Jail time for cutting weeds

[Detroit]

I had a new experience tonight. I cut down a very large weed tonight in an alley downtown OKC. I put it in a pile so I could pick it up tomorrow. Shortly after I was confronted by an OKC police officer and asked if I was the person who cut the weed. I told the officer that I did cut the weed down and that I would be back tomorrow to pick it up. I was told that if I did not pick it up tonight I was going to Jail. Someone had me on video cutting weeds on city property and that if I did not pick them up I was going to jail. I did not litter. I only made a dead weed from a live one. Two officers stood guard as this dangerous criminal gathered the weed he had murdered. I have been weeding the flower beds along Main from Walker to Lee as I have time, free, no expense to the city. This activity will cease now that I find there could be jail time involved. As the evening progressed I found that Major Hill with the OKC police department was behind the whole thing. Thanks to Major Hill there will be no weeding of the flower beds any more.

[Mel]

A major blow against weed cultivation. You a dangerous man.

[Plutonic Panda]

Wow. That is really crazy. Thanks for what you did do though. bunch of douchebags out there

[Detroit]

Wow. That is really crazy. Thanks for what you did do though. bunch of douchebags out there

Thank You for Thanking Me for trying to make OKC a little better place. Alas my career in municipal gardening is over.

We can all thank Major Hill for my forced retirement.

[kevinpate]

I smell bumper sticker fun - OKC Cops Love Weed

[RadicalModerate]

That is Total Friggin' Bullschitte. I can't believe that the police have enough free time on their hands to hassle someone over a non-issue like this.

[Detroit]

That is Total Friggin' Bull****e. I can't believe that the police have enough free time on their hands to hassle someone over a non-issue like this.

The murder of a 6 foot weed is a major offense.

[BBatesokc]

This is the same city that arrests people for picking up illegally placed liter (campaign signs) and throwing them into a trash dumpster.

[Urbanized]

Am I the only person here who thinks there might be more to this story? I'm not suggesting necessarily that the OP has misrepresented (or not fully described) the encounter, but is there perhaps a chance that something might have been at work here OTHER than a police desire to randomly make life difficult for a helpful citizen?

[Jersey Boss]

^ Based on what Brian posted in # 8, no, not really.

[BBatesokc]

Am I the only person here who thinks there might be more to this story? I'm not suggesting necessarily that the OP has misrepresented (or not fully described) the encounter, but is there perhaps a chance that something might have been at work here OTHER than a police desire to randomly make life difficult for a helpful citizen?

There's that possibility. But I also don't put it past some over zealous coppers to interpret the littering laws in a way as to try and make it apply to this situation. Personally, I would have insisted on knowing exactly hat statute they planned to enforce.

I'm sure they claim that the moment the weed was no longer rooted to the ground (as God intended) and intentionally cut, it became litter that the person who cut it was obligated to properly dispose of it. Just my guess though.

[RadicalModerate]

The murder of a 6 foot weed is a major offense.

I guess it's as the old saying goes: "No good deed goes unpunished."
You deserve a public apology. imho, only, of course . . .

[BBatesokc]

^ Based on what Brian posted in # 8, no, not really.

And yet, I've never seen a single attempt to stop the people who nail "we buy houses" signs (etc.) to every utility pole they can find or stake them illegally in the ground at intersections.

[Detroit]

Am I the only person here who thinks there might be more to this story? I'm not suggesting necessarily that the OP has misrepresented (or not fully described) the encounter, but is there perhaps a chance that something might have been at work here OTHER than a police desire to randomly make life difficult for a helpful citizen?

I have witnesses to everything I have posted that can verify everything that took place. You would have to get with Major Hill for comment on his agenda.

[RadicalModerate]

Unequal enforcement of the law breeds contempt.
So does moronic interpretation of the law.

[Achilleslastand]

"So the weeds formed a union
And demanded equal rights
The grass is just too greedy
We will make them give us light
Now there's no more weed oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the weeds are all kept equal
By hatchet,
Axe,
And saw"

[Stew]

"So the weeds formed a union
And demanded equal rights
The grass is just too greedy
We will make them give us light
Now there's no more weed oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the weeds are all kept equal
By hatchet,
Axe,
And saw"

Now don't Rush to judgement.

[RadicalModerate]

I have witnesses to everything I have posted that can verify everything that took place. You would have to get with Major Hill for comment on his agenda.

I think you might consider a jury trial. Followed by a civil action directed at the apparent idiots who messed up your day. Maybe the theme could be . . . There's "Littering" and then there is "Illiterate Literalism" . . ? No joke: It's complete Bullschite involving a disconnect between Authority, Accountability and Responsibility. Maybe this is one around which both the ACLU and ACLJ could rally. (I'd insert a vidclip of that old Coca-Cola Commercial, but I don't want to annoy anyone or get sued for copyright infringement.) I would suggest that your Offensive Defense Team be prepared to confront a presentation, by the "persecution" of that that Joanie Mitchell Tune about paving paradise and putting in a parking lot as Exhibit C . . . =)

edited to add: The spelling of "Joanie" in the Mitchell reference, above may only be traditional and not exactly correct.

p.s.: Here's some metaphorical ammo for the bag . . . when you go to court:

Famous By Naomi Shihab Nye
(stolen from The Poetry Foundation)
(used and mis-paragraphed with permission
directly from the author
when I interrupted her personal gardening
at her house, on a Saturday morning
with an old-fashioned phone call.
she exhibited both patience and forgiveness.
then we had a nice chat.)

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.

“Famous” from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems (Portland, Oregon: Far Corner Books, 1995). Copyright © 1995 by Naomi Shihab Nye. Used by permission of the author.

Source: Words under the Words: Selected Poems (Far Corner Books, 1995)
(and illegally harvested from The Poetry Foundation)
(as was already admitted to at the top of the post. =)

[RadicalModerate]

Am I the only person here who thinks there might be more to this story? I'm not suggesting necessarily that the OP has misrepresented (or not fully described) the encounter, but is there perhaps a chance that something might have been at work here OTHER than a police desire to randomly make life difficult for a helpful citizen?

Better Call Saul . . . =)

[Urbanized]

So, to answer my own question, yes, apparently I am the only person who thinks there was at least possibly more at work here than meets the eye. Sad comment on the current public perception of law enforcement.

[RadicalModerate]

So, to answer my own question, yes, apparently I am the only person who thinks there was at least possibly more at work here than meets the eye. Sad comment on the current public perception of law enforcement.

At the risk of unintended insult, I feel compelled to agree with you 100%.
Ya know . . . there used to be a Peer Tree growing in OKC but someone cut it down.
Probably with a permit. With a license from out of state. =)

Therefore, it will be somewhat difficult and problematic to arrange a jury of one's Peers in connection with Truth, Justice and The American Heart o' The Heartland/Southern Division Way. =)

Please do not confuse the above verbiage with any sort of complaint about the removal of that eyesore that used to be known as Stage Center. At least when "The Mystery Tower"--or whatever--is finally constructed, it will block the view of The Art Deco Bus Station and that ugly parking garage from The Myriad Gardens. =)

[bradh]

So, to answer my own question, yes, apparently I am the only person who thinks there was at least possibly more at work here than meets the eye. Sad comment on the current public perception of law enforcement.

you're not alone

[RadicalModerate]

Okay . . . now there's three of us . . . =) yet . . . who's counting? =)
(ref. "Alice's Restaurant" . . . by Woody G's kid . . . same problem, except in upstate New York or New England or something . . .)
(ref. Episode One of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" . . . the one involving putting a banana peel in someone else's garbage can . . . =)

[BBatesokc]

Might be something to be learned from going to the police station and seeing if a report was filed and getting a copy. If no report was filed, then I'd get a transcript of the dispatch. This should have info on whomever notified police and exactly what they said to a dispatcher and how the call was dispatched.

[bluedogok]

Sad comment on the current public perception of law enforcement.

Nothing (good or bad) that the police do really surprises me anymore. Some are good guys but I think the power hungry jerks outnumber the good guys. It also isn't limited to OKC, I think it is pretty much the standard everywhere. There's pretty much a weekly story about some bad cop here in Denver about Denver PD or DCSD, a few other stories about bad behavior in the suburban agencies. It is almost a daily occurrence in Houston and weekly in Austin.

The profession tends to attract more "bad apples" than good people and that is a strain on the ones trying to do good.