An elderly Gillette woman who was ticketed last week for smearing honey on her son’s door was cited again just two days later for hitting her son and his wife with a buggy whip.
Lt. Paul Pownall with the Campbell County Sheriff’s Department told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday that the unidentified 90-year-old woman was ticketed on Friday evening for unlawful touching after her son reported her hitting him and his wife with the whip.
“It appears this was over a dispute about a gate that leads to the common property they share,” Pownall said. “The son and his wife opened the gate to drive out to leave the property and the 90-year-old female got upset, because she closes the gate to keep her chickens in.”
An altercation resulted, which led to her hitting her son and daughter-in-law with the whip.
The woman and son live in separate houses on the same property.
Pownall said he believed the victims were only hit once apiece and the whip left “faint” imprints on them both. There was cell phone video of the altercation, which officers viewed while on the scene.
No chickens escaped during the altercation.
The woman will have to go to court for the unlawful touching charge, which is a misdemeanor.
Pownall said her court appearance is not slated until late June, when she will also have to answer for the destruction of property charge she received last week for smearing honey on her son’s door.
On May 11, the woman was cited after her son discovered a substance slathered on his doorknob.
When a sheriff’s deputy arrived, he observed a honey-like substance on the doorknob. After speaking with the mother, she confirmed she had smeared honey on the doorknob in attempt to “sweeten her son up,” Pownall said at the time.
He added that the sheriff’s department was hesitant to ticket the elderly woman for any crime, but her son was “adamant” that something be done about her action.
While the mother and son are relatively familiar to sheriff’s deputies, Pownall said this is the first time either of them have ever been ticketed for crimes in the same week.
There had been no calls about either the mother or son as of Wednesday, though, Pownall said.