Bizarre, Criminal law

Tennessee Woman Jailed Over Poor Yard Work

220px-'JardimBotanico.BotanicalGarden.CuritibaParanaBrasilBrazilWe have previously discussed the criminalization of every element of American society. A new case in Lenoir City, Tennessee is the latest such example. Like many Americans, Karen Holloway has failed to keep her yard work up. Few Americans however have ended up in jail like Holloway after her failure to maintain her yard was turned into a criminal matter. It appears the above garden would be more in line with those wishing to avoid time in the slammer for their overgrown yards.

I have long been a critic of the criminalization of America where millions of citizens are finding themselves labeled as felons for acts that used to be treated as strictly civil matters. The trend toward criminalization feeds itself as politicians insist that their pet peeve (from feeding pigeons to missing parent-teacher meetings) are no less important than other crimes. The result is that everything is being translated into a criminal offense.
Karen Holloway was cited by Lenoir City officials for not keeping up her yard.

Holloway stated that she was sent a citation over the summer, but with her husband going to school and both working with only one vehicle (and two kids at home), she let the yard work slide. It is not clear why she was jailed rather than her husband or both owners.

She was given a five day jail sentence by Judge Terry Vann. She said that she was never told that she could have a lawyer or read her rights. Vann however insisted on jail time, though it was reduced to six hours. Vann suggested he might add on more jail time if the city isn’t satisfied with the yard work.

Source: Local 8

101 thoughts on “Tennessee Woman Jailed Over Poor Yard Work”

  3. She claimed that she was not read her rights nor did she have an opportunity to have an attorney. The judge admitted that she was not a criminal. Seems to me the judge should have encouraged her to clean up her yard and then dismissed the case. Apparently this is a problem that has been ongoing for 12 years. Given the stresses of her life, she may have appreciated the 6 hour break so she could read a book.

    I think the local town board adopted a “neat yard” ordinance. I was at the meeting when it was discussed. As part of the citizen comment period I pointed out that my yard has tall grass and wild flowers as a personal choice. Since I already had a reputation as an anti-war “tree-hugger” who had taken on the board in the past, I guess they decided to leave me alone. Besides, there are other places in the neighborhood that are “messier” than mine. It did result in one of the board members being hired to cut the grass at an empty house. 🙂

    1. bettykath – one of the guy is our HOA claims that his weeds are actually food that he is cultivating.

  4. One cannot tell from the story whether Ms. Holloway was jailed for violating an ordinance or ignoring a court order, but the sentence is inappropriate in any event.

    Most communities with which I am familiar use a system of liens to enforce code violations. If property is permitted to create a health hazard or a dangerous condition and notices to the owner produce no response, the community will clean up the property and impose a lien against it to recover the cost. The lien can be enforced through foreclosure if necessary. It remains purely a civil matter, as it should.

    The real abuse comes in gated or restricted neighborhoods. Florida is ground zero for residential subdivisions with mandatory HOA membership and rules controlling everything from permissible landscaping species to the color of roof tiles, And the rules typically are enforced by authoritarian board members with nothing better to do with their time. But the best way to avoid this sort of oppression is to avoid buying a home in such a subdivision, a rule I have always followed.

    As for Mrs. Holloway, I suppose it could have been worse. She could have been assigned to a work crew mowing highway medians.

  6. When I was a kid and my parents ordered me to do something, my dad demanded I do it with a smile on my face. I think a grew up all right, so we should make it a criminal offense to not have a smile on our face 🙂

  7. Time for this hanging Judge to look for a new job. Maybe there is work available as a landscaper.

  8. Rip out all plants and salt the earth. There will never be another complaint about an untended lawn.

    (What, now you WANT me to plant stuff?! Make up your mind!) effin’ statists.

    This was the main point of Atlas Shrugged – Honest people cannot be blackmailed. Laws need to be created which criminalize normal behavior, so that government can hold these violations like a club over the honest person’s head.

  9. How the hell is it legal to tell someone how to maintain their own property? As long as it is not a health risk or full of rats (but I repeat myself) how is it any business of the city government?

  10. Pogo – Barney Fife was a ‘broken window’ policeman. You don’t allow a broken window to last too long because then you have a lot of broken windows. You have to nip it in the bud. 😉

  11. DBQ, Litchfield, Ct. is a historic town. I don’t know if this ordinance is still in effect, but when I lived in Ct. back in the 60’s, ALL houses had to be white.

  13. The yard looked a bit messy and unkempt, but not terribly so. I didn’t see any dead refrigerators, broken toys, old car up on blocks, open cesspool or piles of beer cans. Now that could be something I would get behind jail time for.

    If the neighbors were offended, they could have (as already suggested) pitch in and help her out.

    We have some clients who have a summer home here and live in Los Gatos. The city has a historical district and their lovely 3 story victorian style home is in that area. When they wanted to repaint and do some remodeling, they had to get approval of the color of the paint, the brand of the paint, the style of windows etc, so that the remodel would still be in line with the historical nature of the district. Oh well. They knew that when they bought the house.

  16. A board member of our HOA was walking his dog and noticed a workman installing a satellite dish next door to me. He did not recall having approved said dish at the lastboard meeting, and immediately started screaming at the guy about permits and board approval and how he was going to call the cops. The guy came down off of the roof and showed his work order which read “replace existing dish.” I almost fell down laughing and told the board member that the entire association was going to enjoy this story. He did not run for reelection.

    1. Bill H – I have my HOA on speed dial for things like that. That why they can fight with them, not me. 🙂

  19. I love the realistic names. I wonder if Darryl Windom is related to William Windom?

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