Texas Town Enforces ‘ZERO Tolerance’ Policy on Grass Length Requirements

[DamianTV]

Texas Town Enforces ‘ZERO Tolerance’ Policy on Grass Length Requirements

http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/abilene-grass-length/

ABILENE, TX — The town of Abilene has instituted a ‘zero tolerance’ crackdown on private property owners whose grass does not meet government-mandated length requirements.

Code enforcers literally drive around with measuring sticks to determine which lawns have been deemed too long by the town. The property owners are then threatened with letters and are ultimately given Class C Misdemeanors if they do not comply.

Property owners might be surprised to discover that they can be turned into criminals just for letting nature take its course on land they rightly own — literally for doing nothing. But with the pervasive erosion of property rights, citizens have become rent-paying caretakers of land that the government ultimately sets rules over.

Citizens who are slapped with a “public nuisance” violation are fined hundreds of dollars and are also billed roughly $150.00 to have contractors trespass on the property and manually make it comply with government standards.

Abilene has declared July 22-26 to be “Zero Tolerance Week,” according to KTXS. Penalties have increased this year to fines of up to $500.00.

What happens if the property owners refuse to pay the fines? As many have found out, every law is backed with the threat of force. Places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York (Albany, Long Island) have made it clear that refusing to obey will ultimately result in jail-time, even over something as outrageous as grass length on private property.

...

(Continues on Link)

No such thing as Jail Time for not mowing your lawn? Bullshit. It will cost you more to defend yourself. But is this really about Grass, or is it about Private Property, or is it about OBEDIENCE?

Welcome to Catch 22 in real life.

 

[William Tell]

Time to run for office if you live in Abilene!

 

[mrsat_98]

unbeleiveable

 

[angelatc]

ANd this is news because ..... ? For as long as I have been alive, communities have fined people for not maintaining their grass. And for as long as I have been alive, people who do not pay their fines get picked up and put in jail.

Don't like it? Live somewhere else. (hopefully somewhere without internet access Damien.)

Personally, I prefer not to live in a community where the vermin and mosquitos are free to set up shop in the abandoned property next door. It's a bt of a health issue. When I bought my home I knew there were local regulations about keeping my grass cut. If I wanted to live in a place where nobody cared, I would have moved somewhere more rural.

Again, the real shame is that some people are content to live like animals, which in turn enables the government to pass more and more laws like this. If people would be at all responsible for themselves and assume some responsibility for their decisions, then we wouldn't need any government at all.

Instead, we get people who are too lazy to even mow their lawns, turning their property into breeding grounds for rats, mice, mosquitoes and a myriad of other pests. .... and the rest of us are supposed to just tolerate it?

Yeah, good luck winning elections.

 

[PaulConventionWV]

ANd this is news because ..... ? For as long as I have been alive, communities have fined people for not maintaining their grass. And for as long as I have been alive, people who do not pay their fines get picked up and put in jail.

Don't like it? Live somewhere else. (hopefully somewhere without internet access Damien.)

Personally, I prefer not to live in a community where the vermin are free to set up shop in the abandoned property next door. When I bought my home I knew there were local regulations about keeping my grass cut. If I wanted to live in a place where nobody cared, I would have moved somewhere more rural.

You're on this board... why?

Do you not believe in property rights?

 

[donnay]

"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

 

[echo1]

ANd this is news because ..... ? For as long as I have been alive, communities have fined people for not maintaining their grass. And for as long as I have been alive, people who do not pay their fines get picked up and put in jail.

Don't like it? Live somewhere else. (hopefully somewhere without internet access Damien.)

Personally, I prefer not to live in a community where the vermin and mosquitos are free to set up shop in the abandoned property next door. It's a bt of a health issue. When I bought my home I knew there were local regulations about keeping my grass cut. If I wanted to live in a place where nobody cared, I would have moved somewhere more rural.

Again, the real shame is that some people are content to live like animals, which in turn enables the government to pass more and more laws like this. If people would be at all responsible for themselves and assume some responsibility for their decisions, then we wouldn't need any government at all.

Instead, we get people who are too lazy to even mow their lawns, turning their property into breeding grounds for rats, mice, mosquitoes and a myriad of other pests. .... and the rest of us are supposed to just tolerate it?

Yeah, good luck winning elections.

Communities have not always been like this. This has not been the case my whole life. This extremist behavior by governments is really a fairly recent event, gaining traction in the 90's until finally, we are where we are at today which is asking the governments permissions and giving them money for the privilege of doing anything to our own private property. This is not how a free people live.

In my experience, people will actually take care of their property, enhancing it, without government involvement. People are smart enough to accomplish tasks like upgrading private property. We will almost always do a better job without the official government okey dokey then we do with it.

I grew up in a social environment where "what's best for the community" did not always outweigh an individuals rights.

We can take back our country, thru the election process, at the local level. What happens in local government is something that each and everyone of us can effect. But people must get off their dead ars's, turn off the TV and actually get involved, with a keen eye on holding those placed in government positions accountable for their actions.

Economically, support local business and starve the corporate giants. After a time, those structures will come tumbling down.

Freedom, it can be a difficult concept.

 

[Demigod]

ANd this is news because ..... ? For as long as I have been alive, communities have fined people for not maintaining their grass. And for as long as I have been alive, people who do not pay their fines get picked up and put in jail.

Don't like it? Live somewhere else. (hopefully somewhere without internet access Damien.)

Personally, I prefer not to live in a community where the vermin and mosquitos are free to set up shop in the abandoned property next door. It's a bt of a health issue. When I bought my home I knew there were local regulations about keeping my grass cut. If I wanted to live in a place where nobody cared, I would have moved somewhere more rural.

Again, the real shame is that some people are content to live like animals, which in turn enables the government to pass more and more laws like this. If people would be at all responsible for themselves and assume some responsibility for their decisions, then we wouldn't need any government at all.

Instead, we get people who are too lazy to even mow their lawns, turning their property into breeding grounds for rats, mice, mosquitoes and a myriad of other pests. .... and the rest of us are supposed to just tolerate it?

Yeah, good luck winning elections.

No they don't.You could have some arguments based on aesthetics but claiming that uncut grass is health hazard is beyond a stretch.By your reason let the government mandate that all body hair must be properly maintained because unmaintained body hair may lead to a health hazard.

 

[DamianTV]

ANd this is news because ..... ? For as long as I have been alive, communities have fined people for not maintaining their grass. And for as long as I have been alive, people who do not pay their fines get picked up and put in jail.

Don't like it? Live somewhere else. (hopefully somewhere without internet access Damien.)

Personally, I prefer not to live in a community where the vermin and mosquitos are free to set up shop in the abandoned property next door. It's a bt of a health issue. When I bought my home I knew there were local regulations about keeping my grass cut. If I wanted to live in a place where nobody cared, I would have moved somewhere more rural.

Again, the real shame is that some people are content to live like animals, which in turn enables the government to pass more and more laws like this. If people would be at all responsible for themselves and assume some responsibility for their decisions, then we wouldn't need any government at all.

Instead, we get people who are too lazy to even mow their lawns, turning their property into breeding grounds for rats, mice, mosquitoes and a myriad of other pests. .... and the rest of us are supposed to just tolerate it?

Yeah, good luck winning elections.

Oh, so its not new, thus, worth disregarding and ignoring? Income tax has also been around for more than just about everyone here has been alive. It still doesnt make it right, legal, or just.

Flip the coin. Dont like mosquitos or a trashy looking yard? Then mow it. This is making what each person does everyone elses problem. Im sure you'd sue me if I went two days and didnt mow my yard and got bit by a mosquito.

Oh, I guess if I were to follow your lead, I should sue every ex-homeowner because their lawns are now ALL unkept and high and someone else can find a way to be offended by it. About 1 in 10 around here. Doesnt matter that the rat infestation came from them having been forced to move out when they cant pay the mortgage and the building is now unoccupied. I should always sue everyone else for anything that even annoys me, even when it is completely beyond control. I should sue for loud music, bbq, smoking, crying infants, and improper number of roses on a fucking rosebush. I should even sue God cuz I dont like the rain / lack of rain.

Youre promoting socialism by saying this is a-okay. Socialism being the Big Lie where everyone lives at the expense of everyone else. And if someone offends you, find someone big enough to bully them around into getting what YOU want. You'd be the one that would call SWAT on a parent that left their kid in the car on a day where the highest temperature was 60 degrees. Youd report a neighbor for owning a diving board, or a kid that you saw riding a bicycle without a helmet.

Dont shit where you eat, Angela. Seems you have no problem shitting where other people eat. So heres some more yellow "milk" for your Cheerios. Enjoy. Oh, and that isnt really yellow "milk"...

 

[Demigod]

Mosquitoes breed in wet areas,ponds,banks of small rivers.An umaintained lawn unless they are watering it 20 times a day and is essentially a swamp it will not become a breeding place for mosquitoes

 

[Lucille]

And they'd better not find one hair, or else? Henry could never get all the hairs.

The lawn mower and edger were in the driveway. He showed them to me. "Now, you take this mower and go up and down the lawn and don't miss any places. Dump the grass catcher here whenever it gets full. Now, when you've mowed the lawn in one direction and finished, take the mower and mow the lawn in the other direction, get it? First, you mow it north and south, then you mow it east and west. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"And don't look so god-damned unhappy or I'll really give you something to be unhappy about! After you've finished mowing, then you take the edger. You trim the edges of the lawn with the little mower on the edger. Get under the hedge, get every blade of grass! Then . . . you take this circular blade on the edger and you cut along the edge of the lawn. It must be absolutely straight along the edge of the lawn! Understand?"

"Yes."

"Now when you're done with that, you take these . . ."

My father showed me some shears.

". . . and you get down on your knees and you go around cutting off any hairs that are still sticking up. Then you take the hose and you water the hedges and the flower beds. Then you turn on the sprinkler and you let it run fifteen minutes on each part of the lawn. You do all this on the front lawn and in the flower garden, and then you repeat it on the rear lawn and in the flower garden there. Are there any questions?"

"No."

"All right, now I want to tell you this. I am going to come out and check everything when you're finished, and when you're done I DON'T WANT TO SEE ONE HAIR STICKING UP IN EITHER THE FRONT OR BACK LAWN! NOT ONE HAIR! IF THERE IS . . . !"

 

[otherone]

Instead, we get people who are too lazy to even mow their lawns, turning their property into breeding grounds for rats, mice, mosquitoes and a myriad of other pests. .... and the rest of us are supposed to just tolerate it?

Waitaminit....I KNOW you!
You're on every town council everywhere!

 

[Lucille]

Knapp wrote about the history of lawns a few months ago.

http://knappster.blogspot.com/2014/05/lawn-grumble.html

...So, when and why did regular people get "lawns?"

In 1915, the US Department of Agriculture and the US Golf Association began collaborating on research into the types of grasses that a) made for good golf course fairways/greens and b) could be grown in North America.

By the 1920s and 1930s, the automobile was making "suburbs" into viable living arrangements, and "planned developments" with uniform yard sizes (and restrictive covenants for maintenance) began springing up. People moving into these developments had yards, but without the freedom to raise livestock and with the obligation to keep their homesteads looking almost exactly like the ones next door.

After World War II, the average American had a 40-hour work week (which left some leisure time), some disposable income, and access to small, inexpensive power mowers. Things just kind of took off from there -- Americans now spend $50 billion a year on "outdoor home improvements," presumably mostly of the "mow and landscape the lawn" variety.

So of course, these days small municipalities have pages and pages of ordinances specifying maximum grass length, minimum grass coverage area, required/prohibited plant types, etc. Because once something becomes popular, it must be required, right?

 

[Anti Federalist]

Ya'll are making the mistake in thinking that your home or property belongs to you.

It does not.

You are just a squatter on the government's land, and you must comply with any and all of the real owner's requirements.

Yah, move someplace else...<eye roll>

 

[jkr]

the common denominator?





aint nuthin but a SHAKEDOWN bayyy-be
2 locced out statist goin CRAZY

 

[PaulConventionWV]

Don't bother trying to persuade angelatc. She won't even respond. She just runs away from arguments when she doesn't know what to say and hides from questions. You'll never get an honest answer from her because she lies to herself. She must, because how could she be honestly believe what she says and keep running away from arguments like she does?

Angela, I bet you still remember when I asked you some questions about vaccines and you were so devoted to getting me to outline an acceptable standard for one particular question, you were so enamored with this one particular question. I told you I wanted you to answer the other questions more, and you refused to debate me because I wouldn't outline the standards for that one particular question. Then I DID outline the standards so you would move on, and I KNOW you saw it, but you never did answer and you still run around acting holier-than-thou and somehow you live with yourself even though you constantly act like its others who have the problem. I want everyone to know what an intellectually dishonest person you are.

 

[thoughtomator]

and now in California the only way to be safe from being fined is to dye your lawn some color other than green (fined for using water) or brown (fined for not watering).

 

[donnay]

and now in California the only way to be safe from being fined is to dye your lawn some color other than green (fined for using water) or brown (fined for not watering).

Maybe they should use this...



I was surprised they say it is not a hybrid nor is it a GMO.

 

[euphemia]

Again, the real shame is that some people are content to live like animals, which in turn enables the government to pass more and more laws like this. If people would be at all responsible for themselves and assume some responsibility for their decisions, then we wouldn't need any government at all.

Instead, we get people who are too lazy to even mow their lawns, turning their property into breeding grounds for rats, mice, mosquitoes and a myriad of other pests. .... and the rest of us are supposed to just tolerate it?

Yeah, good luck winning elections.

Maybe this is an opportunity for true libertarians to step up and take responsibility for themselves and extend charity to others. "Mrs. So-and-so, I wonder if you can use some help with your lawn? We have our mower with us and I notice you all just had a baby [whatever]."

Criminalizing a lack of resources is a drain on community resources, and will sap the efforts that should go to fighting real crime. If your neighbor's yard isn't quite the way you like it, be neighborly and offer to help.

 

[coastie]

ANd this is news because ..... ? For as long as I have been alive, communities have fined people for not maintaining their grass. And for as long as I have been alive, people who do not pay their fines get picked up and put in jail.

Don't like it? Live somewhere else. (hopefully somewhere without internet access Damien.)

Personally, I prefer not to live in a community where the vermin and mosquitos are free to set up shop in the abandoned property next door. It's a bt of a health issue. When I bought my home I knew there were local regulations about keeping my grass cut. If I wanted to live in a place where nobody cared, I would have moved somewhere more rural.

Again, the real shame is that some people are content to live like animals, which in turn enables the government to pass more and more laws like this. If people would be at all responsible for themselves and assume some responsibility for their decisions, then we wouldn't need any government at all.

Instead, we get people who are too lazy to even mow their lawns, turning their property into breeding grounds for rats, mice, mosquitoes and a myriad of other pests. .... and the rest of us are supposed to just tolerate it?

Yeah, good luck winning elections.

Wow. I almost wish you'd buy the house next door to me that's been for sale for 2 years now.

Just so I could not mow my lawn. The only repercussions I would face is you mean-mugging me everyday...

I bet if you didn't live in your little perfect community, you wouldn't bother asking the homeowner themselves to cut it - or even offer to do it for them, as I do.

No, you'd probably sit on your front porch every night, fuming, and waxing petulantly with the other like minded busy body bitch neighbors about how "Joe's lawn is such an eyesore, we need to ruin his life with an arrest, and some time in jail will do him good..that'll teach him to make our eyes sore..."...instead of doing anything proactive to prevent a State involved solution.


You are the poster child of why I hate (most) people.