Double Whammy of Foreclosure plus Jail for Farmer

Farmer Clayton M. Stine Jr had to face the double whammy of foreclosure plus jail.
Around September this year he lost his State Belt farm to a federal foreclosure. Then on Friday 3rd October he was accused of criminal contempt by Northampton County judge. The charge was that he had disobeyed an order of the court by pulling stumps on to his farm, when he was the owner. Stine now faces the penalty of a maximum of 15 days in jail when he will be sentenced on 24th October.

The farm covered 147 acres near Gravel Hill Road. It was submitted to a foreclosure sale after a long period of legal hustling. Stine had defaulted on an agricultural loan sanctioned by the government. The problem of pulling up stumps had been bone of contention for quite some time between Stine and his neighbour Ron Angle. Angle is the Councilman of Northampton County. The land of the latter allowed easy access to that of Stine via an easement.

In the ruling it was stated that Stine used to drag stumps over the land of Angle although an order of January had stated that he could use the road only for farming or purposes of agriculture. The testimony of Timothy Smith, another neighbour was taken into account who recounted witnessing truckloads of stumps on three dates in July and August immediately after the foreclosure auction sale. Stine had previously avoided another contempt charge by being willing to pay $1,000 to Angle, who was the plaintiff in that suit.

Stine avoided speaking over the phone. According to Angle, Stine is still living in the house that is on a small part of the land. It was excluded from the foreclosure suit. Angle further alleged that Stine never discontinued bringing the stumps and added “He’s avoided the law for 17 years. Now he’s finally caught.”

Stine had to surrender to foreclosure because he owed USDA over $400,000 for a loan that he had contracted over two decades previously. A buyer from North Salem, New York purchased the farm for $241,000. He was the single bidder. As yet future plans on the farmland remains unknown.

For some reason or the other foreclosures have been swallowing up properties across the country with the number running into millions of reo homes . The big question is what happens to those who are evicted? What are the future plans of the Stines suffering eviction remains untold as the economy strangles the country in tandem with foreclosures.