Delaware Mother Climbs A Pole To Protect Her Children's Right To Play Street Hoops

Melissa McCafferty knew something was up yesterday, what with the police cars, front-end loader and dump truck carrying a pile of basketball hoops around the corner from her Claymont, Delaware house on Friday.

She remembered the letters they'd gotten from the state Department of Transportation, apparently acting upon some prick neighbor's complaints, prattling on about how the "hoops, angled toward the street, violate the state's Free Zone law, which prohibits hoops, trees, shrubs and other objects from being within seven feet of the pavement's edge in subdivisions." But McCafferty promised her kids The Man wouldn't take theirs away, so she climbed.

Perched on a bend in the metal pole with her fuzzy bedroom slippers dangling down, McCafferty refused to budge despite police and DelDOT pleas.

Police threatened to tow her van. They asked if she would miss work over this. She replied she "would be here all day," no matter what. McCafferty heard threats that the hoop would come down whether she cooperated or not.

"If you're taking the pole, you're taking me with it," she recalled saying.

The state took a pass on both ... for now.

Hoop screams: Couple protests pole's removal [News Journal] (H/T Nichole D.)