Public Safety Issue

HERE is a link to the story from the LA Times.

The Reader's Digest version is as follows:

There's this 83 year old grandmother of 6 living in California. 30 years ago she bought a house. A code inspector happened to pass by her house and noticed a few code violations before discovering one of this lady's bedrooms was a garage. She said the conversion must have been done before she bought the house because she's never had nor needed a garage, she bought the house with a bedroom there.

The county isn't giving up. After repeated attempts to get her to fix the "problem", they finally came with three inspectors, two police, and a warrant. They came into the room in question while the lady's 29 year old grandson was sleeping. He asked, "What are you doing in my room?" They demanded identification. He replied, "why do you need my identification?" They handcuffed him.

The lady finally went to court where the judge ordered her to pay the $3,000 fine. She said she cannot afford it as she is living off ofher Social Security and a reverse mortgage and asked for the alternative. The judge told her the alternative was 30 days in jail.

There you go.

This is what our government is allowed to do. And WHY are they going so hard against this old lady?

"She believes that since she bought the house this way, it isn't her responsibility," Duzman said. "The county and city code says if you build or convert something, you need a permit. I get the feeling she felt if she stuck it out long enough we'd drop this -- but we won't because it's a public safety issue."

"A Public Safety Issue."

What is Unsafe?
How does this effect the Public?
And why is this an Issue?

Where has my country gone?

Everything I thought I knew about the United States is turning up bunk.