70 year old woman beaten and jailed for dry lawn

[Peter]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6282348.stm

Surely she should have been congratulated for not wasting water?  If I were her, I'd be inclined to get sprinklers and leave them on 24/7.

[Peter]

OREM — An Orem police officer is on paid leave after he handcuffed, fingerprinted and booked into jail a 70-year-old woman in a squabble over her lawn.
The home and yard of Betty Perry, who said she couldn't afford to water the grass. Perry said the officer who jailed her over the brown grass is "a menace to society." (Jason Olson, Deseret Morning News)
Jason Olson, Deseret Morning News
The home and yard of Betty Perry, who said she couldn't afford to water the grass. Perry said the officer who jailed her over the brown grass is "a menace to society."
      Betty Perry opened her door Friday at 9 a.m. to find an officer from the Orem Neighborhood Preservation Unit asking about the scruffy, brown grass in her front yard.
      When she said she couldn't afford to water her lawn at 1568 S. 800 East the officer started to write her a ticket for violating the city's nuisance ordinance. The ordinance requires residents to keep a maintained, live yard.
      Perry didn't want to give her name, which could be obtained through property records, and asked to go back inside to call her son. As she tried to leave, the officer grabbed her arm and slapped on the first handcuff.
      In the scuffle, Perry tripped on the step and       fell into the door frame, scraping her nose and elbows and leaving behind spots of blood on the door, and on her shirt and pants, said Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards. Perry said the officer struck her in the face with the cuffs while he was restraining her.
      "He's just trying to cover his tracks," she said late Thursday night. "He brutally abused me ... and for what? Because I wouldn't give him my name?"
      As the officer applied the handcuffs, Perry began to protest.
      "What are you doing? What's going on? Talk to me?" she said. But the officer didn't respond to her questions.
      As she went down, she tucked her hands under her stomach to keep from being handcuffed, which meant the officer had to pull her hands out, causing more scrapes, according to Edwards.
      "I don't think anybody should be treated like that," she told reporters as she pointed to black and blue marks on her wrists from the handcuffs. "I've never even been stopped (by police) before, and that's the funny thing."
      Perry said the officer called for backup, then put her in a hot police car still wearing the handcuffs.
      "I couldn't believe what went on, it was so bizarre," she said. "I wasn't even prepared for it. Once you're in handcuffs, you can't do anything."
      She was taken to the Orem Jail holding cell, where she sat for more than 30 minutes before being released and driven home by another officer, Edwards said.
      As the officer drove her home, Perry said, he tried to reassure her.
      "He said, 'I want you to try to get some rest and try to put this behind you. We're going to look into this,'" she said.
      She was only released when police administrators learned about the situation.
      "The director said, 'I want her out of my jail now,"' Edwards said, quoting his boss, Mike Larsen. "Clearly there were other options available. (The officer) should have taken those."
      The officer was sent home Friday on paid administrative leave, and the situation will be investigated by the department, Edwards said. Perry said she isn't sure if she'll pursue legal action. But she said she thinks the officer, whose name she couldn't remember, shouldn't be put back on duty.
      "He's a menace to society," she said. "He shouldn't be allowed to carry a gun."
      Perry is the only person in Orem to be arrested for a nuisance violation, Edwards said. No citations were issued, but that doesn't mean they won't be.
      "Just because we made a tactical error doesn't mean she's absolved from all wrongdoing," Edwards said. "We just admit that on our part we could have handled things differently."
      Orem City Attorney Paul Johnson said although a dead lawn is grounds for arrest, based on Orem's nuisance ordinance, it's quite uncommon.
Betty Perry was handcuffed and jailed after a scuffle with an Orem police officer. (Taylor Wilson, KSL-TV Channel 5)
Taylor Wilson, KSL-TV Channel 5
Betty Perry was handcuffed and jailed after a scuffle with an Orem police officer.
      "They only get to that point when they've worked with the people for a long time," he said. "Usually they send a letter and contact people individually. They give the people time to come into compliance. If they don't come into compliance, then they give a citation."
      Officers haven't had any previous interaction with Perry, based on a police database, Edwards said.
      The officer, whom police refused to name because of the open investigation, has been with the department nearly seven years. He was in uniform and driving a marked police truck Friday morning.
      "It's a sad situation," Edwards said. "I feel bad for her, I feel bad for the officer. It was a situation that just got out of hand. We'll admit to our shortcoming, and we'll do better in the future."
      Orem Mayor Jerry Washburn was informed about the situation by the media and said he was quite surprised.
      "Each officer really prides himself in working with people and trying to solve problems rather than exacerbate problems," Washburn said. "This sounds really uncharacteristic."
      It was completely unexpected for Perry as well.
      "I didn't know you had to go to jail. Everything's changed about the yards and stuff. I was just hoping I could get someone to help me, that's all."
      Perry said she's been requesting yard help from neighbors, church groups, Boy Scout groups and even the city, but has been ignored, she said. She said she tries to keep the weeds at bay but doesn't want to pay for water that will feed the weeds. In the meantime, she said she'll be more wary the next time a police officer knocks on her door.
      "If the policeman tells you to stand on your head, do it," she said. "They're the boss; they're the law."

[Peter]

Something related:

Man Jailed for Not Having Grass on His Lawn     
WHITE CLOUD -- A Newaygo County man could spend another weekend behind bars if he doesn't take care of his yard.

David Burch says he tried to seed the yard last fall but it wouldn't take root. This all stems from a contractor who failed to sod the yard in the first place. Now a judge is saying, do the yard or do the time.

"The people who work at the court, at the jail, thought it was funny," Burch said. "They said there had to be more. I said, 'No, it's just because I don't have grass growing.' They said, 'You're in here for that?'"

He claims he is not skirting the law. Burch said the contractor for his new house is responsible for the lawn. But a White Cloud city ordinance states otherwise.

"This has been in the courts for over a year," said White Cloud Police Chief Roger Ungrey. "I believe Mr. Burch has made an attempt. He did bring me in some receipts for grass seed."

But when it didn't grow, a county judge ordered the yard planted. It never happened. Again this April - no sprouts. Then, in jail, an inspiration. Burch is sodding his yard with donated turf.

"He has been working on it," Ungrey said. "However, he remains to this day noncompliant."

That is because the backyard must also be green.

But will the patchwork sod qualify as a lawn? "It's not your normal sod that you would have, that you would go to a sod farm and purchase," Ungrey told 24 Hour News 8. "So that remains to be seen. I can't answer that question."

Burch was back in court Thursday. The judge told him he has two weeks to complete the job. If not, it's another weekend back in jail.

[DirtDawg]

This shit seems so weird. I can't believe the treatment of the old woman.
We run short of city water in the dry parts of summer and sometimes the city will restrict lawn watering, here. For some reason the businesses and golf courses are exempt, but they could ticket a homeowner for having a "healthy" lawn. If everyone else in the neighborhood has a dry, brown lawn and yours is green, you're busted.

Unfortunately, some busy body down the street is trying to start up a homeowner's association, in my neighborhood.

[Peter]

Can you tell them to bugger each other if they try to dictate to you what to do on your own property, or do they have some special home-owner association power?

[McGiver]

Unfortunately, some busy body down the street is trying to start up a homeowner's association, in my neighborhood.

yep, it is always a good thing to give up your rights to a group.

[DirtDawg]

Can you tell them to bugger each other if they try to dictate to you what to do on your own property, or do they have some special home-owner association power?

I can tell them to bugger off, until they organize a committee and push some insane city ordinance through the city council. They have not done that yet, but as time goes they might want to have more power. Once they get an ordinance passed, the police could be called on to help enforce it. That's why I hate to see an organization started, at all.

[DirtDawg]

Unfortunately, some busy body down the street is trying to start up a homeowner's association, in my neighborhood.

yep, it is always a good thing to give up your rights to a group.

The city street department has already asked me to cut back some of my precious jungle, on behalf of the police. It's really not that bad, but there are angles where someone (I, mostly) could hide from view. They say it is for my own safety, that I trim everything back. I did not explain details as to how or why I am fully capable of protecting my own home.
 

[Peter]

Unfortunately, some busy body down the street is trying to start up a homeowner's association, in my neighborhood.

yep, it is always a good thing to give up your rights to a group.

The city street department has already asked me to cut back some of my precious jungle, on behalf of the police. It's really not that bad, but there are angles where someone (I, mostly) could hide from view. They say it is for my own safety. I did not explain details as to how or why I am fully capable of protecting my own home.
 

My garden could easily hide 30 people with all the bushes and things in it.  My philosophy when it comes to gardening is to make sure that no light makes it to the ground.

I'm really pleased with how things are coming on this year.  We got a single raspberry cane a couple of years ago, and now we have a whole stand of them, all taller than me, and bending under the weight of the berries.  There's also loads of loganberries and taeberries, and some apples and plums are developing.

[Callaway]

Can you tell them to bugger each other if they try to dictate to you what to do on your own property, or do they have some special home-owner association power?

Home-owners associations are totally out of control here.  They are accountable to practically no-one except maybe the Supreme Court.

We do not have an active home-owner's association in our neighborhood, but all the fancy and newer ones do.  I know someone who had to get permission from his home-owner's association to approve the color he was going to paint his house.  All colors have to be earth tones and the color is more likely to be approved if it is identified by a sample number rather than a name. 

[Peter]

Can you tell them to bugger each other if they try to dictate to you what to do on your own property, or do they have some special home-owner association power?

Home-owners associations are totally out of control here.  They are accountable to practically no-one except maybe the Supreme Court.

We do not have an active home-owner's association in our neighborhood, but all the fancy and newer ones do.  I know someone who had to get permission from his home-owner's association to approve the color he was going to paint his house.  All colors have to be earth tones and the color is more likely to be approved if it is identified by a sample number rather than a name. 

There's a city ordinance requiring people to get approval from these organisations?  I'd have thought they'd have no more authority over such matters than a golf club or prayer group.

[Callaway]

When you move into a neighborhood that has an active home-owner's association, you make a contract with the home-owner's association to abide by the covenants, conditions and restrictions imposed by them.  There are neighborhoods with even more restrictive rules, believe it or not.  I think the people who move into them have an expectation of uniformity among their neighbors because they think non-uniform houses harm their neighborhood property values.  For example, some people would not want neighbors who painted their house purple and orange and let their weeds grow all over their lawn.

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectID/62C6A8D3-4D6E-4BD7-9C5D953B038B4A52/213/243/217/ART/

[Peter]

A home-owner's association would decrease the value of a property for me, not increase it.  I like variety; the houses around here already too uniform in construction without being made even more boring by a bunch of anally-retentive twats.

[Callaway]

A home-owner's association would decrease the value of a property for me, not increase it.  I like variety; the houses around here already too uniform in construction without being made even more boring by a bunch of anally-retentive twats.

Me too.  We did not want to buy a house with an active home-owner's association for this very reason.  We already have pretty restrictive city laws and that is bad enough, IMO, without having some HOA Nazis policing our neighborhood.

[DirtDawg]

Unfortunately, some busy body down the street is trying to start up a homeowner's association, in my neighborhood.

yep, it is always a good thing to give up your rights to a group.

The city street department has already asked me to cut back some of my precious jungle, on behalf of the police. It's really not that bad, but there are angles where someone (I, mostly) could hide from view. They say it is for my own safety. I did not explain details as to how or why I am fully capable of protecting my own home.
 

My garden could easily hide 30 people with all the bushes and things in it.  My philosophy when it comes to gardening is to make sure that no light makes it to the ground.

I'm really pleased with how things are coming on this year.  We got a single raspberry cane a couple of years ago, and now we have a whole stand of them, all taller than me, and bending under the weight of the berries.  There's also loads of loganberries and taeberries, and some apples and plums are developing.

My garden is tiny, but my philosophy is the same as yours and realistically I could hide twenty people in my birdwatching room alone (if they were friends ).

This year for me is one of the worst I've seen, since I came here. Mostly my fault for not getting out there more in the early spring and trying to spread what was left, but I have lost so many plants over the winter, I couldn't bear it. I have let some invasive things take more space than before, as well.

Glad your having a good year in the garden. I'm jealous of your berries!