He’s truly off the reservation
Lima, Ohio, resident William Bowersock has learned that he is, in fact, off the reservation. Bowersock had claimed that his American Indian ancestry made him exempt from city nuisance laws under which the city was ordering him to clean up two homes that had fallen into disrepair, according to the Associated Press. In July, Common Pleas Court Judge Richard Warren rejected William Bowersock’s argument that he had seceded from the local government and formed his own Indian reservation, thereby making him exempt from the city’s property code.
The judge told Bowersock that he has 30 days to take care of the properties. Bowersock says he thinks the city is singling him out and using selective enforcement of property codes to harass him, but Warren said city officials have given Bowersock years to address the nuisance problem and that the rights of the city and Bowersock’s neighbors must be protected.
