Government Gestapo: Man Faces Foreclosure Over Lawn Maintenance

Americans, in their quest for unfettered freedom, must be weary of the role that government is to play in their lives.

This was a central component of the American revolution in 1776, where we collectively told the British and their taxes to take a hike.  From those seminal years onward, We The People have been walking a tightrope when it comes to allowing our government back into our private lives.

In some cases, government regulation can be a good thing, surely.  Our food is safer for it, and highway fatalities aren’t claiming the sort of lives that they certainly could.

But what happens when this government overreach affects our ability to live a decent life?

One man in Florida is finding out the hard way.

The city of Dunedin moved to foreclose on resident Jim Ficken’s home after Ficken racked up more than $29,000 in fines because his grass exceeded the 10 inches the city allows.

Ficken, 69, is fighting back, suing the city over what he and his attorneys with the Institute for Justice call abusive and excessive fines.

Ficken and his attorneys told FOX13 he amassed the fines during a 57-day period last summer while he was out of town settling his late mother’s estate. They said Ficken hired a friend to cut the grass during that time, but the friend passed away unexpectedly. The yard is now up to city code, they said.

Ficken’s attorney used plain and simple language to illustrate the absurdity of the issue.

”The grass did what grass does, and a code inspector saw it was more than the 10 inches the city allowed, and Jim was officially on the hook,” said Andrew Ward, one of Ficken’s attorneys.

Ficken, who is retired and lives on a fixed income, was fined $500 per day, totaling nearly $30,000. He claims he wasn’t aware of the fines until they were already out of control.

The city is now attempting to foreclose on Ficken’s home…something that his lawyers are arguing in unconstitutional due to the egregious concept of limitless fines.