Arrested Woman, 70, Still Faces Charges Over Brown Lawn Despite Apology

[The Straight Story]

Arrested Woman, 70, Still Faces Charges Over Brown Lawn Despite Apology

OREM, Utah -- The mayor and City Council have apologized to a 70-year-old woman arrested after a dispute with a police officer over her brown lawn -- but she has still been charged in the case.

Two misdemeanor charges were filed against Betty Perry last week: resisting arrest and violating an ordinance that requires property owners to maintain their landscaping.

"We don't make our decision based on what political leaders do or think. ... There's a huge other side of the story," City Attorney Paul Johnson said Wednesday. "There's a violation that needs to be corrected."
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Officer James Flygare arrived at Perry's house last month to talk about her dead grass and foot-high weeds. Perry's water apparently had been turned off at her request.

http://www.local6.com/spotlight/13957157/detail.html

[Sapere aude]

1. I use to live in a neighborhood with a home owner's association. The water rates went up and I

had to pay $70 per month for water. I could not afford that much for the water I used so I turned off my sprinkler system. I got a letter from the home owner's association telling me that my grass was not green enough! I told them if they would pay my water bill I would turn my sprinklers back on.

The sprinklers stayed off because the city then told everyone to conserve water.

[SoCalDem]

2. An association has no effect if it's a city ordinance.

We had to spend considerable money to pacify the yard nannies because our landscaping attempts did not satisfy the city.

We had the yard rototilled, seeded and we watered and watered, and yet the grass still died..like it has 3 times previous to that..

The fine would have been up to $500..

Thankfully they have not been back to harass us.

we have plans to make a courtyard and re-do the sprinkler system & re-route the walkway, so we were not eager to waste money on a quickie rehab, but we had no choice. The end result will be to have a smaller area of actual lawn...which will be sodded, and the rest will be stonework & palms.

[Iris]

3. wtf? My lawn is brown because of watering restrictions.

Damn. People need to get real.

[wordpix]

4. geez, why don't the city and homeowner's assocs require native plantings that can take droughts?

[Matariki]

5. Xeriscaping and stone courtyard

that's what i'm doing in my front yard. no grass at all. if my neighbors don't like it, tough... it will be nicer than their damned 50's design sensibilities anyway.

[CreekDog]

6. Her lawn needs to be green --in Orem (The Great Basin Desert)

She ought to plant sagebrush in her front yard, that's the native plant there, not lawn.