Fountains & Mermaids, OK--But Not a Fire-Spitting Dragon
The neighbors had been more or less tolerating 100 or so bronze fountains, mermaids and other figures, centered around a 12-foot Neptune, in Gerald and John Hubbs’ 50-foot-wide all-concrete front yard for several years.
But when the eccentric pair allegedly celebrated the Fourth of July by firing off two ceremonial cannons in the back yard of their Paulsboro, N.J., home, the neighbors called authorities. They also contend the 59-year-old twins “activated a spiky metal dragon that spit flames,” reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Now the two are charged with maintaining a nuisance, fireworks violations and harassment (a young woman claims one screamed he would kill her if she made another noise complaint).
However, John Burzichelli, the town’s longtime mayor, says he doubts that the Hubbs yard violates Paulsboro’s property code. “It’s one of those classic moments where one person’s art is another person’s clutter. And that’s a hard place for government to be,” he says.
Meanwhile, it appears that the Hubbs brothers–who survived a more challenging law enforcement effort six years ago in relatively good shape–may have stayed on the right side of the law with their bronze statuary display. They began putting it up about four years ago, after concerns about the whereabouts of their deceased mother’s body, which led to the yard being excavated by authorities, were put to rest.
The body was never found, but authorities reportedly believe she died of natural causes. Tried on approximately 100 counts, after police found weapons and other items in a search of the property at that time, Gerald Hubbs was sentenced to four years of probation for theft of electricity, due to rerouted wires, and John Hubbs was sentenced to three years of probation on weapons-related charges.
