Posted on 07/15/2011 8:59:04 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
Contrary to recent media reports, the malicious prosecution of Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan has not ended. Authorities have also charged her with having unlicensed dogs, though they never escaped or threatened anyone. Here’s the unedited scoop straight from her own blog, Oak Park Hates Veggies:
Home-grown: Julie Bass has fallen foul of local authorities by growing vegetables in her front yardHome-grown: Julie Bass has fallen foul of local authorities by growing vegetables in her front yard
1- the charges against us were not actually “dropped”. they were dismissed by some judge we have never heard of or seen. we hope this person is a real judge, and had the real authority to dismiss our case, but we are going to double-check on that today
2- the dismissal without prejudice means that the prosecutor can come back at any time and reinstate the garden charge as well (he has already reinstated the dog license charge, but i will get to that in a minute). there has been no final disposition of the case, so we can’t take a deep breath and relax.
3- the prosecutor wants more time to review the ordinance. not that he has given up on the garden charge. to the contrary, he wants more time to look things over. i think usually the prosecutor in normal cases would ask the judge for a continuance or an adjournment or something. why they handled it this way is a suspicious mystery…
4- we still have our same court date- july 26th. we still have to appear for a pre-trial, only this time it will be for 2 misdemeanors (the dogs), instead of 1 misdemeanor for the garden.
5- when we got the citation for the dog licenses we cleared it up right away. we went in that friday, only to find that our government is closed on friday due to budget cuts (!). we went back as soon as we were able the following week and took care of it. we paid the license fees. we paid late fees. we got proof from them that the dogs were current and paid up, and we took this proof to court and we showed it to the prosecutor.
6- our current and valid dog licenses were shown on at least on TV news program, and i’m sure were re-broadcast many times over. there is no controversy about whether or not our dogs are licensed. they weren’t current and now they are. that’s it.
7- i can’t think of anything else to clarify, but please keep the word out there that we are not off the hook. a lot of places have been printing and posting “charges were dropped!”- but that’s only part of the story, and gives the incorrect impression that we have won. that’s not true, and i really worry that if the focus goes away, they will renew their prosecution/persecution of us. please take it upon yourself to correct errors in other places and to spread the truth.
My advice to Ms. Bass is to send a $250 donation to the local Fraternal Order of Police or Sheriff’s Office. That should help her cucumbers grow freely.
“What’s next chickens?”
Please! Don’t knock chickens.
Bureaucrats keep them in their yards.
That is how their children learn how to walk.
Spoken like a true collectivist authoritarian...
A vegetable garden isn't exactly tantamount to a rusty old car or an unmowed lawn, now, is it?
Looking at the photos tells me that she doesn’t particularly live in an upscale neighborhood with an HOA. Knowing Oak Park, I would imagine that her house could look similar to another house on her street. This is a suburb of Detroit, where property values have plummeted.
My brother looked at buying a 1950’s 3bedroom, brick home in Taylor, MI. It’s not that far away from Oak Park, really. He could have bought the house for $5000 in 2009.
For the amount of property taxes that are paid in those areas, and the crushing machine of the government that has destroyed metro Detroit, Oak Park should leave its inhabitants alone and be grateful that they haven’t fled for greener pastures. Do they want more empty homes in Oak Park? This article is not helping the city of Oak Park’s reputation, any.
So you have no problem paying for her property taxes I assume? I mean since you want to tell her what to do with HER property as it does or does not appeal to YOUR eyes.
Good grief.
In most states, moving far out in the country because the sheeple in the cities insist on making statewide ordinances.
Let me say about Oak Park, Michigan what Ernest Hemingway said about Oak Park, Illinois: Wide lawns, narrow minds.
I have a neighbor who made her front yard a vegetable garden. It is absolutely beautiful - so well-cared for. Her neighbors have all stopped talking to her. Now, that could be because she’s a somewhat cold person but I think it’s because they can’t deal with a front yard that looks “different.” To me, it’s like a garden of Eden.
Well, did you see the other houses and yards on her block? They appeared in one of the early videos. Unimaginative landscaping on the best and weed filled trash heaps on the the worst.
Did you miss the part of this story where the city started this by tearing up her yard and destroying the existing landscaping by replacing a sewer line?
I’ve looked at the same pictures you’ve looked at and the garden is perfectly nice and neat. The veggies are in raised beds which always make things much nicer and neater. If her neighbors and the city council were smart, they’d befriend her and maybe get a nice fresh tomato or ear of corn.
I hate to tell you but there is a strong movement to bring back chickens to the suburbs. Not roosters but hens. For the fresh eggs of course. I recently took a course on raising hens for the backyard but rejected it. A hell of a lot of work and you must - obviously - devote a lot of time to it.
Can you show us a picture? I have a mixed flower/herb garden in my side yard - far more beautiful and interesting than some lousy ole lawn.
Overheard in the Potlatch Idaho post office.
“Those darn Nivens and all their animals in town, next thing you know they will have a PIG” Shelly Smith, next door neighbor.
Grandpa Niven went out the next day and got the biggest fattest sow he could find.
When he saw her looking at it from her back yard he went out to slop it “SUUUU-EEEEE Shelly pig, Come and get it Shelly pig!”
If little Barry Hussein gets what he wants we'll all be doing this.
Cordially,
Who in the world would want to live in Oak Park, MI, poster city for the nanny state?
If you have limited space and resources it makes perfectly good sense to plant and cultivate that which can be eaten vs something that is simply pleasant to look at.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Agreed. Good point.
When choosing a retirement home, one of our top requirements was: No Home Owners’ Association. We had to check out 55 places, but found exactly the right spot in Central Texas. As long as you are minding your own business on your acre of land, people leave you alone.
It is a wonderful way to live, and it’s a shame it is increasingly rare.
I have two neighbors on either side of my suburban home. Both houses and yards are a MESS. They have hard jobs and don’t seem to have much money or time to take care of their yards. They are extremely pleasant, kind people and I just ignore their yards. Sometimes a kind and concerned neighbor down the street shows up with his lawn mower and mows their lawn.
In the 6 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never once complained. But then they don’t complain if my dog or cat gets into their yard or my crazed honeysuckle takes over their forsythia bush. I have really learned the hard art of live and let live.
I can’t imagine anyone complaining about a neat and clean vegetable garden. As someone else said, if Obama continues in office, we’ll all have vegetable gardens.
Personally, I'm stunned that in those areas in the Southwest where water is truly becoming scarce, that watering ones lawn is not an outright crime. How can a pretty color in the front yard ever be more important than having water for consumption?
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