…Jail for weeds

In May, 1997 I was taken out of the hospital and put in jail because of the shrubs in my front yard.

I had been taken to the ER after I tried to kill myself because of abuse by the IRS which was resulting in my condo being auctioned after a foreclosure. In the end a man filed my Chapter 11 for me and the sale was not confirmed because of the automatic stay.

This is a picture of my home, low stucco wall and chamisa in glorious full bloom. Chamisa is wild sage. It’s all over in Santa Fe and surrounding areas. It’s quite beautiful, especially when it grows with wild asters which are purple.

Some chamisa branches hung over the sidewalk a bit. Not nearly as much as neighbors’ on the street, confirmed by photos I took later to show that none of them were cited, but I was despite less chamisa overhang at my house.

The city employee who cited me was shorter than me and Hispanic. He appeared to dislike me. Since we had no interaction other than his knocking on my door somewhat regularly and complaining about one thing or another, I surmised his dislike came from my height exceeding his, and the fact I’m Anglo.

When people on forums didn’t believe something like this could happen, I posted the documents, shown below.

I can’t remember if jail transport took me to the hospital, or if they called a taxi. In any case, when I got to the hospital the man who was in charge of admitting for the psych ward asked me some questions, appeared satisfied, and said that the psych ward was full and if I didn’t mind he’d give me a taxi voucher so I could go home. I didn’t mind. 🙂 And, went home.