Tulsa Rips Out Woman’s Edible and Medicinal Garden
|
|
|||||
|
0 votes
|
|
0% | |||
|
17 votes
|
|
94% | |||
|
1 vote
|
|
6% | |||
Tulsa Rips Out Woman’s Edible and Medicinal Garden
I’ve been reading the Tulsa Code ofOrdinances, not because I prefer legalese to sleeping pills, but because I am
trying to figure out what on earth prompted the city to rip out Denise
Morrison’s garden.
So far I can find only one report,
from NewsOn6.com. (Other reports
are all based on it.) It tells the story of a woman who would be an interesting
neighbor. Here is what the article says about her garden, which had over 100
plant varieties before the city ripped it out:
She knows which ones will treat
arthritis, which will make your food spicy, which ones keep mosquitoes away and
treat bug bites, but she said none of that matter to city inspectors.
Last August, Morrison’s front and
back yards were filled with flowers in bloom, lemon, stevia, garlic chives, grapes,
strawberries, apple mint, spearmint, peppermint, an apple tree, walnut tree,
pecan trees and much more.
They are gone now. Someone
complained; the city sent her a letter. Morrison photographed her yard and
asked city inspectors to come tell her what she was doing wrong. Their response
was, “Everything, everything needs to go.”
2011. When the judge issued a two-month delay, the city sent in the rippers,
who tore out every plant over 12 inches tall — in other words, pretty much
everything. You can see the before and after photos on the News 6 Web site.
It seems any plant over 12 inches
has to be edible if it’s growing in a Tulsa yard. Morrison’s garden was
entirely edible (or consumable since some plants were to treat her chronic
conditions).
That’s why I’m puzzling over the
Ordinances. I cannot figure out what prompted such radical destruction of her
beloved plants. “Chapter 10. Landscape Requirements” has nothing about what can
be grown. I tried “Chapter 11. Planned Unit Development” because the summary
promises information about landscaping. Unfortunately, the link takes me to
this message: “We’re sorry, this application has either experienced an error or
the content you are looking for is not yet available.” I get the same message
when I click on “Chapter 5. Urban Space Standards” and “Appendix B. Index of
Land Uses.”
So I am left guessing that someone
with a manicured lawn was offended by the useful sprawl of Morrison’s edible
and medicinal plants. They probably also objected to the dead truck parked by
her house. She has filed a civil rights lawsuit so perhaps some answers and
remediation will come to her via the courts. In the meantime, she is out of
plants and out of luck.
I have lived next to people whose
standards for house and lawn care were different from my own. I never
complained to the city, but I cannot judge the person or people who did so in
this case. The facts are too sketchy.
Still, Tulsa has taken a sledge
hammer to Denise Morrison’s life. For her and her plants, that seems like
overkill.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/tulsa-rips-out-womans-edible-and-...
Top Opinion
-
Just me ∞ijm♥G☮F♀U∞ 2012/06/20 04:50:48No, These were medicinal plants for her conditions and Tulsa should have let ...
+4Wow....my mom grows all these same plants that was listed and more. She can tell you the common name and Latin name of every plant, what they are good for, etc. She's a naturalist and has studied horticulture & botany. She uses lavendar by grinding it into a paste, combines it with eucalyptus oil & makes some sort of concoction that repels ticks and fleas off her little dog. She also turns elderberries into an elixir that she swears by and take several tablespoons of it each day. It totally amazes me that the city can do that to her yard.
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
Thomas Jefferson
Look up the precepts of 'Agenda 21' on Google, or even on SH.
The idea is to take control of your lives a little at a time... and it's working.
A VERY serious issues for lovers of our liberties!!
There is a great irony here. There are very few "nice" lawns here in Oklahoma. Especially in older tracts like hers. Mostly 20-30 year old Bermuda grass or rye that has rarely been irrigated, thatched, or aerated. A lot of weeds and they scalp it each time they mow. Mostly big, old, silver or red maples, Chinese pistache, bradford pears, elms, and pecans. They are old enough and big enough that not even fescue will grow under them. They don't do much base planting. A lot of geraniums and pothos in plastic pots around and on the porch. They have zero concept of landscaping. Newer tracts have nicer lawns, but even less base plantings, and these lawns start to look like crap after only a few years, simply because of the type of grass they are.
They wouldn't know a cottage garden from a formal garden if it fell on top of them.
I am SOOOOOOOO glad I didn't move to Tulsa at the first of the year as I was thinking of. They are still stuck in "The Outsiders" and "Rumble Fish" days. The 5 times I have been there have been pretty miserable experiences.
I'm not big on lawsuits, but I hope she wins her suit and wins big.
The woman in Tulsa who had her garden ripped out should sue the crud out of Tulsa. Fools. She was more than happy to show them and explain to them what the plants were, for crying out loud... Stupid bunch of beaurocratic idiots...
Also, NO, we do not need to do what they say because it's a LIE.