TULSA, Oklahoma –
A Tulsa woman is suing the city’s code enforcement officers after she said they cut down her garden with no cause.
Denise Morrison said she has more than 100 plant varieties in her front and back yards and all of them are edible and have a purpose.
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.
She got a letter from the city saying there had been a complaint about her yard.
She said she took pictures to meet with city inspectors, but they wouldn’t listen, so she invited them to her home so they could point out the problem areas.
“Everything, everything needs to go,” Morrison said they told her.
When she heard they wanted to cut it all down, she called police.
The officer issued her a citation so it could be worked out in court.
She said she went to court on Aug. 15 and the judge told them to come back in October. But the very next day, men were cutting down most of her plants.
They even cut down some of her trees — ones that bore fruit and nuts — and went up next to her house and basically removed everything in her front flower bed.
“I came back three days later, sat in my driveway, cried and left,” Morrison said.
Morrison said she had a problem at her last property with code enforcement, so this time, she read the ordinance, which says plants can’t be over 12-inches tall unless they’re used for human consumption. She made sure everything she grew could be eaten, which she told the inspectors.
“Every word out of their mouth was, ‘we don’t care,'” Morrison said.
Morrison said she used many of the plants that were destroyed to treat her diabetes, high-blood pressure and arthritis.
“Not only are the plants my livelihood, they’re my food and I was unemployed at the time and had no food left, no medicine left, and I didn’t have insurance,” Morrison said. “They took away my life and livelihood.”
Morrison finally went to court last week for the citation she got last August at another property. The garden portion of the citation was dismissed and she pleaded no contest to having an inoperable truck in her driveway.
She filed a civil rights lawsuit this week, accusing the inspectors of overstepping their authority.
The City of Tulsa said it hasn’t received the lawsuit yet, so it couldn’t comment.
26 Comments
Racism is alive and well in Tulsa it appears.
sad
City officials are taking bribes from The Jolly Green Giant.
City is bullies leagle harassment of poor and disable the point is to steal your property i know they put 22 thousand against my property when i was sick and disable then took my drivers license its a crime
Why live in America? Surveillance on citizens in their homes by anyone / all with a 'hint' of government power, plus mass shootings/deaths of innocents in schools, shopping centres, churches and other public areas by deranged gun armed murderers.
America is sure a shitty country!!!
This country is not free
The land of the free…..yeah right ….as if …what a joke Americans don't know the meaning of free compared to the land down under !!
Outrageous that city employees would enter upon her property and destroy her garden plants whilst she was gone. I hope she gets a huge payout.
I hope she wins a million dollar lawsuit against the city shame on them and whatever neighbor involved should be sued to
Mar 2013 A federal judge has thrown out her lawsuit without hearing the case.
This country is a joke. Fuck you US government. Fuck you state and local governments. Inoperable truck in driveway is a crime? Fuck you. That's what a driveway is for. Plants growing? That is what a yard is for. Fuck you.
Shoot them! Private property.
Does the city have better concerns to deal with than citizens vegetables garden?
Just one more reason why I moved to the country. NO BULLSHIT BYLAWS. NO BUREAUCRATIC BULLSHIT . NOBODY TELLING ME WHAT I CAN OR CANT DO on MY PROPERTY. Honestly, WHO THE F- – K DO THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE? Move to the country and BUY A BIG GUN , OR DOG , OR BOTH
A Federal Judge thru out the case without hearing it. He based his decision on testimony from a city paid horticulturist. After viewing this story on the news my only thought is that the judge must be incompetent or an every day idiot.It turns out that the city in trying to increase revenues cites homeowners for BS violations.
This needs to stop. How did we get to the point where you can no longer provide yourself with the basic necessities of survival. It has gone too far. My dear fellow patriotic Americans it is time to face our tyrants head on. No longer can we sit idly by and allow our rights and freedoms to be taken or abused. Together is our power. Put away petty differences and welcome each other as we move to take our government and our lives back.
I grow a garden so I have food anyone that wants cut it down needs to keep in mind long pig is good eating too
Is there an update to this story?
That is utterly ridiculous how dare they do such things to you
The people behind this likely have a gaudy, manicured lawn in the suburbs in front of their cookie cutter new house, with no trees and a brand new Tahoe in the garage.
Next time this happens maybe people need to get together to ban golf course in the city.
Wish I could get an update
So, before a hearing can take place on this situation the city cuts down her plants? Obviously a Constitutional Rights violation of Due Process. Those who ordered the destruction deserves immediate termination of jobs and never hold a public job again.
I need an update
You need to go to Bartlesville Oklahoma they are the same bull as Tulsa
They probably lied and said there was a complaint when the only one who didn’t like it was a code enforcement officer who drive by and saw it.