Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan, has been charged with a misdemeanor for refusing to remove a vegetable garden from her front yard. According to city code, front yard's must have "suitable" live plant matter, and according to Oak Park city planner Kevin Rulkowski:

"If you look at the definition of what suitable is in Webster's dictionary, it will say common. So, if you look around and you look in any other community, what's common to a front yard is a nice, grass yard with beautiful trees and bushes and flowers," he said.

Putting aside the stupid notion of equating "suitable" with "common," of course, the real crime here is that too many American homeowners waste their sunny front yards by planting it with useless, ornamental grass. Indeed, if more Americans would follow Bass's lead by making front yard vegetable gardens "common," this would be a healthier and happier nation.

[Slogtipper: Joe]