If I have read the article correctly, this woman was not on her own property. The incident took place "next door". Driving people off your own private property is one thing. Going to someone else's property and scaring children is certainly within my definition of disorderly conduct. Since she knew the parents were present, she certainly had no business directly addressing the parents and telling them to get out of the tree.

The whole monkey thing poses a bit of a dilemma for me. I like monkeys, I like apes, I like the idea of monkeys and apes. For me to call someone a monkey is a compliment. Having grown up in Canada, I have not been exposed to the full scope of racial conflict and degradation in this country. My wife has reminded me a couple of times that because of this history, I should keep the "monkey" comments to myself when talking to our black friends.

Its not a big deal to refrain from calling people names that they find offensive. It is also not polite to compare another person's children to animals, especially to describe behavior that you yourself find offensive.

If she had called them possums instead of monkeys, all other things being equal, she probably still would have got the ticket.