On Jun 17, 12:59*pm, keith wrote:
On Jun 17, 8:53*am, wrote:





On Jun 16, 5:00 pm, "Don Phillipson" wrote:

"Nehmo" wrote in message

....

The mania about cutting grass has reached insanity. Many
municipalities in the US have laws forcing people to mow their lawns,
and people actually go to jail for not cutting their grass.

This seems interesting because illegal in most countries with Anglo-
Saxon-type laws. * (Habeas Corpus forbids detention without
charge, and disobeying a bylaw is an offence but not a crime.)

Of course you can go to jail in the US for not mowing your grass.
There are not just bylaws in some HOA areas, but also actual municipal
codes in many cases. * Just try letting your yard get overgrown in
clear violation thereof, get hauled into municipal court, get fined
and ordered to rectify it, then refuse to pay the fine and remedy
it. * See what happens. * You can in fact face jail time.

Can you offer a citation for someone who has, in fact, done jail time
for not mowing their lawn? *AFAIK, municipalities are limited to
having the work done and billing the homeowner. *If the bill isn't
paid it's the same as not paying taxes; the land can be sold at
auction.

In Kansas City Kansas, a so-called Code Violation is a misdemeanor
punishable by up to 6 months in jail. The first time fine, even if the
situation is corrected, is typically $149.10. (but sometimes is
$249.10. $49.10 is court cost) If you don't pay or don't show up for
court, you go to jail. I'm personally familiar with the situation in
that city (1), but with a short search, I couldn't find a good link. I
did find one for Prairie Village, Kansas (part of the KC metro)
http://www.pvkansas.com/codes/violations.shtml :
"If violations are not corrected in the time determined by the Code
Enforcement Officer, a Notice to Appear in Municipal Court (ticket)
may be issued. When this occurs, the owner/resident must appear in
Court.
Upon conviction in Municipal Court, violators may be required to pay
fines and/or serve time in jail."

These laws are local, so the penalty and practices vary. But yes,
without a doubt, people are jailed for caring for their lawn
differently than what some other people want. I consider this a first
amendment violation, an infringement of freedom of expression.

(1) I watched several municipal Code Violation "trials". The defendant
never won.