Belleville removes resident’s overgrown weeds, leaves political signs
Belleville city workers converged on Stewart Lannert’s property on South 29th Street early Thursday and began cutting tall grass and weeds, brush and saplings around his house.
They were acting on a judge’s order that gave them permission to access the property after Lannert failed to appear for two court dates related to a citation he received last fall for an ordinance violation, according to Scott Tyler, the city’s director of health, housing and building.
“It was like a jungle back there,” Tyler said, adding that neighbors have complained about mosquitoes, rodents, groundhogs and snakes.
Some people also dislike the dozens of political signs in Lannert’s front and side yards, his scrap-metal cross, Confederate flag and homemade cannon, but those will remain on the property.
“It’s a First Amendment right,” Tyler said.
Police Sgt. Sam Parsons, the city’s code enforcement officer, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment, nor could Jason Poole, director of public works, who oversees street department workers involved in the cleanup.
A Belleville ordinance prohibits residents from allowing grass and weeds to reach a height of 8 inches and states that the city can cut them, send bills to property owners and place liens on titles if bills aren’t paid.
Lannert, 83, who has lived at 318 S. 29th St. since the 1980s, said in an interview that it will be a “cold day in hell” before he pays for the work.
“They went a little hog wild if you ask me,” Lannert said. “I was talking to the second-in-command (of public works), and he said, ‘I’m just following orders,’ and I said, ‘That’s what the Nazis said.’”
Rocky relationship
Lannert has long had a rocky relationship with the city and St. Clair County. He regularly speaks at Belleville City Council meetings to complain about actions taken by officials and other issues.
In February, Lannert paid to have a message displayed on a West Main Street billboard for six months. It reads “Courthouse Corruption Coming Soon” in giant white letters on a black billboard.
At the time, Lannert said the message was designed to “aggravate” officials who have, in his view, behaved improperly.
“I wanted to give them something to think about,” he said.
Tyler said officials have been asking Lannert to clean up his property for years. A judge in Belleville’s municipal court, which is staffed by St. Clair County Court judges, issued an order on Feb. 19 allowing the city access. Tyler hand-delivered the order to Lannert soon after.
Lannert said workers woke him up about 7:30 a.m. Thursday with “half the Belleville police department” and several pieces of heavy equipment outside his house. Tyler said two officers were on scene to make sure everything went smoothly.
“I could get (upset) over it, but apparently there’s nothing I can do,” said Lannert, who called his attorney, John Baricevic, a former county judge and state’s attorney, and put him on the phone with Tyler.
Lannert is a former U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam. He worked as a welder and mail handler and held other blue-collar jobs before retirement. He bought his home in the 1980s and later bought the parcel behind it.
“I just figured, ‘I’m not going to interfere with Mother Nature, and I’ll just let it do what it does,’” he said Thursday. “But that didn’t sit well with the city. They didn’t like that green space. They’re cutting it all down.”
Lannert’s yard also is filled with signs in support of President Donald Trump mixed with messages such as, “Democrats are racist,” “Durbin no free speech Nazi,” “Clarence Thomas for president,” “Illinois Land of Sheep,” “J.B. Pritzker sucks” and “BLACK PEOPLE it’s okay to leave the plantation.”
Two years ago, a group of about 25 protesters marched past Lannert’s home carrying their own signs, reading “No racism in our neighborhoods” and “Fight white supremacy.”
Several arrests
Lannert has been arrested several times by Belleville police in the past 10 years. In a 2023 case that’s still pending, the state’s attorney’s office charged him with making a terrorist threat, a Class X felony.
The complaint alleged that Lannert called police dispatch and threatened to blow up Belleville City Hall or the county courthouse with dynamite. He hasn’t yet entered a plea.
“With all the corruption at the courthouse, they’ve got a lot of nerve, I think, giving me a $1 million bond,” Lannert said in February, explaining why he decided to display the billboard message.
Lannert was referring to a judge who initially set his bond at $1 million, requiring him to pay $100,000 (10%) to get out of jail after 33 days. That was later reduced, and he was refunded $50,000.
Lannert said he’s always calling public offices to complain or give his opinions, and officials know he sometimes jokes or exaggerates to make a point, particularly after political discussions at a local tavern.
In 2020, the state’s attorney’s office charged Lannert with falsely making a terrorist threat, a Class 1 felony; harassment by telephone, a Class B misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor.
Lannert had allegedly threatened to blow up the BND building in a phone message and letter after complaining that people had vandalized his yard signs supporting Trump’s reelection campaign, thrown rocks at his window and torn an American flag off his car.
Lannert maintained that newspapers were against Trump and in favor of his opponent, former President Joe Biden, and that the BND had declined to publish some of his letters to the editor.
“Well, anyway, I’m wondering what I should do with all this stockpile of fertilizer and dynamite I got in my basement,” he said in his message. “I don’t know what I should do with it yet, maybe blow up the doggone News-Democrat ‘cause they’re so biased against Trump.”
Belleville detectives searched Lannert’s home and determined that he had no such stockpile, according to police.
Also in 2020, Lannert was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, a Class 4 felony, for allegedly speeding toward pedestrians in his truck in downtown Belleville. A group of mothers told police he yelled racial slurs at their young daughters, who were doing a photo shoot.
In 2023, all pending charges against Lannert were considered at one hearing in county court. As part of a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to the three charges resulting from the BND threat, as well as a 2017 misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed firearm in an alcohol establishment.
The two aggravated assault charges related to the photo shoot were dismissed, along with two misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass to a building from 2017 and 2020.
Lannert was sentenced to 30 months of probation and 30 hours of community service and required to pay fines and court costs.
