile and she could have lived the dream forever. But nooooo. She had to get all fancy and start inviting a bunch of people over. That’s why I know I would be able to get away with a big heist or quit the drug game for good if I was a successful drug dealer. I’m a simple man with simple tastes. No need to flaunt it or invite a bunch of people over to party. Just quietly go about your life and everything will end just fine. If you ask me, the county probably would have happily turned a blind eye towards this tree house. Nobody wants to get in litigation with a grandma who is living in a tree house in her deceased son’s yard.
But owning a pet raccoon is straight up pre-crime. Shit it may be just a crime. No way those things should be legal as pets. I don’t care if you are Ranger Rick or some hippie grandma that sells popcorn to Whole Food from your tree house. Owning a pet raccoon is a certifiable offense in my book. Even in lawless ass Florida. If I’m the county, I have a person with a chainsaw just waiting for this crazy bird to leave her nest. And the minute she does, it’s timber time. Preferably with the raccoon still in the tree. What kind of society do we live in where raccoons are domesticated? Savagery at its worst.