Taming the urban jungle

Some people really don't want to make arrangements to take care of their lawns, apparently: Take, for example, Linda A. Ballew, who was released from the Harris County Jail yesterday after serving four days because she refused to clean up her back yard. The jail term was the result of an ongoing disagreement between Ballew and the Kirkmont Association, which took her to court in 2004 over her overgrown yard and won an injunction against her that required her to mow her yard twice a month and trim her trees and shrubs once a year. So she cut her front yard, but left the back as it was — which meant the back yard was, as a neighbor described, a "jungle" with grass up to 9 feet high. "We've had nutria rats — the ones that look like beavers — caught in the trap in my backyard," said neighbor David Carroll, who's also president of the homeowners association board. "I have had run-ins with large snakes. My dog has been sprayed by a skunk. ... My children are not allowed to walk the property unless I go out there first."

Because she didn't comply with the terms of the injunction, Ballew was found in contempt of court in April 2006 and was sentenced to three days in jail. The sentence was suspended to give her time to work on her yard, but she didn't — and then she didn't show up for a compliance hearing in August, so a warrant was issued for her arrest. Ballew was arrested Friday and put in jail, but she was released yesterday after she promised to clean her yard up within 30 days.

Ballew said in court that she recently had major surgery and had been hospitalized; because of that, state District Judge Mark Davidson said he was reluctant to seek her arrest. "I'm sorry it had to come to this in order to get y'all to talk to each other," Davidson said in court. "I don't want to have to issue any more warrants, any more writs, any more orders in this case."