Do you think you ought go to jail for not cutting your grass? The Canton City Council in Ohio believes it’s a good idea and passed the measure.

I’m sure there are people here who might already be on the band wagon for New Iberia to follow that lead, but if we can’t enforce litter laws in this area, what makes folks so sure that there will be people doing time for tall grass? It might be easier to pin down violations, but it is not more important.

It is an oddity, as the Associated Press story listed it, Odds and Ends. Canton’s mayor was excited about the newly passed law.

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He wants it was passed to try to reduce the money the city spends on cutting 2,000 private lots every year.

The money-saving part is good, but most cities that take on the burden of having to cut landowners’ grass will tack on the lawn fee to the tax bill. That way, if the landowner doesn’t pay the bill, the land could be sold at a tax sale. Either way, the city gets the money. If something as simple as litter laws go unenforced, a law to put landowners who don’t cut their grass in jail isn’t likely to be either.



Speaking of litter, our neighbors to the northwest are trying to put some teeth in its laws that govern trash piles on lots, and it doesn’t involve possible jail time.

St. Martinville’s council will charge a fee for having to pick up the trash. The law makes it tough on people who don’t follow the rules about getting a trash bin when they remodel or build. But it also gives an incentive for landowners to make sure their lot doesn’t turn into a dumpsite.

At face value, it seems like a progressive law that will help keep the town a little cleaner. As with most laws, however, we’ll have to wait to see how it is enforced.



Metropolis, Ill., might indirectly reduce the amount of litter in its town through a quit-smoking program.

For every city worker who smokes now, the city will pay $1,000 each to the ones who quit for at least one year. So far, 15 city workers have signed up for it.

If you’ve noticed around New Iberia, a lot of litter is generated by smokers — cigarette butts are dropped, thrown or flicked out of the car window all the time. It’s unsightly and just plain rude.

Consider, however, someone who smokes a pack a day. At $4.49 per pack, that smoker spends almost $32 per week. But if he quits, he would save more than $1,638 in a year’s time, much more than the $1,000 of taxpayer money the town in Illinois is offering.

And, the “ex-smoker” also would likely pay taxes on that $1,000, so the savings of smoking far outweighs the city incentive program.



We try our best to get things right, but the unfortunate thing is we’re an institution run by humans.

On Monday, through human error, we misquoted Iberia schools Superintendent using a verb-subject disagreement.

The former English teacher was aghast. I believe his grammar to be impeccable. The mistake was ours.

We regret making it.

JEFF ZERINGUE is managing editor for The Daily Iberian.