Latest news with #Bohn
Herald Sun
21-05-2025
- Herald Sun
‘Outrageous': NSW couple faces $1m fine or ‘homelessness' for living in tiny house
A NSW couple say they are facing 'homelessness' or a $1 million fine after being ordered by local council to 'demolish' the tiny house they've lived in for two years. Facing possible homelessness due to the ongoing devastation wrought by the Black Summer bushfires in 2019, Manu Bohn and his partner built a tiny house on a friend's farm in the Bega Valley, on NSW's South Coast, in 2023. 'If you live in the Bega Valley you will have seen homelessness, limited rental stock, soaring rents and property sales prices all contributing to people living in caravans and other movable dwellings,' the 30-year-old, who moved to Australia from Brazil in 2018, wrote in a petition launched on 'The sad reality is that many families who love this place are leaving because they can't afford to stay here any more.' The 'simple and happy life of work, study, volunteering, and sport' he and his partner have enjoyed since 2023, however, was interrupted last month when he received a draft order from a Bega Valley Shire Council Compliance Officer. In the letter, shared by Mr Bohn to social media, the couple was told the 'unauthorised structure … being used as a residential dwelling' needs to be removed or demolished in line with NSW Environmental Planning legislation. Failure to comply could trigger legal proceedings, the letter continued, with a potential court-imposed fine of $1 million, and a further $10,000 for every day they continue to live in the tiny house. has contacted Mr Bohn for comment. MORE: 'Evil': Stubborn Aus neighbour back in spotlight The decision, Mr Bohn told SBS's The Feed, could make the couple 'one of (Bega's) homeless numbers'. A tiny home can cost anywhere between $20,000 to $200,000. It's a much more affordable alternative to that of an actual dwelling – the median home price in Bega was $630,000 in the 12 months to April this year, an increase of 2.6 per cent. 'For someone living (in) a tiny house and not being able to afford a home, to get this letter where you have to pay a million dollars … it just seems to be so outrageous and not very understanding,' he said. For Mr Bohn and his partner, 'tiny houses (are) basically the only affordable way of living to us, as we don't own land and would rely on staying in someone else's property'. 'Everything that I have at the moment, I built myself … but if that's taken out of me, basically I'm just left with the tiny house – and that means according to the letter – that I can't even park it anywhere,' he said. 'So it means I don't have a place to stay.' MORE:Wild plan to remove Boomers, unlock 60k homes Though he and the property's owner did not seek council permission or apply for a development approval (DA) for the tiny house, Mr Bohn said he built it 'based on state legislation'. 'Our understanding was and still is that our tiny house built on wheels is considered a mobile dwelling under NSW legislation, which doesn't require (a DA), and allows us to move it to maybe our own future land,' he said. There is no fixed definition of a tiny home under the NSW planning framework – meaning it could be anything from a granny flat to a caravan, depending on its use and how it's built – Bega Valley Shire Council Director of Community, Environment and Planning, Emily Harrison, explained to in a statement. 'In NSW, a land use approval is required in most cases to give consent to use the land as a dwelling,' she said, by lodging a DA under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW). 'The development consent process has been designed to ensure that health, sanitation, safety and environmental impacts are considered, including vegetation removal, disposal of wastewater and building standards including fire safety. 'If the development consent process has not been followed, Council cannot be assured that these impacts have been addressed or that the development is able to be approved.' Though council cannot discuss individual cases, Ms Harrison said draft orders (like the one Mr Bohn received) 'explain that failure to comply with the Order is an offence under section 9.37 of the Act'. 'Council cannot impose a $1 million fine, however the Land and Environment Court is empowered to as part of proceedings brought before their jurisdiction,' she said. 'Compliance matters are raised with the property owners in line with legislated requirements.' In his petition, Mr Bohn has called on Bega Valley Shire Council to enact a moratorium on tiny house evictions, and urged it to work with the NSW Government 'on a pathway to tiny homeownership to address the current housing crisis'. 'A viable solution to the housing crisis is not only being ignored, but fought against,' the petition reads. 'The Bega Valley community will be left behind as other councils move forward with pathways for legal tiny homeownership. 'We are fortunate to be in a position where we can (and will) use our voices to advocate for change on this issue. But we know not everyone is in such a fortunate boat. What happens when Compliance Officers come for a young mother in a tiny home who is fleeing domestic violence? Or for seniors who have nothing left after a bushfire or flood. Or a young person in a caravan escaping homelessness? 'To the council we simply say that is not good enough.' Originally published as 'Outrageous': NSW couple face $1m fine or 'homelessness' for living in tiny house
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bradyn Bohn, 15, had big plans. But after hours of being sextorted, he took his own life.
If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or text "Hopeline" to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741. KRONENWETTER – Luke Bird peeked his head into his stepson Bradyn Bohn's bedroom at about 10:30 p.m. March 4 to say goodnight. He glimpsed a familiar scene: Bohn, 15, on the phone with his girlfriend. The two would FaceTime every night until they both fell asleep. Gusts of wind from a winter storm could be heard, a promising sound for any teenager anticipating a Wednesday morning snow day announcement. Earlier that day, Brittney Bird, Bohn's mother, allowed her son to hang out at her hair salon while she bleached his friend's hair. The boys eagerly plotted their snow-day plans, growing ever likelier with the worsening weather. "They were laughing, joking, no signs at all that anything was amiss," Bird said. In less than 24 hours, she would find her son dead, a note stuck to her husband's computer that read, "Make sure he gets caught. I'm so sorry." He had taken his own life. It didn't make sense to anybody who knew Bohn. He had no history of mental health concerns. He loved being part of his school baseball team, spending the last four summers traveling with his teammates for games. As a wrestler, he would cry after winning matches, an intensity that captured the profound empathy he carried for others. And he loved his little sister, 9-year-old Aurora. "We kept asking ourselves, 'Why?' and 'What happened?' He was fine. He wanted to go skiing," said Bird, 36. "We were going to go to concerts this summer. We had all this stuff planned. We were so confused." Bird can't shake a conversation she had with Bohn in October, after one of her friend's sons died by suicide. They sat in his bedroom, broaching the uncomfortable subject. She wanted Bohn to know he could always talk to her if he was struggling. At the time, the idea of suicide was unfathomable to Bohn, who reassured her, "Mom, I would never do that." Bohn's death, although logic-defying, fits into a disturbing online trend that has been flagged by the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for a number of years and is now the fastest-growing cybercrime targeting children in North America. Sextortion is a form of child sexual exploitation that involves threatening or blackmailing children, often after tricking them into sending them nude or sexual images. The scammers threaten to go public with their photos if they don't comply with their demands, which sometimes involve money, coercing them into sexual activities or sending additional sexual content. These criminal scammers target all young people, but in 90% of financial sextortion cases, the victims targeted are teenage boys between 14 and 17, according to a June 2024 report from the nonprofit Thorn done in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "These people are targeting kids who have everything to lose." — Brittney Bird "For all the cases I've seen, these kids are athletic and successful and applying to colleges and in relationships," Bird said. "These people are targeting kids who have everything to lose." The number of reports of online enticement, a category that includes sextortion, grew by more than 300% between 2021 and 2023. In 2023 alone, the CyberTipline operated by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 186,800 reports. By the end of 2024, it had received more than 540,000 reports, about a 190% jump, said Kathryn Rifenbark, director of the CyberTipline. Sextortion cases have led to at least 30 deaths by suicides, according to the tallies done by USA Today's in-depth reporting on the topic. In the first three months of 2025, the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has already received 103 cybertips related to sextortion, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul told the Journal Sentinel. It's likely that, by the end of 2025, the number of reports will easily outpace the 237 cybertips the task force received in 2024. "Oftentimes, this is occurring in the middle of the night or when the parents are not there, so that child has a lack of support in that moment," Rifenbark said. "The offenders are well-versed in removing support from that child." Sexploitation wasn't a term Bird had heard before she discovered the frightening underworld that ensnared her son. And although she doesn't know the specifics of what happened to Bohn in the hours between March 4 and 5, she and her husband, Luke, are fast learning the general details. Offenders will sometimes exploit young women first before targeting boys like Bohn. The offenders will get young women to send explicit photos using similar blackmailing tactics, Rifenbark said. Other times, the offenders will create synthetic content, often referred to as "deep fakes," from existing profiles or by using AI-generated images. "This is an area where we know AI-generated technologies risk playing an increasing role in the ease and the velocity and the scale at which financial sextortion, grooming and sexual exploitation at large can happen," said Melissa Stroebel, vice president of research and insights at Thorn, which published the June 2024 report. Then, the scammers build fake profiles on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, which includes sending friend requests to people in the target's social media network to give the appearance of mutual friends. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are the three most common social media platforms used to make first contact with children, according to the Thorn report. A message from a pretty young woman pops up, and the fact that she has mutual friends with the target disarms them and creates a false sense of trust. About 65% of the children who engaged with these perpetrators are prompted to move to a secondary platform, sometimes chat messengers with little to no security measures like WhatsApp or Telegram, other times to platforms like Snapchat, Google Chat or iMessage, according to the June report. In Bohn's case, after he was contacted on Facebook, the perpetrator persuaded him to move the conversation to Telegram. Once photos were exchanged, the conversation turned dire. Suddenly, Bohn was told he needed to send money or face major consequences. One of the signature tactics offenders employ is to falsely tell the child they've broken the law by sending nude pics and will be put on a sex offender list if they don't comply with financial demands. Another is to tell them they will share the photos with everyone the child knows, from parents to teachers to friends and girlfriends to college admissions. Part of what makes teenagers feel they can't step away, Stroebel said, is that offenders will message relentlessly, deploying countdowns. If you don't send me this money in 30 seconds, I'm sending these photos to everyone you know. "Your world is so small, so everything that happens is so big, and you can't see that," Bird said. "We recently told Bradyn he would always be better than his biggest mistake. I told him, 'You're going grow up and you're going to f--- up one day, and you're going call me because I want to be there.'" Bohn relented to the demand for money. He sent $300 through a payment platform, but that only intensified the messages. Within hours of endless torment and threats, Bohn was dead. "My son was emotionally and psychologically tortured for hours," Bird said. The days and weeks since Bohn's death have left the greater Wausau community reeling, and Bohn's family is determined to spread awareness of this dangerous form of child exploitation. DC Everest School District, where Bohn was a high school freshman, has also taken up measures to help parents, educators and staff, and students better understand the nefarious nature of these offenders. Bohn's death triggered many hard topics in the tight-knit community, said Erin Jacobson, who serves as the mental health navigator in the DC Everest School District. As the district contends with the complicated grief of Bohn's death, administrators also recognize the need to spread awareness. Casey Nye, the superintendent of DC Everest, has been talking with his team about what conversations are possible, given the fact that Bohn's death is still an active investigation. Nye emphasized that some of the responsibility for talking with students will invariably fall on parents and caregivers. Children need to feel comfortable going to them without fearing they'll get in trouble or be shamed for sending nude photos over the internet. Digital citizenship is already built into school curriculum, Nye said, but it's still a work in progress. Schools initiate conversations with students as early as third grade about their digital footprints, online reputation and digital privacy. Earlier efforts emphasized strangers online, gaming safety, and basics of password and device security. As children get older, the topics they're exposed to also mature. Students learn about the dangers of cyber crimes, sexting and identity theft, among others, in middle and high school. "We do need to be more explicit about emerging risks like sextortion," Nye said. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has an online safety education program called NetSmartz, which provides age-appropriate videos and activities to help teach children be safer online. Rifenbark encourages parents and teachers to share these videos and guidelines with students early and often. The DC Everest School District is also planning a free communitywide event Wednesday, April 30, at the Grand Theater, 401 N. Fourth St., Wausau, focused on sextortion, its dangers and prevention. Part of that, Nye said, is normalizing the word "sextortion," so everyone is aware of it and can stand up against it. The Resources Fair starts at 5:30 p.m. and the main program runs from 6 to 8 p.m. It will feature John DeMay, a resident of the Upper Peninsula who lost his 17-year-old son Jordan to sextortion. Bird will introduce him at the event. "The conversation in our community is happening regularly now, which is so important for our kids," Jacobson said. "It's important for our kids that they hear adults talk about it, so that they can talk about it and ask questions about it." The news about Bohn's death shocked Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, who represents District 85, the greater Wausau area. "This was a kid who, in all other ways, was fine. He couldn't bear thinking his parents would be hurt, that all his friends would think of him a certain way," Snyder said. "I hope the message that comes out of this is, first and foremost, this is not your fault. These are evil people committing criminal acts." Stroebel, from Thorn, echoed this point. "The reality is this can happen to anyone, and it doesn't make you a bad kid. It doesn't make you stupid. It makes you human," she said. Snyder has been talking to Luke and Brittney Bird, and with Bohn's father, Parker, who fully supports spreading awareness but requested not to be included in media coverage. Snyder has also been talking with Kaul and the state Department of Justice, which released a resources guide after Bohn's death through the state DOJ's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Snyder is fast-tracking a bill that would put teeth into the penalties behind sextortion. "Having a statute specifically addressing this issue be helpful," Kaul said. "It would give prosecutors an additional tool to use … and would help establish precisely what it is investigators need to look for in these types of cases." Should it pass, the bill would named "Bradyn's Law," in Bohn's memory. "This is a horrible tragedy, but if we can pass this law, then he will be remembered as the person who helped us begin to not let this happen again," Snyder said. When he grew up, Bohn wanted to travel, finding the biggest, most challenging mountains to ski down. He wanted to play sports in college. He wanted to get married, have kids and own huskies. Bird can't stop thinking about the house rule about her children's use of phones. No phones overnight in the bedroom. When Bohn started high school, though, Bird relaxed the rule, believing he would be responsible enough. And Bohn was responsible. He was whip smart, did well in school and had the discipline of an ambitious young athlete. But like all teenagers, Bohn was still a child developing decision-making and impulse control, Bird said. Those elements made him and others like him especially vulnerable to scammers. Rifenbark, from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, agrees. Historically, boys are less likely to report because there's been less attention paid to male victims of sexual exploitation. Thorn has been tracking sextortion cases dating back to 2015, Stroebel said. 2021 marked the year North America saw a swift rise in cyber crimes against boys and young men. This is a population, Stroebel said, that generally has higher-risk tendencies and isn't typically included in conversations related to sexual abuse. That's why, for Bird, it's so important for parents to let their children know about these criminal acts. "The whole world is in your kid's bedroom at night when you're asleep," Bird said. "Your kid is going to do stupid stuff, even if you tell them not to. But it can all be fixed. It can always be fixed." If you or someone you know has information on potential child exploitation, you can report it to NCMEC online at or by calling 1-800-843-5678. Reports can also be made through Speak Up, Speak Out (SUSO), a 24/7 statewide confidential reporting system run by DOJ's Office of School Safety. Reports can be made online at by calling 1-800-MY-SUSO-1, or by texting 'SUSO' to 738477. Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She welcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@ or view her X (Twitter) profile at @natalie_eilbert. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sextortion ended Bradyn Bohn's life. Can new Wisconsin laws help?
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
County approves funding for incorporation feasibility study
Residents from a small community in south Clatsop County are taking a first step toward exploring incorporation. On Wednesday, Clatsop County commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding with the Arch Cape Falcon Cove Beach Community Club to partially fund the development of an incorporation feasibility study. The group initially approached the county about incorporation late last year, and has since retained Portland-based consulting firm ECOnorthwest to carry out the project. The club's 173-person membership includes homeowners in unincorporated areas between Hug Point and Oswald West State Park — a region known for its high concentration of short-term vacation rentals. For years, residents in the area have been vocal about topics like land-use policy and vacation rental caps. Bob Boehmer, the community club's president, said incorporation could provide citizens with more direct control over local issues. The point of a feasibility study is to engage with residents to understand whether they want local control enough to take on the responsibility of self-governance. The study will also help determine whether the community could generate the revenues necessary to sustain itself as a city. 'We need to find out from the residents, you know, exactly what services do you want, and then will these revenues pay for that?' Boehmer said. This first step, he said, is getting more information. 'A feasibility study is exactly what it says,' Boehmer said. 'It's not a decision to incorporate. It's a decision to do a data-based comprehensive analysis of whether incorporation is feasible.' Establishing a baseline The agreement could also provide a helpful baseline for the county. County Manager Don Bohn said he's seen the community request city-level services like community planning, design review and road and drainage maintenance on noncounty designated roads. Given the county's financial constraints, he said it will be important for the county to focus on providing county-level services moving forward. 'Since I've been here, this has been a constant topic of conversation about whether and how the county provides city-level services to this community,' Bohn told commissioners on Wednesday. 'I just think that in the long term, having a feasibility question asked and answered is very important for the community to have a choice on how they want to move forward.' The cost associated with the study is roughly $110,000. Under the memorandum of understanding, the community club will dedicate a year's worth of membership dues, around $3,500, to the project. The county will contribute $106,500 from the discretionary portion of its 2.5% unincorporated transient lodging tax implemented in 2015 — a revenue source that has traditionally been used to support road and drainage projects in the area. 'It's not general fund,' Bohn said. 'It's money that was already being collected through the transient lodging tax, primarily from that area, that will continue to be spent in that area.' Bohn added that contributions to the feasibility study will not disrupt or postpone road and drainage work in the area. According to the scope of work outlined by ECOnorthwest, the feasibility study will include community engagement and education to discuss topics like governance, service providers and land use. ECOnorthwest will also work with an advisory committee to decide a study area and gather data to determine what public facilities and services a new city could provide. Bohn said the county will provide technical assistance as requested, but the study will be directed by the club. Given the project's funding source, Commissioner Courtney Bangs said she was comfortable approving the agreement. 'I do feel satisfied that the money was going to be going to this community for other projects, and so it will therefore still be going to this community; it is just being reallocated in a different direction,' Bangs said. Commissioner Lianne Thompson, whose district spans the southern half of the county, including Arch Cape, added that she sees the work as a necessary step toward addressing the longstanding question of incorporation. 'I think this is an essential step to reconcile perceptions of need with reality testing, and that it's a way for the community to have, I would say, a maturation of its capacity and interest in self-governance that really matches reality with responsibility, authority and money,' Thompson said. If the community determines it wants to put incorporation on the ballot, either in fall 2025 or spring 2026, ECOnorthwest will also draft an economic feasibility statement. In the meantime, Boehmer hopes the initial process will help spur dialogue between residents. In that regard, he sees the study as a positive step for the community. 'If you have a really robust community discussion, and you have it in a real collegial manner, you know, based on data, then you come out a better community regardless of whether you choose to go ahead with incorporation or not,' Boehmer said.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Latest Birkdale Village reimagining includes boutique hotel, hundreds of more parking spaces
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The new owners of Birkdale Village show they've been listening to neighbors' concerns in the latest proposal to expand the mixed-use development. The Jamestown real estate management firm presented its pitch to add an apartment building, office tower and boutique hotel to Birkdale. The company acquired the property's former owners, North American Properties, in October. PREVIOUS: Huntersville workers excited about potential Birkdale Village projects Among concerns for the busy shopping and residential area has long been regarding parking. The proposed rezoning would include 518 new spaces, mostly courtesy of new parking decks that would replace two of the four current ones. The town's land-use plan requires 1,959 total spaces given the rezoning, but the new-look development would have more than 2,400. Jamestown officials hope the 100-foot-tall commercial tower — knocked down from 115 — will have 'Class A' office space, of which none exists in town. Also new to the area is the proposed upscale hotel. Jamestown's Francis Bohn hopes to have a brand similar to Marriott's Autograph collection. The Grand Bohemian in Uptown Charlotte is among those. 'It's really catered around a specific location,' she said. 'This is a special place, this is not Charlotte, this is not Raleigh, it's not a lot different places. It would be a highlight of a local chocolatier, and you would get a chocolate on your bed at the end of the night.' All of the new development would be on the southern end of the Birkdale property, mostly along Townley Road. The apartments would be built where the Dick's Sporting Goods is currently, and office space would fill space occupied by Barnes & Noble. But town officials noted that the stores' leases are ending in a few years and those businesses are seeking smaller footprints. The rezoning is from Highway Commercial Conditional District to Highway Commercial Conditional District for commercial, hotel, office and multi-family uses. In addition to parking solutions within the development, Bohn already offered mitigation options for the adjacent Greens at Birkdale neighborhood. Those include adding no-parking signs, increased police support, etc. She said Jamestown will not add more parking if the project is denied. An office building, along with a hotel and apartments were previously proposed under the North American Properties ownership. But all versions of those proposals were denied by town board. Huntersville residents have recently shown resistance to new hotels in general. NAP led wholesale changes to its tenants since it took over Birkdale in 2020, including adding more shops and amenities to what is now called the Grove. The town noted that a hotel, multi-family and office were in the original master plans when Birkdale was planned in 1999. Commissioner Edwin Quarles mentioned how Lake Norman-area residents have been against changes to Birkdale, especially when it comes to sacrificing parking spaces. But that a project like this must fit with the town's growth plan. 'Birkdale Village is attractive and it's vibrant,' he said. 'That's why it's so busy on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For the Christmas tree lighting, people park at Hickory Tavern and walk to Birkdale village. 'Progress stops for no man, no person, no town, and we have to do the right thing.' N.C. Department of Transportation is already scheduled to widen Sam Furr Road (N.C. 73) through Huntersville, a project that is slated to begin construction in 2026. Bohm said no further traffic-related changes were needed from the proposed project. The firm also has agreed to fund a greenway pedestrian bridge over Sam Furr. No date to vote on the project was provided. If approved, Jamestown would start construction in late 2027. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
