Night court in Warwick. Though the main attraction isn't here.
"F-ing whore."
That's willie the cockatoo was behind a chair.
And he's accused of having a foul beak.
"F-ing whore."
Next door neighbor Kathleen Melker took the video, complaining that willie is saying f-ing whore to her, at the direction of the bird's owner Lynne Taylor.
"She started the harassment a year ago. It's been relentless," says Melker.
Melker is now with Taylor's ex-husband and they live less than 50 feet apart from each other.
There's been open hostility, plenty of calls to police, including the allegations of the swearing cockatoo.
Now Willie's sordid squawking has brought the dispute to municipal court. Block your ears.
"The bird is clearly saying in the recordings, f-ing whore, f-ing whore."
A trial, but no bird.
Willie never took the stand, though the lawyer for his owner wears a cockatoo tie.
Bird owner Lynne Taylor faces an animal noise violation, a $15 fine, and is fighting it, to the displeasure of her neighbor foe.
"This is a deplorable waste of taxpayer money. I've never seen such a farce in my life, over a $15 fine," says Melker.
But the bird owner's lawyer claims the law is vague, that the bird is actually saying knock it off and the neighbor is the neighbor is the instigator.
"She's the one who's instigating the bird to make some noises," says Steve Peltier, the lawyer for the bird owner.
The prosecutor argues it's not about the cussing, just that the cockatoo makes a lot of noise.
"Doesn't matter if it says knock it off. Doesn't matter if it says have a good day. Doesn't matter if it says f-ing whore. It matters that it's habitual in nature and not controlled by the owner of the bird." says prosecutor Kerry Rafanelli.
The judge agreed, finding Willie to be a noise nuisance, because of constant squawking, but not because of R rated language.
TXT 24
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