Government regulations are often stupid. I’m used to that. Government regulations which fly in the face of the laws of nature, simply amaze me.
Case in point, a 70 year old woman in Oren, Utah, (just south of Salt Lake City) was supposedly man handled by police over not watering her lawn. Read the BBC account (the most rational of them) here.
Not only is this a prime example of a stupid law, in this case demanding that you water your lawn in a desert – but it is a prime example of a simple concept of the law that most people seem to forget. All laws are enforced by the barrel of a gun.
Betty Perry claims that the officer hit her in the face with a pair of handcuffs, whereas the officer in question claims that she slipped and fell. I’m sure there are more than a few people out there who have personal experience with the “slipped and fell” clause that cops dish out. It’s amazing how many people slip and fall while under police “protection”.
I have no reason not to believe a 70 year old woman’s story about the incident, but mounds of reason to distrust the police’s version. There have been so many cases of police corruption, abuse and general misbehavior these days to give the cops a free ride, just because they are cops.
She was treated in a local hospital for the cut to her nose and for other bruises before being taken to jail. But she was let go when police realised there were “other ways” of finding out her identity without jailing her, a police spokesman said.
There are ways of finding out who people are without arresting them? No way! How does that work? Does it require a license? Do I need to file such a request through the Department of Redundancy Department, or the Commission for Duplicative Commissions?
Back to the case at hand…
“The officer had judged that Ms Perry’s “sadly neglected and dying landscape” breached an Orem city guideline and was attempting to issue a formal caution when the 70-year-old was injured.”
Let me express again, Utah is a desert. I know this, because I currently live here in Utah, just north of Salt Lake City. Orem is no different from where I am. To make matters worse, we’re in a drought. Every morning on the way down the mountain for my commute to work, I marvel at Antelope Peninsula (used to be an island) sitting out in the Great Salt Marsh (used to be a lake.) Yet, the powers that be have made laws and continue to enforce laws, which are designed to waste water trying to keep Kentucky Bluegrass alive in a bloody desert!
Is it just me, or are there some damn stupid people making up these rules?
Here are some more to titillate readers outside of this Mormon mess:
- Birds have the right of way on all highways.
- It is against the law to fish from horseback.
- A husband is responsible for every criminal act committed by his wife while she is in his presence.
- It is illegal not to drink milk.
- It is considered an offense to hunt whales.
- Alcohol may not be sold during an emergency.
- It is a felony to persistently tread on the cracks between paving stones on the sidewalk of a state highway.
- It’s legal for restaurants to serve wine with meals, but only if you ask for the wine list.
- In Monroe county, daylight must be visible between partners on a dance floor.
- In Provo, throwing snowballs carries a $50 fine.
- Finally, in Salt Lake County, no one may walk down the street carrying a paper bag containing a violin.
To be fair, other states have stupid laws as well, but very few have laws so stupid as to demand growing a lawn in the desert. Maybe they should try making smog illegal next, so that the news can stop reporting that we’re having a “hazy” day.
This leads me to one more comment on “official responses” and people’s addiction to them. We have several wildfires raging in Utah right now, which have engulfed dozens of square miles of forest and field. Even the I-15 freeway has been shutdown several times and the smoke from some of these fires is hovering over the Wasatch Front (where Salt Lake City and related communities lie.) My wife caught a blurb about the smoke on the evening news (I still haven’t determined what disease causes her to watch that drivel) which included a call-in from a viewer. The viewer’s response to the fires and smoke, “They need to do something about the air quality over the city.”
???
Hey, moron – hundreds of fire fighters are risking their lives, trying really hard to put out the fires. What do you want here, air filters over the city?
