Utah "Lawn Lady" controversy dries up

With editorial tongue firmly in cheek, the Provo Daily Herald called the trial of the "Lawn Lady," Betty Perry, the "trial of the century."

The trial was to have begun today. And what a trial it would have been: According to the Provo newspaper, "Nearly 100 prospective jurors were called and had to plow through a questionnaire with 115 questions." As many as 20 witnesses were expected to testify in the course of a three day trial.

Friday's Deseret Morning News (from which this picture was obtained) revealed, however, that the case had settled. Perry plea bargained charges of interference with arrest and misdemeanor violation of a zoning ordinance into a single charge of disorderly conduct. The AP story says she pleaded guilty to this lesser charge and agreed to pay a $100 fine. Perry may also face six months' probation.

Betty Perry's legal problems began last July 6 when an Orem, Utah police officer wanted to ticket the 70-year old woman for failing to water her lawn. According to this AP story, Perry "became defiant" when the police officer asked Perry to identify herself. The Provo Daily Herald story explained, "The police version is that [Perry] wouldn't cooperate and tried to get away. [Perry] says she was merely going to call her son. Police claim she stumbled when he attempted to handcuff her; she says the officer pushed her." One way or the other, Perry sustained cuts and scrapes, and wound up in jail... because she apparently failed to obey a law that, in the words of the Provo Daily Herald, "mandates that in a desert in the summer during a fairly dry year lawns must be kept golf-course green."

California attorney Gloria Allred (who has also made news in recent weeks for her participation in the Britney Spears custody case) represented Perry.

Meanwhile, an article in the current issue of National Geographic suggests that the 20th Century was an unusually wet period in history of the American West -- Utah included -- and that the future looks much, much drier.

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Update 2/13/08:Ms. Perry has posted her side of this story on a website, Lawnlady.info.