Georgia farmer sued for growing too many vegetables

[marmar]

Grist:



In these times of economic crisis, rising poverty, and diet-related health problems, you'd think local governments would have bigger priorities than counting the number of squash and broccoli plants on people's lawns. Unfortunately that's not the case for Georgia resident Steve Miller, a landscaper by profession and organic farmer by heart, who's been caught tomato-red-handed growing a downright offensive number of vegetable plants on his property outside of Atlanta. (The exact number of criminal plants unknown.)

Dubbed "Cabbage-Gate" by friends and neighbors of Miller, officials in Dekalb County, Georgia, are suing him for $5,000 in fines for not having his land properly zoned to grow such an apparently ridiculous number of vegetables -- even after he stopped growing them and got rezoned.

If the county is suing this long-time hobby farmer for growing too many vegetables, how many are "acceptable" anyway? Twenty? Eleven? As many as you want as long as that doesn't include cabbage?


http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-16-georgia-farmer-sued-for-growing-too-many-vegetables/

[DesertFlower]

1. Jesus H. Christ.

our friend and neighbor grew tomatoes, corn, etc. in his back yard. they were delicious. we had a lemon tree that produced lemons the size of grapefruit.

now we live in the middle of the desert. if we tried to grow vegetables, the javelinas would probably destroy them.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. how many are "acceptable" anyway

Reminds me of an old Gallagher joke:

"The IRS audited me because I took $20,000 off for watermelons.

I said, 'Well, what is the limit?'"

[customerserviceguy]

3. You might see this sort of thing in a different light

if you use animals instead of vegetables. I used to be in title insurance back in the Pacific NW, and a lot of homeowner covenants set a limit on the number of dogs and cats that a person could have. It was done to discourage the prescence of kennels, and the attendant problems.

While I freely admit that a rutabaga will never make the noise that a Chihuahua is capable of, at some point, when you turn your self-sustaining hobby into a business, it can have impacts on your neighbors that they will properly find undesirable for something that is designed as residential in nature.

[Fuzz]

11. Are you suggesting that cabbages migrate?

[customerserviceguy]

12. Only when they become Cabbage Patch Kids!

Ok, being serious here for a minute: If you lived in an exclusively residential neighborhood or building, aren't there small businesses that you wouldn't want there? And if you let the smaller ones in, isn't there the potential of a slippery slope for more intrusive ones to also come in, being as the neighbors were fine with the principle that had been established?

[gateley]

4. Jesus. Only in America. nt

[struggle4progress]

5. He's being prosecuted for zoning law violations, including too many workers

[EmeraldCityGrl]

6. Organic gardening on any scale is becoming a civil rights issue.n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. You know, there are a lot of stories posted on DU about "abusive" authorities.

Some times the authorities have a good reason for their action.

Some times they don't.

If the article actually makes an effort to bury the real reason why the authorities did what they did on, say, the second page of the article, or not even mention the real reason at all...

Then there's probably a good chance that the story is bullshit.

[marmar]

8. You're consistent, if nothing else.

nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Your OP title is a good example.

It's actually a blatant misstatement of the truth as to why the guy is being prosecuted.

[marmar]

10. First off, that was the headline on the story......

...... secondly, is a misstatement of your interpretation of the truth. Happy Friday.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. It's a misinterpretation of the literal, honest truth.

As opposed to a correct interpretation of some imaginary untruth.

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. kick

[jimmyflint]

14. Hip Hip Hooray for the nanny state! n/t

[Kaleva]

16. Somebody probably complained about a business operating in a residential area

He may well have been fine if he didn't have employees working there and wasn't selling the produce. Since he's been doing this for 15 years, my guess is that someone or a group of people complained long and loud enough to force the county to do something about it.