Judge hands down guilty verdict for big yellow house

Only the outline of the second-floor portico roof remains on the big yellow house at 301 E. First, McCook, after the roof, which was pulling away from the house's west wall, was removed in March. The owner of the house, Terry Jessen of Scottsbluff/Gering, has been found guilty of "maintaining or harboring a nuisance" at that address.

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Red Willow County Judge Anne Paine has found Terry Jessen of Scottsbluff/Gering, the owner of the yellow two-story Victorian house at 301 E. Second, guilty of maintaining or harboring a nuisance at that address. Paine overruled Jessen's motion to dismiss the charges filed by the City of McCook.

Jessen is ordered to appear in Paine's court again, on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 10 a.m., for sentencing.

Jessen said Thursday morning that he is "disappointed in the ruling. I felt the city attorney did not prove his side (of the argument) and that we had provided sufficient defense."

Jessen said he is considering appealing Paine's ruling.

In her ruling filed June 5, (following a three-hour trial May 28), Judge Paine wrote that, beyond a reasonable doubt, the condition of the 110-year-old house on Dec. 23, 2008, (before the city officially filed the complaint Jan. 6, 2009) "was so unsightly as to depreciate the value of property in the vicinity thereof and that the inside of said property on that date held an accumulation of trash and other debris which, when left exposed to the elements through broken windows, created a condition where flies or rats might breed or multiply."

Jessen accused the city of using "selective enforcement" of its ordinances against property owners who do not live in McCook. Paine ruled -- after listening to testimony from McCook Police Chief Ike Brown that the city files between one and four dozen nuisance complaints each year -- "There was absolutely no evidence presented to support a finding that the City is filing complaints only against non-resident property owners."

While Jessen had cleaned up some debris and removed a sagging second-floor porch overhang in March, Judge Paine ruled that the issue before the court is the condition of the property on or about Dec. 23, 2008.

She requests that Jessen present pictures of the property at the time of his sentencing, and she will take into consideration what improvements have been made to the property from and after Dec. 23, 2008, as mitigating factors in the sentence.