Mountain out of a Molehill Syndrome

I live in the city of Overland Park, Kansas, where I have had to contend with the codes enforcement over the last two decades. While I concede that some sort of property code enforcement makes sense I believe that the current codes enforcement regime in many of our cities is characterized by overzealous and sometimes fanatical enforcement of relatively minor code requirements.

I call this the "making a mountain out of a molehill syndrome". Recently I spoke with a codes enforcement officer who bitterly denounced me for more years of causing trouble than I have even lived in the city. She was furious and as certain I am a terrible person as if I was a serial killer.

But codes enforcement is just about regulating the height of grass and no matter how many years you regulate the height of grass it seems to me that you need to keep chlli'n because its still just grass and weeds your talking about.

So here I was, on July 31st, 2007, trying to find out what my code violations were, because the notice, that I found out about on Friday the 28th of July, five days after the item was purportedly mailed. I signed the little form the mailperson leaves on those occasions when you aren't home, it was picked up by the mail carrier on Saturday the 29th so I was very concerned when I hadn't received this registered mail on Monday. I wasn't even sure if the registered mail was from codes enforcement (aka Community Services) but it was my worst fear.

So my point is that the codes enforcement officer seemed hostile to me even asking about the violations and seemed to have no interest in my explanation that I, the defendant in this process, was trying to find out what I am charged with and instead of getting a professional explanation I got a lecture that included the apparent confirmation of who the actual complainant was as well as the personal revelation that this codes enforcement officer wouldn't want me for a neighbor.

This codes enforcement officer got herself worked up into a frenzy that ended in a seemingly endless rightwing lecture. What's wrong with this country? How can our bloodpressure shoot through the ceiling over a dandelion or a Sunflower? Yes, the Sunflower, banned by the great State of Kansas. Banned as what? A noxious weed. Talk about irresponsible rhetoric, noxious weed indeed!