Lawn Rage

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Just heard this story on CBC right now, introduced with a clip of the guy involved calling in to 911 to confess.

Ohio: Lawn rage blamed in attack

A retiree was charged Wednesday with fatally shooting a neighbor boy who walked on the man's well-kept lawn. A grand jury in Batavia indicted Charles Martin, 66, on one count of aggravated murder in the death of Larry Mugrage, 15. Martin faces life in prison if convicted. Police said Mugrage was killed Sunday afternoon after he crossed onto Martin's yard. The youth was hit in the chest with a blast from a shotgun. Martin told authorities he had had several disputes with neighbors about walking on his grass.

From Herald.net .

Apparently he'd wounded the kid first, and then blew him away at point-blank range. The kids had routinely trampled his lawn for years, the little bastards.

I'll never forget the experience of flying out of Bombay (Mumbai) years back and looking down hours later over the suburbs of Toronto, seeing the straightjacket order of it all, and then walking around a neighbourhood later and noting that everybody had a lawn cut to Marine-precision standards. I hope never to forget how fucked up it is, against the backdrop of everything humans might make of their environment.

(I say this looking out the window at our own lawn...).

[mattm]

I lived in a house in Nepean for a while and we didn't have a lawn mower. Our lawn was mostly dead up front so it didn't get super bad but the back got a little messy. By-Law constantly came over threatening us with tickets (although we never got one) because the neighbors didn't like our lawn. I told the by-law, each time, that we wanted a natural yard as nature intended but that just didn't cut it.

[color:purple]The moral of my story is that since it's illegal not to have a nice lawn or yard, one should be able to protect it

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

It's funny how something as seemingly banal as a lawn can remind us of how hyper-regulated we are as a society. As they say, it's the little things that count.

[Im going home Donny]

lawn grass is for loonies.

[Bennyd]

Living on the East coast for years I never knew what was up with all of the Keep of the grass signs you would see on TV. Then I went to Cali. (Sacramento burbs to be precise) and went to a party. When I got there the driveway was full and the street parking was difficult so i pulled onto the grass. In like no time at all this guy came out and totally flipped on me. He was up in my face spitting all over me as he yelled. I think he was pretty close to a heart attack right there on the spot. So I moved then noticed he had the nicest lawn on the block. I thought to myself how much energy it must have took to keep his lawn looking like that. Pesticides, fertilizers, labor, you know. I wonder if the dude is still alive today with the high stress level it takes to grow a lawn somewhere. I think id plant cactuses

[mattm]

When I lived in London (ON) my roomate and I were bored one day and talking about lawns and how they are so mundane (like khakis, minivans and suburbs) so, to make our lawn look better, we went out and bought a big thing of wildflower seeds (enough to do a field the size of about 10 city lawns) and spread them all over the grass. The landlord wasn't too impressed with this.

[bradm]

I've often thought about ripping up the grass and planting dandelions. I don't wish any ill will on neighbours, but I just want to have a bright [color:yellow]yellow lawn for the couple of days when they're in full bloom.

Aloha,

Brad

[Alexis]

i think your neighbours would seriously consider hurting you if you did that brad, they'd be pulling up dandelions for years to come.....hmmmmm...now that's an idea for neighbours you don't like though.

i thought my 80 year old neighbour gunter would kill me last year when i didn't do much mowing, but thanks to aaron helping him push his riding lawn mower out of the mud he was stuck in today...i think we're in the good books.

today was the first lawn care day of the year. i picked up a bunch of dead branches that had fallen over the winter and put them in the fire pit....wooooooo

[Thorgnor]

Lawns are my nightmare too.

I'm a landscaper.

On the bright side there's lots of hours now.

[Schwa.]

i thought you were an anthropologist

[Lazlo]

Somebody want to cut my lawn?