# Water Police in action



## cda (Feb 15, 2010)

SO what are you in prison for murder? robbery? assualt??

no I watered my lawn, now I will be  water offenders list the rest of my life:

Refusal to pay fines for lawn-watering violation leads to night in jail for McKinney man

12:00 AM CST on Saturday, February 13, 2010

By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News

samhodges@dallasnews.com

After his lawn was watered on the wrong day, a McKinney man ended up spending a night in jail.

He's still steamed.

"I've never been to jail before," said Tony Ray Hall Jr., who spent Wednesday night at the Collin County Detention Facility. "It was terrible."

The city of McKinney issued an arrest warrant for Hall in October after he missed a court date for two lawn-watering violation citations issued Aug. 24.

Hall, 27, said he's a catastrophic insurance claims adjuster who was on assignment in Louisville, Ky., from last summer through November, while his wife and daughter occupied their McKinney residence. He said the man he hired to tend the lawn apparently failed to observe the city water-conservation ordinance.

On Wednesday afternoon, Hall reported to McKinney's municipal court, hoping to get another court date and tell his side of the story, but aware jail was a possibility if he didn't pay the $388 in tickets or post bail.

Hall said he has other pressing bills, but declined to pay mainly on principle. He says he should have been given a warning, since he had no other watering tickets and only moved to McKinney in July.

But McKinney officials said that once he'd turned himself in, his unwillingness to pay the tickets or post bail left them no choice but to jail him for a night, before his arraignment hearing Thursday. He went home on a personal recognizance bond after the arraignment.

"We don't want to take people to jail. We want people to take care of the violation," said Anna Folmnsbee, spokeswoman for the city of McKinney.

"Mr. Hall did not spend a night in jail because he watered his lawn on the wrong day," she said. "Jail was a consequence of unpaid tickets, the missed court date and the subsequent warrant."

Folmnsbee said she could not determine whether McKinney had ever sent anyone to jail for what started as a lawn-watering violation.

Hall said officers handcuffed him before taking him to jail. There, he said, he had to hand over all valuables, including his wedding ring. He said he spent a sleepless night, shuttled between a waiting room and a holding cell, never getting a bed.

"I was in there with guys on manslaughter [charges], and I'm just watering my grass on the wrong day," he said.

Hall added that officers and inmates "all laughed about it" when they learned his offense was failure to pay lawn-watering tickets.

Sgt. Ron James of the Collin County Sheriff's Department confirmed that short-term inmates don't always get a bed, and that wedding rings and all other valuables are kept until the inmate is released. Folmnsbee said Hall was handcuffed while taken to the jail, which she said is standard and done for officers' safety.

McKinney allows residents to run their irrigation systems on their weekly trash pickup day and on the third day after that. But watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. is not allowed.

Hall got ticketed for both.

He said his wife alerted him when the tickets arrived in late August, and he tried to tell McKinney officials by phone that he was working out of town.

Hall said that in September the city notified him by phone about his court date, but with just two days' notice.

Hall said that last week he decided to try to clear up the matter, but not before making his case to the judge.

He has a hearing Wednesday morning.

Hall said he had never been in trouble with the law, and is sure McKinney could have dealt with him another way.

"Nobody [else] was in there for watering grass," he said.


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## Coug Dad (Feb 15, 2010)

Re: Water Police in action

Sounds like the basis for an updated version of Alice's Restaurant.

"What are you in here for kid?"

"lawn watering"


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## RJJ (Feb 15, 2010)

Re: Water Police in action

CD: I believe he was in for watering his lawn, not his grass! :lol:


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## Coug Dad (Feb 15, 2010)

Re: Water Police in action

Either way, we all end up on the same bench - Group W!


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## conarb (Feb 16, 2010)

Re: Water Police in action

This in the formerly free state of Texas?


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