Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for January 10, 2019

And this is why they keep TJ around.

Called it.

Silly—unless you have nosy neighbors or Shannon’s been blabbing!

I wonder if she is drawn based on someone Greg knows or if he just watches NCIS?

Shannon has lose lips.

It’s only appropriate that he offer her a BEVerage, right?

Fifty-fifty odds that T. J. ends up dating Bev!

TJ will have his work cut out for him when Brad’s parents show up and start socializing with Bev. If Shannon comes in and starts bragging about her new room, it should be ver-r-ry interesting, and a challenge even for the mighty TJ.

Wonder who narked on them

Okay so lets see what happens now. I am not even going to try to predict. So many possibilities. Hilarity will ensue though.

My aunt once talked her way out of a speeding ticket with a quart of strawberries, so anything’s possible. ✨

Still don’t understand the need for a permit? In my country you only need a permit if you build on the outside of your house. Breaking down a wall in your house doesn’t need a permit. Unless you are renting, but then it’s the owner who has to give permission and not a building inspector.

As I recall, there was a wall they opened up and wasn’t a wall painted black? Then there was a small bathroom for Toni. Now a bedroom for Shannon. The parents were told about the first after the fact.

Frank and Nancy aren’t going to be too pleased to meet the uninvited “guest”…

So. You guys live near Nosey , Meddling, Neighbors Who can’t Mind their OWN business, eh?

Yeah, it time to MOVE alright……..,

Did I miss something here? Since when do you need a permit to do remodel work inside your house?

If the best bribe you get is a glass of wine, you are doing something very wrong.

Remember, they didn’t just knock down a wall to make the laundry and a closet into a guest bedroom. They then had to move the laundry outside the house to the garage (didn’t they?), which requires extensive external plumbing and wiring. There are loads of building codes applicable to all these steps, and Bev (a grown-up Bernice, if ever there was one) carries around a massive rule book to check them all off. No permits on file? Tonight’s menu has changed to cooked goose.

Aren’t these people supposed to be fire fighters? Isn’t code inspection something they should know all about?

Foolish people who think they own the property.

Actually, yeah, it is, TJ, and she’s not going for it so I’d just stop and do as she asks before you guys get into more trouble.

Yikes! Just thought of a certain dorm RA we all know.

-Like this would happen in real life. My mother has complained on countless occasions about an auto repair shop being run next door to her and the neighborhood is residential.

My husband and I have remodeled most of our original house and only pulled permits on the kitchen and bathroom due to moving Water and Gas service. I do not see the point in permits unless you are moving utilities, I mean we put in new windows, replaced old frame work (1952 original) and such and our electrician upgraded the wires and added lights and outlets without a permit. My husband is a stickler for correct and we did all the work ourselves so we know it is correct.

Slip her a mickey,TJ.

Why am I Not Surprised TJ is in this Mess?

who reported ?

OK, who spilled the beans? Someone had to, the work was inside out of sight.

Building inspectors, proof positive of the fact that power absolutely corrupts.

And the world of Luann take another dark turn. This time for our favorite young (soon-to-be-expecting?) couple.

So far TJ has been portrayed as a duality; first initiating problems, then glibly solving or assuaging them. Let’s see how Greg plays it.

Well played T.J.!

All talk of codes and inspections/inspectors is moot. It’s obvious they occur in Luanniverse.

Of course, Bev could be pulling a scam!

Didn’t they just remodel a room that was already there? If not, why wouldn’t Brad’s parents know he built another whole room onto the house. I thought the old Horner house they bought was right next store.

Timing says Frank and Nancy are due go arrive just in time for Bev to realize that she had a major crush on Frankie back in their youth. The permit lady will then remember what she permitted Frankie to do, quickly stamp the paperwork, slug down the wine, give Frank her card along with a lingering smile, and exit the building.

Wow, TJ is about as subtle as the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. Last I heard, the key to manipulating people is for the target to not know they’re being manipulated at all. TJ comes sliding in like the sleaziest used-car dealer imaginable, immediately makes her suspicious, and then gives the least convincing denial I’ve ever seen. I’m surprised he didn’t blatantly wink at Brad while saying it.

Of course, this being Luann, she’ll probably fall for the whole thing hook, line and sinker.

Although nosy narking neighbors are a pain, we did a permitted renovation several years ago, and uncovered clearly non-permitted work done before we moved in – poor wiring behind drywall that would have eventually started a fire. The permitting process does exist for a reason.

Ah, so a nosey neighbor decided to “help.” I hate neighbors who refuse to mind their own business for minor things.

Probably Shannon talking excitedly to nosy neighbors.

Deny, deny, deny.

Or own up to your evils. What’s the worst she can do? Condemn the house? $Zillion fine? Life sentence?

Hmmm, option one is mighty appealing.

For all the folks complaining about “who narked?” – please consider seismic-2 ’s comments above! This was no inside-only job! It was an extensive remodel, affecting plumbing and electrical, all the stuff that Bev is supposed to be inspecting!

And for those who complain about overreaching municipalities, remember, it’s your tax dollars to put out the fires and clean up after faulty and shoddy construction!

This theory’s a bit of a stretch, but please bear with me.

Frank and Nancy “squealed” – after determining that there would be no real penalty, or that it would be one that wouldn’t break Brad & Toni &TJ’s collective piggy bank.

Remember that Frank had warned them at least once – possibly twice – before not to do any remodeling without gettin his permission first.

Who ratted about the construction project?Toni— She really does not want Shannon staying with them but didn’t want Shannon to know how she feels. Brad — He really does not want Shannon staying with them but was scared to tell Toni that. Frank - He didn’t want the construction done to his house but he is scared to stand up to anyone. Shannon - She ratted them out accidentally. She was out in public with her dad and blabbed in a loud voice about her new room and Bev overheard her and followed her back to the house.

Oops – hit return too soon there.

Add to the above the fact that Shannon was very excited about “her” new bedroom, and that she’d never been told not to talk about it. Since Nancy and Frank live right next door, it’s entirely might have encountered one of them at some point and shared her “big news.” And it would have been very easy for Nancy or Frank to determine that some big project was indeed underway.

So Frank, seriously vexed that his prior warnings were ignored, talks to someone and determines that the penalty for doing that kind of work without a permit would not be too onerous. And he calls the building department and reports the project himself.

So I wonder who ratted them out?

4

So, the inspector shows up unannounced…. seems rather shocking to me. Questions I have:

1. If the room is completed, how will they “know” what is the new part? Presumably it will be easy to tell, but, in reality does the inspector know what was there before?

2. Who was the “informant”? Giving that some more thought, postulates I see include:

a. Busy-body neighbors (8 out of 10)

b The “Home Depot” Guys (6 out of 10) Due to hearing SD’s story yesterday.

c. Jonah (2 out of 10) Shannon told him about the room and he is secretly jealous of Toni and Brad.

d. Toni (1 out of 10) Toni was getting annoyed and acted passive aggressively.

e. Dirk (1 out of 10) His “reformed” life fell apart and now he is seeking revenge again.

f. Mr. & Mrs. DeGroot (3 out of 10) They heard about the remodel, and are pulling a practical joke on Brad & Toni to give them the take-home message that they should have asked first.

g. Rosa & Gunther (0 out of 10) Rosa comes back from Peru with all her money from selling the sticks she collected, tells Gunther her new passion is once again him , and Gunther, having learned a diabolical thing or two from Les, rats out Brad and Toni so the DeGroots have to relinquish the house due to the massive fines incurred. Then he and Rosa buy it using the stick money and live happily ever after (This last one is mostly for Mordy.)

Uninspected or unprofessionally executed interior work can endanger neighbors, passers-by, or entire neighborhoods. A house collapses and damages adjacent property because an incompetent remodeling included the removal of a load bearing wall. Fires may start that can spread to other structures if mistakes are made with wiring, natural gas lines, poorly executed work on fireplaces or woodburning stoves. Plumbing alterations can affect nearby sewage structures in ways that can cause sanitation/health issues. It’s easy to gripe that it isn’t anyone else’s business, but if you live in a neighborhood, it might very well be everyone else’s business.

I saw with my own eyes a restaurant explosion, traced to faulty wiring and leaky cooking gas connections. Debris landed in three adjacent streets and on two dwellings. No injuries or fatalities, happened late on a Sunday night when there was no car of foot traffic nearby.

And though it wasn’t “interior” work, I saw a tree felled on private property by an individual who was sure had taken all the needed precautions for it to fall in one direction… but it fell in the opposite direction. It brought down a utility pole and the power and phone lines for an entire neighborhood. I imagine it’s a very sobering thing to see everyone on a street emerge through their front doors and glare at you. I imagine the perpetrator wished he had hired a licensed and bonded professional to take down the tree.

Bev’s unannounced (!) arrival just half an hour prior to Frank and Nancy’s seems somehow too convenient. Maybe Bev isn’t actually a code enforcement officer but just an actor whom Frank asked Pru to hire, to scare the [redacted] out of Brad and Toni and TJ for undertaking an extensive remodel of the house he owns without ever getting his permission.

I hate to say this. but the fun way to handle this would be to define this as a long delayed visit to see about the laundry room installation before Brad-Toni moved in, and her perplexed confusion that no plumbing and power for a laundry room exists.

Back in the day when photography was still all emulsion based, I converted part of my house into a darkroom. Drew up my own plans and presented them to the code inspector, said it looked great except I had to have a window, building code specified that any room adjoined to an outer wall of the house had to have at least one window. My arguments were to no avail. I put in the window, it passed inspection…..Then proceeded to replace the glass with steel plates. Sometimes you gotta outwit the witless.

Imbribing?

Head-Tilt #1: Regarding Bev: I’ve seen that perennial upward head-tilt before. Those who always inspect look up in any room to see details as to where smoke detectors, fire alarms, etc. are located. Good practice work-wise, but with when working with people (unless they’re 9 feet tall) – not so good. One comes off as being snobbish (wonder if G&K had prior experience with this before).

Bev’s troubling statement: “We had reports of construction here, …”

This begs the question (and others have speculated): Who called in the report?!!

Head-Tilt #2: (an alternate storyline):

TJ: “Bev! Welcome! Lovely pantsuit! May I offer you a nice Pinot Noir?”

Bev: “You think this weird head-tilt is JUST from inspecting boring crap like this? You just keep fillin’ that glass there, cutie!!” ;)

TJ + problem = explosion.

Apparently Greg isn’t a wine connoisseur. Pinot/Burgundy bottles have a long tapering neck. That’s a Bordeaux bottle.

Have another. And another. And another.

Bev .. Another awesome character who will disappear after a few appearances. Sigh … I already like her so much, she looks like Edna of “The Incredibles” but in pink.

gotta wonder what the end game here is for Greg … the point of having done all this. To show that Brad & Toni will go to great lengths ( and potential costs) for Shannon?

the wine is loaded with capsaicin – it’s a Jalapenot Noir (stolen from Hilary Price)

Here is another point to consider: a building or fire inspector is generally called in to inspect each phase of a project (before it is completed, to make sure the plumbing and wiring are in the right positions relative to the approved drawings, and so on. When someone is told that unapproved, unpermitted work is proceeding, the person who shows up is a CODE ENFORCEMENT officer. And said officer can only be admitted to private property if the resident agrees, unless a warrant is shown. Sorry to bust everyone’s balloons…

Hey, Bev. You gettin’ any, complaints that is?

I could be wrong, but where did I get the idea this strip was set in Canada? Maybe rules are different there.

And from where did those reports come? Surely Brad, Toni or T.J. didn’t voluntarily contact city hall for that purpose. Is there a snitch in their midst?

Why in the world was she called if this was construction made within a home?

Something very suspicious is going on here. Bev very conveniently just shows up as if from nowhere. And she looks very much like Linda Hunt as seen in NCIS-LA.

Should I be trying to decrypt secret spy-stuff messages in the dialogue?

I think she’s a robot. Talk about stiff body language.