93 Days in Jail

[Will E Worm]

Michigan Resident Faces 93 Days in Jail For Vegetable Garden

A Michigan resident is facing up to 93 days in jail for planting a vegetable garden in her front yard, MyFoxDetroit.com reports.

Julie Bass, of Oak Park, Michigan was first given a warning followed by a ticket and now she is being charged with a misdemeanor for her simple front-yard garden.

"I think it's sad that the City of Oak Park that's already strapped for cash is paying a lot of money to have a prosecutor bothering us," Bass told FOX 2's Alexis Wiley.

The city is claiming that the garden violates a city code which states that front yards must consist of suitable, live plant material to which Bass responds, "We think it's suitable."

"They say, 'Why should you grow things in the front?' Well, why shouldn't I? They're fine. They're pretty. They're well maintained," Bass told the station.

"I could sell out and save my own self and just not have them bother me anymore, but then there's no telling what they're going to harass the next person about," continued Bass.

A pretrial is scheduled for July 26 and a jury trial could be next.

Article

 

[~~whimsy~~]

This is absolutely idiotic. And yet the criminals, junkies, and scumbags get off light more oft than not. Screw it. She should fight with all she has and hopefully her community backs her up.

 

[Hypergalaxy]

Her front yard looks like shit imo but jail time?

 

[Ulysses31]

I hope she gets the chair


Woman faces jail for growing vegetables in her front yard

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...il-growing-vegetables-yard.html#ixzz1Rdz1Qfnk

 

[StanScratch]

Oak Park City Planner Kevin Rulkowski:

“If you look at the definition of what suitable is in Webster’s dictionary, it will say common. So, if you look around and you look in any other community, what’s common to a front yard is a nice, grass yard with beautiful trees and bushes and flowers,” he said.

Ah, good. He is a straight and narrow dictionary quoter. Tea bagger alert.

 

[ravendude16]

I hope she gets the chair


Woman faces jail for growing vegetables in her front yard

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...il-growing-vegetables-yard.html#ixzz1Rdz1Qfnk

:elaugh:

 

[mrtrebus]

The law is the law.

 

[ravendude16]

Oak Park City Planner Kevin Rulkowski:



Ah, good. He is a straight and narrow dictionary quoter. Tea bagger alert.

Wake up and smell the coffee, or the tea... Party!

 

[Rane1071]

It does look crappy but it's her yard. Grass, vegies, it's all good.

Seems a trivial thing to worry about. ... Damn neighbours.

 

[lurkingdirk]

Article

But...she broke the law. Doesn't she deserve to be put to death?

 

[rock hard]

Story doesn't say it Oak Park was getting complaints about her garden. Seems there were two bad decisions here IMHO....hers for putting the garden in without researching to see if was a cool thing to do in her city....and Oak Parks for prosecuting this like they are doing.

Hell...just throw a couple rabbits in her yard late at night....and when she wakes up...garden is gone!! :2 cents:

 

[meesterperfect]

reminds me of the time my cousin and me built a deck outside the back door of his house in florida.
the deck was only about 2 feet off the ground but we had to put up a temporary tarp over it supported by 2X4's to avoid being seen by the building inspector........see in that county he flies around in a helicopter to look for anything being illegally constructed.
Yes thats right, a helicopter.

freeones please take vicki doogan off the site.

 

[Atar554]

It does look crappy but it's her yard. Grass, vegies, it's all good.

Seems a trivial thing to worry about. ... Damn neighbours.

It's not trivial if it affects property values.

IMO I'd side with her as I think well manicured lawns uniformly stamped out are boring and a little bit cultist. Just look at many home owner's associations. So many rules and so little freedom. This is a similar situation even without any association calling the shots.

As far as the garden thing it reminds me of the trees everyone has in the patch of lawn closest to the road. Those are technically the cities trees and they own them thus you aren't allowed to remove them etc....

Also sidewalks iirc. If they need to be worked on, the home owner has to pay. However it's considered public property therefore if it snows and children and other people can't walk on it safely then you're to blame.

It's a balancing act and the laws don't always provide logical reasoning. On one had if everything were made public there would be no ownership of anything and no one would pay for anything to be fixed....they didn't screw it up or only did a small part why should they pay the most? If everything is private you can turn your own yard into a junk yard and sell car parts with 12 pit pulls running around. After all it's you're fucking land right?

There needs to be a system to weed out cases like this that really aren't problematic. Let the block decide perhaps; let them vote on it sorta like if a block of people want to have a block party. You can have the road closed etc...as long as everyone agrees.

 

[RichardNailder]

Another invasion of personal rights. I hope she wins for all of our sakes.

 

[John_8581]

At the 2:00 minute mark of the youtube video .... one of the haters, who's not seen, I might add... sounds very much like a guy wearing a dress.

What the f... :wtf: is that? :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

 

[Jon S.]

First, being a 1st time offender (I'm assuming) even if she is convicted of anything....there is no way in Hell she does any jail time....and she would probably be entered into a program that would expunge her record if she keeps her nose clean for a certain period of time.

That being said, people traditionally keep a garden in their backyard.....so it makes me wonder why she decided to do it in her front yard in the 1st place. However, people need to know that one needs to pick and choose their battles.....and this seems to be a bit silly of a thing to be taking a stand for.....and since she did decide to do......I guess she needs to be willing to face the consequences of said decision. Like I said though.....jail time certainly would not be one of those consequences anyway. :2 cents:

 

[bahodeme]

Ditto.
Granted it's her home, but was there any particular reason she didn't place the garden in the backyard?:dunno: Maybe there is more sun in the front.

 

[Legzman]

(nice addition to the smileys, gets a lot of use)

 

[John_8581]

I heard they have all sorts of activities and crafts you can do in prison, like reading, needworking, crochetting, and least I say it, gardening... oh my. :rofl2: :1orglaugh

 

[enndaley]

She looks like a dangerously deranged criminal to me-lock her up!