(Newswire.net — November 11, 2014) — Oak Park, Michigan — The Officials from Oak Park, MI, have charged their neighbor Julie Bass with illegally growing a vegetable garden in her front yard. If the jury found her guilty, she could spend up to 93 days in jail.
The officials in Bass’ hometown of Oak Park, have charged Julie Bass with growing “vegetable garden in front yard space.” If convicted, she could spend up to 93 days in jail.
“Sometimes we laugh because it seems so silly and sometimes we cry because it’s so pathetic. A lot of times it does not seem real,” Bass told ABCNews.com.
Bass’ attorney Solomon Radner does not believe that a jury will convict his client. He said the First lady Michelle Obama plants vegetables on White House front lawn, so no one is making a big deal out of it.
“I don’t think the jury is going to think that it’s suitable for the White House, but it’s not suitable for Oak Park,” said Radner.
Bass got the idea to plant a garden in her front yard after it was torn up over a busted sewage pipe. As she looked at the pile of the dirt in front of her house, she got the idea to plant some vegetables.
“There were piles of dirt outside and we knew we had to do something,” Bass said. “We looked into putting in sod but it was shockingly expensive, so we starting looking into other books to do something a little more cost effective. We found pictures in a bunch of different library books of garden beds. It was perfect and we had a blank canvas.”
In five large decorative planter boxes, Bass planted tomatoes, zucchini and baby peppers among other vegetables. She claims she got the approval from city officials and the neighbors, however, Oak Park’s Planning and Technology director Kevin Rulkowski told ABC News affiliate WXYZ that he told her not to do it because it is not suitable.
“If you look at the dictionary, suitable means common,” said Technology director Kevin Rulkowski aiming that there is no other garden in the city like that one.
“What I understood is that they wanted something that would look nice,” Bass said, so she hired a professional and invested $500 in the garden lanes.
Radner said that the term suitable is too vague and depends on the personal opinion. “What one person may think is pretty or suitable another person may think is terribly ugly or not suitable. That’s why I think this prosecution is unconstitutional,” he said.