Posted on 09/16/2005 6:37:00 AM PDT by ShadowDancer
Neighbors Find Obscenity Mowed Into Lawn
Parents Worry For Children Who See Message
POSTED: 3:09 pm EDT September 15, 2005
UPDATED: 5:14 pm EDT September 15, 2005
OMAHA, Neb. -- An Omaha man mowed an obscenity into his lawn, and now his neighbors are upset because they don't want their children to see the nasty language.
The homeowner, who neighbors told Omaha TV station KETV has the last name Miller, cut a two-word expletive into his front lawn after being warned by the city about excessive grass and weeds around his house. The phrase is about 30 feet long across his yard.
"I saw the neighbor's yard with some derogatory statements mowed into the yard," said neighbor Traci Tunzer.
Tunzer said she's been hoping her neighbor would mow the long grass in his yard, but she's upset by the way he decided to mow it. Tunzer said there's a school nearby.
"I have three children, and two of them will definitely know what that says. It worries me," she said. "We don't want our children to be around that kind of stuff."
Down the hill, neighbor Bernie Horstmeyer said he is in disbelief.
"When I first saw it, I saw the big 'U,' and I had to back up just to see if that's what it really said," he said.
Horstmeyer and other residents said the homeowner was warned by the city about excessive weeds and tall grass in his yard. They said the expletive could be his response, or just a prank.
"I don't know if he got turned in (or) why he did it. Or he's just bored and decided to mow it," one neighbor said.
City officials couldn't verify the homeowner's name. No one answered at his front door, and further attempts by KETV to contact him were unsuccessful.
City prosecutor Marty Conboy said little can be done legally about the yard.
"There really is no criminal law that covers these kinds of vulgarities," Conboy said.
Conboy said it would be different if the homeowner threatened city employees by saying the expletive, but on the lawn, it's a passive statement protected by the 1st Amendment.
"As much as you might shake your head at what kind of reasoning is involved, it's not prohibited," Conboy said. "A person who wants to make a statement in public, that doesn't invoke a violent response, is protected by the constitution."
Conboy said he is "disappointed" that someone would use his 1st Amendment rights in such a manner.
City codes dictate that lawns taller than 10 inches can be ticketed, but Parks and Planning officials said that unless the grass that formed the expletive met that criterion, there was nothing they could do to force its removal.
I would suggest some grass killer be liberally applied at about zero dark thirty...but that's just me.
If they know what it means, then it's no big shock to their systems, and if they don't know, then it's meaningless to them.
So9
The message was MOW ME
That and other "black ops" directed at this idiot.
Loading a super soaker with brine can allow a user to write his own message on this guys lawn.
I'm sure they never hear those words in school in Detroit.......
I think it is pretty funny. I like these sort of stories: Homeowner against Government intrusion, etc....lol
I"m of two minds on this...one is it's a shame that the neighborhood kids do have to see this. And it's too bad he's such an immature grump that if someone asked him to mow this is his response.
The other is, it's his private property and if he wants to let grass get >10 inches, well that's a shame too - but it's his property.
Yanno, for all the effort it took him to mow the obscenity into his yard, he could have just cut the flippin' grass.
ROFL!
Like the kids who are old enough to read have never heard it before?
I would suggest some grass killer be liberally applied at about zero dark thirty...but that's just me.
G-d Bless Roundup!!!
This should be interesting.
One comment: If that mom thinks her kids have not heard the expression at school, she's sadly mistaken.
Another comment: If the law says 10" is the height of grass that allows for ticketing, then the guy's within his rights not to cut it. I hate lawnmowing nazis.
I mow once a week. In the Summer, that means the grass can get up to 6" tall between mowings here in MN. I had a nasty neighbor contact me the day before I was going to mow, threatening to contact the local authorities about my overgrown lawn. I told her approximately the same thing this guy mowed into his lawn. The next day, on schedule, I mowed my lawn, which I keep at 3.5".
Just have the neighbors go over with their own lawn mowers and modify his lawn literature read "Book You"
I just finished watching the second of the DVD's of theirs and I laughed so hard I thought I was going to die.
btw - he's in Omaha, not Detroit
Oh yeah, you have to recon it first. Plan, plan, Plan.
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