Mich. Woman Faces Misdemeanor Trial Over Veggie Garden in Her Front Yard
Editor’s note: Charges against Bass have been dropped. Read our update.
At first Oak Park warned Julie Bass. Then she got a ticket from the Michigan municipality. And when that didn’t work, she was criminally charged.
Her alleged crime? Growing vegetables in the front yard of her home, according to MLive.com and Fox News.
At issue in the misdemeanor case is a municipal code provision that says she must put “grass ground cover, shrubbery, or other suitable live plant material” in unpaved areas of the yard.
Attorney Solomon Radner, who represents Bass, plans to argue at trial that the law is unduly vague.
“We thought it’d be really cool to do it so the neighbors could see,” says Bass, who refused a plea bargain in which the city would have agreed to drop the case if she promised not to grow veggies again in her front yard next year. “The kids love it. The kids from the neighborhood all come and help.”
A trial is scheduled on July 26, notes the Digital Journal. Meanwhile, a petition drive has been mounted by supporters of the family, seeking to have the case dismissed.
If convicted, Bass could be sentenced to a maximum of 93 days in jail.
Updated July 15 to note a new post detailing the dropping of the charges against Bass.
