September 17, 2005

Obscenity mowed into lawn; officials powerless to do something

This is partially humorous, but it also has some overreaching city employees bits to it. Apparently an Omaha man was warned by the city about excessive grass and weeds. In response he mowed a two-word expletive into said grass.

We are not informed what that expletive is, but apparently it contains a capital "U", leading this reporter to speculate it says "Up Yours". That is just conjecture however.

Now, here comes the state:

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...

"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.

Posted to WackyHumor at September 17, 2005 01:09 PM

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