Posted on 08/23/2005 7:26:36 AM PDT by Cowman
Aug 22, 7:08 PM (ET)
TOWSON, Md. (AP) - Armed with a tape measure, Sophia Jennings keeps her eyes open for overgrown weeds and the owners of the yards that have them.
Jennings, a Baltimore County code enforcement officer, checks on residents who are not in compliance with rules about overgrown lawns.
In most area jurisdictions, letting grass grow more than a foot high, or 8 inches in Baltimore city, is against the law.
In some jurisdictions, the grass "cops" come in the form of code enforcement officers. In others, public works officials or environmental health workers are assigned to the task.
"We actually have a grass ruler," said Tommie Houck, chief of zoning enforcement for Harford County.
The number of complaints varies by county and so does the process that follows the complaint, although each county uses some form of notification process and time for landowners to comply with the law.
Officials say the goal is the same everywhere: for property owners to cut back the grass and weeds cluttering their land.
While most eventually do, for those who don't, officials in Baltimore and several counties said they step in and do the landscaping themselves, sending out government crews or contractors to slice through weeds and grass that have grown several feet high.
Not only are overgrown weeds and grass a nuisance, officials say, but they also can become breeding grounds for insects and rats.
The cost of the cut, which can run into the hundreds of dollars, is passed on to the property owner through a bill or a lien attached to the property, officials said.
What does that word mean again?
I #%$^&%*&^)(*&)&^ hate Lawn Nazis!!!!!!!
Maybe one should kill all the grass and just have a dirt yard just for spite.
I say pave it and paint it green.
When we bought our first house, I had to explain to my wife that the friggin lawn was not going to be a new way of life for me. I'm not the guy who's gonna spend hours every week with fertilizer and specialized equipment to grow grass.
But 8", 12" high grass? That's ridiculous.
sounds like towson is about to pull a Detroit.
Hello, rock garden!
A couple of grazing sheep will tackle the problem.
What does that word mean again?
I had a neighbor that let their whole yard get overgrown and never treated their above ground pool. It turned black. I guess their liberty prevents the health department from giving them a citation.
One of my neighbors is a "grass vigilante." Takes it upon himself to call the code officer whenever anyone's lawn gets too shaggy.
The code officer, however, is a very cool guy, and tells everyone that the grass vigilante is an @$$h....
A quick perusal of the various stories and articles that make it to FreeRepublic show that a manic obsession with litigation and those who abuse the legal system, from neighborhood lawn cops to federal judges are the overwhelming problem in the good ol' USofA. We live in a land where a good lawsuit is considered a retirement plan.
I was not sorry she died a few months later. She was a bitch from day one. Her husband and daughter were the nicest people you ever meet but she was a waste of space.
"America is so far removed from the concept of freedom, that it is time to erase her and try again." -- G-d.
I'm sure helps your property value...But don't infringe on his "liberty" to destroy the value of your house -sarcasm
Didn't Rader, the BTK Killer, do that tape-measure thing as a Code Enforcement guy?
Put down astroturf.
I've cut my "yard" once so far this year. I don't any actual grass, as it's mostly weeds that grow up around all the trees I have.
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