Before I started this blog I surfed the internet looking for articles about Farmers Branch as well as comparable cities. I ran across one of those sites where people ask questions and hope others will supply good answers. One question was from a family in the Midwest that was going to move to the Dallas area soon and wanted recommendations on where to live. They said that they had narrowed their internet search to Plano, Frisco, and Farmers Branch. I wish I had bookmarked that site. The answers unanimously gave the thumbs down to Farmers Branch, due in large part to the iffy political situation at the time (this was an older posting).

That got me to thinking, though: if someone asked you if you would move to Farmers Branch, what would you tell them? I know what I would say. I’m considering creating a guide for people who are relocating. In it could be listed items that really are of importance to the normal citizen. For instance: quality of schools and location would top the list, but what else do people really want in a neighborhood?

I’ve heard from so many people who said that the quality of life was one of the reasons they moved to Farmers Branch in the first place, but that quality was interpreted differently back then. Most people wanted the laid-back neighborhoods like the ones they grew up in: neighbor helping neighbor, diverse backgrounds, a “live and let live” attitude. A home that really was your castle – your little bit of sanctuary from the turmoil and cares of the world.

Is that what we have now? Would you recommend Farmers Branch to an unsuspecting Midwesterner?

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it is painfully obvious that Farmers Branch is inundated with illegal cracks, grass, and weeds. I know what you’re thinking “Drugs – in ‘The (Original) City in The Park’ – NNOOOOoooooooo; that is unthinkable. The City would never let that happen – we are driving out all the undesirables, therefore cannot have an Inner City problem like that.”

Ha – Gotcha! I am not talking about drugs, I am talking about something far more insidious: Cracks in the sidewalks and driveways of our fair city in which some horrible people are allowing Weeds and Grass to flourish. This practice must be stopped as it is a affront to the gentle sensibilities of the fine citizens. Think of it – how many times have you been walking down the alleys and easements of this town, on your way to church perhaps, and noticed grass in a crack. Oh dear – I hate to bring up unsavory thoughts, but yes – without eternal vigilance it could happen to you.

As a concerned citizen I am grateful that the City in a Park has a group of dedicated employees who are ProActive and willing to risk life and limb by going right to the source of these heinous crimes. I appreciate the fact that they are putting their own welfare in jeopardy in order to maintain the Health, Safety, and Welfare of all the citizens of Farmers Branch. Why – they are even protecting the renters and people of questionable citizenship, who, we all know, contribute to low morals; crime; low property values; the war in Afghanistan; abysmal Health Care in this nation; the inability to find Osama Bin Laden; Rats, Rodents and Other Vermin in our firewood; joblessness; and who knows what other miseries.

The citizens of Farmers Branch are also fortunate to have a ProActive Court System that is willing to aggressively prosecute these lawbreakers. I’ll bet “One of the 10 Best Cities in the Nation” doesn’t have that. In fact – I know they don’t. I happen to know that Rockwall Code Enforcement goes the “pansy” route – they prefer to educate and work with these lawbreakers. They even admit to that in their user-friendly website. Don’t they know that the only way to assure compliance is by prosecution? Silly Rockwall. I’ll bet their website never won any awards and/or prizes either. Lucky for the citizens of Farmers Branch, for we are ProActive, and we have won many, many awards.

We are truly blessed.

 Once upon a time there was a lovely little Farm. It was a happy little place where the animals lived together in harmony. The animals living on the Farm were of the normal farm variety:

• There were a lot of Sheep on the Farm: they were complacent and followed instructions without complaint. The Sheep would never consider questioning authority – they were happy to do as they were told.

 • The Cows thought that they were above everything and were quite happy to stand in their nice cornfield and eat and socialize. The Cows would often get together and criticize the other Farm animals, but that was their way of maintaining their own feeling of superiority over the others, so the other animals just ignored them.

• The Chickens ran around and squawked a lot, especially when someone took their eggs, but in the end they just wanted a nice place to nest so as long as they were allowed into the chicken coop at night they were happy. They still squawked, but that was all.

• The Pigs, as pigs are, were an intelligent and sociable group. They had their own way of living which was comfortable and necessary to them and they did not care if others wanted to live differently.

• Two Dogs lived on the Farm, and they were always willing to follow instructions, especially if it meant nipping at the heels of the other animals and getting the Chickens riled up.

• There were a few Horses on this Farm and they did most of the hard work. They shared a pasture with the Cows. They had little respect for the Cows and Bulls, but tolerated them and pretty much stayed to themselves and pursued their own hobbies.

Then, along came a Bull who wanted to be Somebody. As The Bull was just another bull he knew that in order to Be Somebody he would have to start small and work his way up. But he was in a hurry.

The Bull decided that in order to Be Somebody he would change the entire Farm and thus show the world that he was the “Go To” Bull. “Go To” for what, you may ask. Well, I don’t know for sure, but the Bull was known for bullying so that was probably what you would go to him for.

The Bull had a plan. There were foreign Pigs and Horses invading the village and all of the other farms. Many of these foreigners had sneaked into the country and had no legal right to be there. They were taking the other animal’s jobs, using the village hospitals and schools, and generally making a nuisance. The Bull had a plan. He would tell the other animals that if they would make him emperor of the Farm he would drive the illegal foreigners out. When the illegal foreigners were driven out there would be no more crime, the schools would be excellent, property values would escalate, and the Farm would be perfect. Then other farms would notice the wonderful brave Bull and would want him to be emperor of the entire village, then the country, then the world!

The Bull could not do this alone. He would have to have help. But he had to be very careful of the help. He could not stand to have another Bull on his team, because there was only room for one Bull, and that was him. Cows were okay, because they deferred to the Bulls, but they were not Bulls. Horses were too busy working, and besides that, although they shared the pasture the horses did not show the proper respect. He could use some of the more vocal Chickens and knew that if he threw a little corn their way every once in a while some of them would squawk to his tune. And even if they disagreed with him all they would do is squawk, and their constant squawking would be useful. Pigs were out. They were too intelligent and valued their independence way too much. In fact, the Pigs as well as the Horses would have to be dealt with quickly and severely.

That left the Sheep. Ah, thought the Bull, the Sheep ….. Perfect! Sheep will do everything they are told. They do not like to question and they want to be led around and be told what to do, what to think, what to feel. I will pick 5 Sheep that will do my bidding, and the other Sheep will follow along.

So the Bull convinced the animals to make him emperor of the Farm. The first thing the Bull and his 5 Sheep did was try to drive the foreigners out, because by doing that he could Make a Name for Himself. Uh oh – the Bull had miscalculated the resistance he would receive. (This was the Bull’s first experience with animals who did not hang on to every word he said.) Some of the Pigs and Horses, and even some Sheep and Chickens, pushed back. They went to the Village and complained. The Village elders stopped the Bull from banishing the foreigners from the Farm, because that was not within the Bull’s authority. That public relations stunt cost the Farm a lot of money but the Bull didn’t care because it Got Him Noticed, and that’s all he really wanted anyway.

But the Bull wasn’t worried – he had another plan all along. He could care less about the foreigners: he had a business that depended on the foreigner’s money and the Bull was not stupid enough to bite the hand that fed him. The real goal was to change the entire Farm to his liking, and thereby Be Noticed Some More. He decided that he wanted to live in an Upscale Farm, but he did not want to move from the Farm where he had grown up, which was just comfortable middle-class.  Besides that, he had friends on the Farm that he could help out. By doing this his stature would surely raise, his friends would admire him, and he could relive his glory days when he was a star athlete on a losing team. Oh – but that’s another story.

Ah – now the Bull was ready. He took his 5 Sheep on a tour of the Farm. “Look”, he said “Those Horses are eating the same grass that our Cows want. They are standing in our shade. They are drinking our water. Our Farm should have only Cattle: well, and Sheep. And the Horses perform manual labor – if they want improvements made around the Farm they Do It Themselves. And look at the Pigs. They are so nasty. Not at all like me. They also look very happy and independent. One look at their homes and you can see that we do not want them on our Farm. We cannot have that.”

“I want this Farm to be Upscale, where the Cows and Sheep graze peacefully in verdant gardens. I want every animal in this Farm to be Just Like Me. Think of the scene: bucolic pastures with fluffy white sheep and sleek Cows grazing peacefully. That’s what I want.”

So the Sheep, as sheep do, agreed. They were enjoying being in the Bull’s shadow, as they thought it gave them prestige over the other sheep. So they begged the Bull to tell them what they could do to help him achieve his goals.

“Well” said the Bull, “first we will convince the animals that we need this Farm to look beautiful. Crime does not happen in a beautiful Farm. Property values rise in a beautiful Farm. The schoolchildren thrive in a beautiful Farm. We will make this Farm beautiful by planting Roses and building fountains, and painting all our utility boxes with a new logo and replacing our street signs with prettier ones.” So the Farm spent a lot of money doing what the Bull dictated. But crime did not decrease, property values did not rise, and the schools did not get any better.

“It’s time to get tough”, thought the Bull. “I will decree that besides foreigners, it’s the animals who do not own their own homes as well as the Pigs and the Horses who are doing this. I will encourage the other animals to tell me if they see something they Do Not Like in their neighbor’s area. Then I will herd them into “compliance” with rules I and the 5 Sheep will make up.”

But how do I herd these Sheep? I am a Bull, not a Sheepherder. I don’t even like Sheep – I am so much better than they are. I just need the Sheep because they outnumber the other animals and they will do my bidding. So the Bull talked to the Dogs. The Dogs loved to chase animals and generally show the animals who was the boss. The Sheep were especially fun because they were so easy to intimidate. Some of the neighboring farms wouldn’t let Dogs chase their animals, so the two Farm Dogs invited those neighboring Dogs to help them. Soon there was a Pack of Dogs who were more than happy to herd the animals for the Bull.

The Bull and his 5 Sheep created Ordinances that were vague and often silly. They told the other animals that they were enforcing these Ordinances to assure the Health, Safety and Welfare of the Farm. They met frequently with the Pack of Dogs to be sure the Dogs enforced those Ordinances. If a Farm citizen, especially a Pig or a Horse, resisted the Dogs were instructed to punish them by increasing surveillance on their homes and to issue citations for everything they could find or dream up. The Dogs were given complete control over the interpretation of the Ordinances: if they said it was so then it was so.

At first the animals, especially the Sheep, complied with the Ordinances, as they really did hope that the Bull and his minions had their best interests at heart. But it didn’t take long for the Horses and Pigs to realize that it would be impossible to please the Bull. They tried – oh how they tried. The Pigs thought “Hey; if the other animals don’t like to see my home I will just build a fence around it and they won’t have to look at it.” But that wasn’t good enough for the Bull. He told the 5 Sheep that they would have to make rules prohibiting fences where the Dogs couldn’t see what was going on. And as for animals that already had fences, he would make a rule that it didn’t matter – the Dogs could wander around and peer into anyone’s back yard by whatever means they were clever enough to come up with. Then, if they found “prohibited items and/or practices” they would write citations and they would take the animals to animal court and make them pay fines. As usual, the 5 Sheep were instructed to tell the other animals that they were doing this for their own good, and for the good of the community.

Because of the debt incurred by the failed attempts to run off the foreigners, the cost of building and maintaining the fountains and rose gardens, the lawsuits from the renters, and other “improvement projects” the Farm was now getting awfully low on funds. Businesses were relocating their headquarters to more hospitable farms. Many of the stores that sold items to the animals had closed and many of the animals had fled, leaving giant wastelands of empty and unmaintained buildings. The Bull tried in vain to entice other animals and businesses to move into the Farm, but to no avail. Some businesses expressed interest, but the Bull decided that they were not the kind of businesses that he desired, so he discouraged them and they moved on. Animals who had considered moving to that Farm took one look and saw that they did not want to be under constant surveillance in their own homes so they opted to raise their families in a more wholesome environment.

Soon the entire Farm began to decay. The Horses and Pigs got tired of putting up with the Bull and pushed back or moved away. The Bull retaliated by raising taxes and increasing surveillance. He told the animals that the money was needed to purchase all the decaying buildings and go on with his Master Plan. The Chickens squawked a little, but did nothing else. The Pigs and Horses fought the taxes, but the 5 Sheep did as the Bull commanded anyway. The other Sheep said nothing.

The Bull used the money to build a lovely garden “shopping” complex.  He also achieved his two big desires for this complex. One was to have a copy of his favorite franchise restaurant close by. For some reason even during a major worldwide recession the Bull thought that people wanted to shop and eat at restaurants that catered to high school kids.

The second dream of the Bull’s was to create a suitable memorial to his greatness. At considerable cost he commissioned an artist to create a sculpture. It was a huge statue of the Bull driving out other animals from his Paradise Farm. The memorial became an icon of intolerance and special interests. International Television stations display this “Homage to the Bull” every time they want to demonstrate: and laugh at; how  a once- prosperous country can become backwards and embarrassing.

The Cows, and the Sheep who couldn’t quietly escape, stayed on the ravaged Farm, as did the Chickens who weren’t able to sell their nests. The Dogs still delight in nipping their heels. The Horses and Pigs left as soon as they were able.

And the Bull? He moved on to his business which was located in another farm anyway, so it was no big loss to him.

As I stated in an earlier post, I enjoy learning new words. And, like any blogger, I also enjoy sharing my new information with others. I have found another interesting word to share with you today:

The word is “Malfeasance“.

Malfeasance is a comprehensive term used in both civil and Criminal Law to describe any act that is wrongful. It is not a distinct crime or tort, but may be used generally to describe any act that is criminal or that is wrongful and gives rise to, or somehow contributes to, the injury of another person.

Malfeasance is an affirmative act that is illegal or wrongful. In tort law it is distinct from misfeasance, which is an act that is not illegal but is improperly performed. It is also distinct from Nonfeasance, which is a failure to act that results in injury.

The distinctions between malfeasance, misfeasance, and nonfeasance have little effect on tort law. Whether a claim of injury is for one or the other, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant owed a duty of care, that the duty was breached in some way, and that the breach caused injury to the plaintiff.

One exception is that under the law of Strict Liability, the plaintiff need not show the absence of due care. The law of strict liability usually is applied to Product Liability cases, where a manufacturer can be held liable for harm done by a product that was harmful when it was placed on the market. In such cases the plaintiff need not show any actual malfeasance on the part of the manufacturer. A mistake is enough to create liability because the law implies that for the sake of public safety, a manufacturer warrants a product’s safety when it offers the product for sale.

If all those lawyerly terms are confusing, here’s another definition

malfeasance n. intentionally doing something either legally or morally wrong which one had no right to do. It always involves dishonesty, illegality, or knowingly exceeding authority for improper reasons. Malfeasance is distinguished from “misfeasance,” which is committing a wrong or error by mistake, negligence or inadvertence, but not by intentional wrongdoing. Example: a city manager putting his indigent cousin on the city payrollat a wage the manager knows is above that allowed and/or letting him file false time cards is malfeasance; putting his able cousin on the payroll which, unknown to him, is a violation of an anti-nepotism statute is misfeasance. This distinction can apply to corporate officers, public officials, trustees, and others cloaked with responsibility. (See: misfeasance)

Malfeasant: 1. Misconduct Conduct by a public official that cannot be legally justified or that conflicts with the law. 2. Unlawful Act An act carried out by a public official that cannot be legally justified or that conflicts with the law.

The commission of an act that is unequivocally illegal or completely wrongful.

I know what you’re thinking “Of all the words in the dictionary, why did you pick this one for our Increase Your Vocabulary lesson?” Well, I pick words that I stumble upon while researching the topic I am interested in at the time. If I’m not entirely certain of the definition I will look it up in one of the many dictionaries available on the web.

What led me to this word is that I was talking to one of the other Code Violators who was at court on Tuesday. We were discussing one of the defendants we witnessed being berated at length by the City – oh, excuse me – Assistant City Attorney and the Code Enforcement Officer.

My friend says that she got the impression that the defendant could not fully understand what was being said. I couldn’t hear the defendant, but I could hear the ACA and CEO and they were speaking perfect English in my opinion. Well, not perfect English by any stretch of the imagination, but  English nonetheless. (My English Prof at SMU would not agree, but hey – what does she know?) And, as we all know – English is the Official Language of Farmers Branch.

I don’t know what language the defendant understands, and I am certainly not going to be so presumptuous as to assign a language based on appearance. And I will tell you right now that I am neither an anthropologist nor a lawyer. So, now that we got that out of the way I will continue.

When I learn a new word I like to try to use it in a sentence to see if I’ve understood it correctly. But this word confuses me. For instance, even though The City of Farmers Branch has declared that English is the official language, isn’t there some state or even federal law that says that a defendant, even in a civil case, has to understand the charges against him or her? If so, would I be using this word correctly if I created a sentence like “They were malfeasant in their handling of Case Number XXXX?”

Just wondering.

There has been a miracle in Farmers Branch and we have not noticed. I hope it is not too late to give this our attention. This miracle makes the reasoning behind all the Code Enforcement Policies and Tax Increases and Anti-Immigration and Anti-Renters efforts clear. This is significant – of international proportions! We have to be prepared!

Right at the beginning, I am going to tell you that I don’t “Twitter”. I am not interested in reading anyone’s personal little diary, and am just not so into anyone that I would breathlessly follow every little mundane event in his or her life. But that’s just me. Some people have the time and curiosity to Twitter and Tweet and I won’t be so mean-spirited as to pass judgement on how they want to spend their spare time. That said, an alert reader who follows Tim O’Hare’s ramblings on Twitter forwarded this gem. And I am so glad he did.

Do you see it?: A Duck GAVE BIRTH!

Let me repeat this:  A ……. Duck …… Gave ….. Birth. Every other duck known to man lays eggs, which hatch. This Duck Gave Birth.

Call the Audubon Society!

Inform Ducks Unlimited!

Notify the Media!

Wake the Pope!

Now, I know that this is a bona-fide miracle for two reasons:

1. Tim O’Hare said it, and our Mayor does not lie.

2. The City Code expressly forbids keeping prohibited animals or fowl, so if “Mayor Tim” is willing to violate The Code it must be for a very good reason. Here’s the code for your information:

Sec. 18-7.  Registration of existing legal fowl and animals; providing registration with exemption.

My husband’s lab results came back okay – no cancer, thank God. His throat problem is treatable with the surgery and follow-up care and meds. The doctor is confident that he got it all and hubby will make a speedy and full recovery. Thanks to all of you who asked.

As you will recall from my earlier post, my husband was dragged (and I mean dragged) in front of the judge on Tuesday to answer for the heinous crime of “non-permitted items stored outside”. I had already told the assistant city lawyer that hubby was at Baylor Medical Center undergoing surgery so could not be there, but wanted a jury trial on this stupid charge. Well, while I was waiting for the clerk to find the time to prepare my paperwork  hubby walks in – white as a ghost – his neck covered in gauze and Betadiene scrub. As our friend was taking him home from the Medical Center they passed the courthouse and he saw my car parked there so he wanted to stop by and make sure everything was going okay. Hey – he was still under the influence of the anaesthesia and pain meds, so he was feeling “wonderful” at the time.

Anyway, when the lawyer and CE saw him they dragged him up and persuaded him that he didn’t want to go to court, they would give him a sweet deal instead. When I protested that he was in no shape to make any decisions at the time I was forced to sit back down and shut up. After they got him to agree to their terms they hustled the judge in there right away to seal the deal. As we were leaving I asked hubby what the “sweet deal” was, and he couldn’t remember the details.

Today I was able to read the paperwork they had him sign. Basically, it says that he promises to “Go and Sin No More”. Some deal. Someone had even bothered to hand-write that hubby had made this plea voluntarily in open court. That he was under the influence of drugs was not mentioned.

Anyone who has had any experience with Farmers Branch Code Enforcement knows darned good and well that once you are on their radar it is humanly impossible to make your home suitably sterile for their taste. And the codes are written in such a way so that they get to make the determinations as to whether or not you are complying. Guilty guilty guilty. Besides that, it’s gotten to where I can’t go outside anymore without seeing my personal Community Surveillance staking out my home or walking through the back yard. I would not be surprised to see a helicopter hovering over my home with Farmers Branch Code Enforcement hanging from the struts with his trusty camera. Because, as we are all learning – no one has to complain about, or even be able to normally see,  a violation. If you have something outside  that they don’t like – even in a fenced yard – they can write you up.

It’s been raining now for quite some time. As we all know, when it rains in Texas the weeds shoot up.  I actually caught myself running outside to pull all the weeds that had sprung up overnight to over 8″ tall. My lot is  large, and I counted and pulled 11 of them. I was ashamed of myself. How has it gotten so bad that I am standing in the rain pulling weeds.

My daughter’s boyfriend parked my car and I noticed that about 3 inches of one tire was off the driveway – into the grass. I ran out and moved it so that all four tires were well within the pavement. (Don’t accuse me of being paranoid – I actually know someone who was given a notice because half a tire was off the driveway – and that was in his back yard.) Every time I go outside now I look around furtively to see if there is something amiss in my yard – did I leave an empty pot out? Can anyone driving slowly by spy my muddy gardening shoes on the front porch, under the bench? Did I put my trash out too soon? What am I going to do about the weeds next to the fence?  It’s too wet to mow, or even walk, back there. Thank God I don’t have any trees with branches overhanging the street.

I am not optimistic.

I can’t stop thinking about the spectacle in Farmers Branch Municipal Court yesterday. My emotions run from profound sadness, to embarrassment, to frustration, to anger, to disgust. Mostly disgust.

I’ll tell you what I did not feel – I did not feel that the City of Farmers Branch was in any way concerned with the Health, Safety, or Welfare of any of these citizens, or for any other citizen who doesn’t play along with their sickening charade.

Yesterday I witnessed the most appalling display of  bullying I have ever seen. I and others watched in disbelief as grown men and women were treated like the worst common criminals – and what did they do? They “allowed” grass to grow in their driveways and sidewalks; they didn’t trim their trees back far enough and quick enough; they didn’t put house numbers on their homes; why, there was even one guy who thought that he could <gasp> wait until he was rested in order to mow his lawn.  I’ll bet that grass was probably 9 inches tall! Maybe even more – it could be that it was as tall as the grass in the city owned lots around town.

I sat on two Grand Juries for the County of Dallas, and I never ever saw a defendant treated as badly as some of these people were yesterday. And I saw child molesters, rapists, thieves, drug addicts, prostitutes, and murderers being questioned. Without exception they were treated with dignity and respect.

Yesterday we all sat in horrified disbelief as we witnessed a man being berated by a CE with a look on her face like she was smelling something bad. She was chastising him about his “non permitted outside storage”. I don’t even know what he had outside, but the gist of the CE’s complaint was that he “moved his items in an effort to fool the Code Enforcer”. WHAT???? I’m thinking that there couldn’t have been many items if he was able to move them so often, he was probably engaged in a fruitless effort to find a storage area that was acceptable to the CE, and that saying Code Enforcement Officer and Fool in the same sentence is redundant.

 This man was an adult human being – a family man who was probably trying his best to get by in these difficult times. And then he has to put up with this crap. In front of all of us. Maybe none of what I thought about his “violation” is true – he may have been a horrible nasty junky man who was maliciously trying to entice the Rats, Rodents, and other Vermin out of the Golf Courses and Parks and onto his property. I don’t care – no one deserves to be treated with such a lack of respect and dignity.

 I told you that I would refrain from saying the four-letter “N” word when I am talking about Code Enforcement, but my research unearthed the title of a song that was popular in one area of Europe during World War II. It’s titled “Me hot zey in dre’erd, me ver zey iberlebn, me vet noch derlebn” or, in English “To hell with them, we will survive them, we will yet survive.”

I promised I would tell you how the advanced game is played. Here is my personal experience:

Today was my day to answer for my crime of “large amount of prohibited items stored outside on my back driveway”.

I got up at 6 a.m. to take my husband to Baylor Medical Center in Richardson for day surgery. I had to arrange for someone else to pick him up because we weren’t sure how long he’d be, and I had to be back in Farmers Branch for the court appointment.

Back home, at about 11 o’clock, I was gathering my information together and decided to go outside for a smoke. Well, no sooner had I sat down on my front porch bench than I hear a car start up, and look up to see the Community Surveillance truck drive by – with my dear friend Gabe at the wheel. Hmmmm. I live on the inside of a curve and the street wraps around my property on two sides. He drove around the curve – towards the side of my house.  On a hunch I looked out my back door and sure enough there he was – hidden away behind the bushes just like he was last week. He was even parked on the wrong side of the street! I went back inside and grabbed my cell phone. Then I walked toward his truck and took a picture of him sitting there. When he saw me he drove off. Darn – I should have given him a chance to get out and walk in my neighbor’s back yard again.

Okay – so that put me in a lovely mood to go to the municipal Court; full of respect for the city that is only concerned with the “Health, Safety, and Welfare” of its citizens. Got there at 1:00pm, as instructed. There was quite a crowd there, but we all had to wait for a while for the CE Gang to arrive. I took that opportunity to ask people about their “Sins against Farmers Branch”. One lady was there because there was a weed growing in her sidewalk. Actually it was the city’s sidewalk – but in front of her house, so it was her weed, and that is against The Code. One lady was there because she had a tree limb below the requisite lateral clearance. She had trimmed it once but apparently not enough. One guy was there because he had been working a lot of overtime and hadn’t had time to mow his yard. Two people were there to answer for the heinous crime of Not Having The House Number Posted on Their Homes. It’s not enough that the house numbers were painted on the curbs in front of their houses – it has to be posted on the house itself. Or else. Pretty pathetic bunch of lawbreakers.

By the way – the list of citations for this week was 87 entries long! That’s citations for one week – not warnings – these are actual “this is a Citation so pay a fine”. At an average of, say, $400 a pop the city has to be raking in some major money with these code violations, yet they still raised the property tax. Farmers Branch is going to be drowning in painted utility boxes, rose gardens, and fountains before very long. But hey -it’s all those important things that make a city “desirable”. Heck – maybe the mayor will even get his Chili’s, and a wonderful statue to show on television. I have a few suggestions on what the statue should portray.

I am still waiting for the City of Farmers Branch to explain how any of the code violations I saw are detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens. The closest thing to dangerous would be the tree branch, but I see plenty of trees that violate that code in the city medians on very busy streets , so it can’t be too awfully dangerous. Or, maybe the city thinks that only private tree limbs are safety hazards.

I had decided ahead of time that I wanted a jury trial. So when it was my turn in the spotlight I went up to talk with my good friend Gabe and whoever the lawyer guy was – I think he’s the assistant city attorney or something. According to their records the house is owned by my husband alone. News to me because the mortgage is in my name alone!  When I told them of that fact they argued with me, and said that the citation was in my husband’s name so he had to be the one to answer for it and they demanded to know where he was. I explained (again) that my husband was in Baylor Medical Center getting his throat operated on. Then they asked when my husband would be able to go to court. I said I wouldn’t know until after the surgery. But they insisted, so I said, well, I guess two months’ recovery would be a reasonable guess if everything goes okay, but since I’m not a doctor I couldn’t say for sure. So they gave me a court date of November 10 and told me to go sit to the side while the court clerk prepared the paperwork. They also had me sign a paper to prove that I promise to let my husband know about his court date!

Okay – I did get a parting shot. As I got up to leave I told Gabe that it was really muddy in the easement behind my house so he might want to wait a couple of days before going back there to take pictures.

Well, I sat down and watched while the court clerk chatted with one of the Code Officers for a very long time. Blab blab blab, but no paperwork was prepared. I guess she was going to show me who’s the boss!

As I am waiting for the Court Clerk to decide she has made me wait long enough my husband walked in with the friend who had picked him up from the medical center. As soon as Gabe saw him the court demanded that he come up and talk with them. I got up and protested that my husband was in no shape to make any legal decisions at that time. I mean – you should have seen him – his whole neck was wrapped in gauze about an inch thick, he had a drain sticking out of his neck and taped to his chest, and he still had that orangey antibacterial scrub streaking all over one side of his head. The city attorney kept telling me to sit down and I could see the bailiff headed my way. I decided it would be better to try to listen to what they were telling my husband, so that’s what I did.

What the court ended up doing was railroad my husband into accepting some sort of deal and I wasn’t able to hear the details. Then they hustled the judge in there and made my husband agree to the deal before the judge.

As we were leaving the courtroom I asked my husband what was said and he said “I’m not sure – I didn’t understand it all. I know that they said they could see that I was sick and that if I was in a financial bind they would make arrangements.” Yeah – I think I know what those arrangements will be.

Is the City of Farmers Branch so strapped for cash that they have to take 65 years old men right out of surgery (and under the influence of anesthesia and pain medication) and browbeat them into pleading guilty to one of their ridiculous Code Enforcement violations?

Every time the City Council has reached a new low they prove they can sink even further. When are we going to stop this?