A 65-year-old purple-haired Floridian hippie is doing everything she can to “stick it to the man” and keep her beloved tree house.
Shawnee Chasser spent the past 10 years in a treetop residence fully equipped with electricity, kitchen, potable water, and amenities like a television set and “carrot juicer,” reports the Washington Post. Chasser even raised her step daughter inside this dwelling.
Chasser now faces losing the property and the land due to county building regulations.
The elderly hippie finds herself in a year-long battle with Miami-Dade county over the fate of her tree house, the Miami Herald reports. Chasser is on the hook for a $3,000 dollar fine, and could face an additional $7,000 dollar fine if she does not comply with the county demands.
Miami-Dade county insists that Chasser bring her treetop cottage up to county building standards, a feat that would cost Chasser around $150,000. The fines alone leave Chasser flat broke, and she has no additional means of bringing the treetop residence up to code.
If building standards are not met, the residence must be demolished in four months, the Herald reports. Safety is the supposed rationale behind the county assault on Chasser’s property, but the aging hippie resident thinks otherwise.
“They’re pretending it’s because they care about my safety, [but] I’m 65 years old. I can keep myself safe,” Chasser told the Washington Post. “They’re not here for my protection. They’re here for my money.”
It’s not just the house which matters to Chasser, but also the memories. Her late son, who passed in 2009, owned the land and the tree where her home rests.
The move to the treetop residence wasn’t Chasser’s first foray into living outdoors. Before deciding that the tree house was the way to go, Chasser dabbled in teepee living but was detoured because of rampant mosquito attacks.
Chasser experienced an epiphany at one point in her journey, recounting that she has “always been a tree hugger, so it was kind of a no-brainer that I was one day going to live in a tree,” the Post reports.
“I’m ready to fight for my home,” Chasser says, refusing to give up.
Chasser once hiked all the way from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. to protest nuclear proliferation.
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