Table of Contents

1 Being Attacked by the county government for having a pollinator garden p.5

2 House Bill 322-2021 p. 17

3 Pollinators Lost p.  19

4 My Mama's Gardening Class p. 23 

5 Why did they call the police? p.33

6 Is Prince George's County an HOA? p. 37

7  Help from a Robotic LawnMower p. 39

8 They Hauled Away our 50-year old Mulch p. 45

9  Enlisting Help from Prince George's County p. 49   

Sylvia E. Weldon, Lorette S.J. Weldon, and  Ulysses Weldon, Jr.

Chapter 1: Growing a Pollinator Garden

It stated the following:  

    INFRACTION

    Respondent is charged with violation of the following

 300.00 fine:

Code Section: Housing Code Section 13-118(d); International Property Maintenance Code (2018) Section 302.4 VIOLATION:  All premises and exterior property shall be maintained free from weeds or plant growth of more than twelve (12) inches.  All noxious weeds shall be prohibited.  Weeds shall be defined as all grasses, annual plants, and vegetation, other than trees or shrubs; provided, however, that this term shall not include cultivated flowers and gardens.  

No plant growth shall be allowed to impede or obstruct walkways, sidewalks, streets, or adjoining driveways, or the required letters and/or numbers that identify the property's address.

CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIRED:  Cut grass and weeds in the front and back yard.

Why now after over 50 years of growing a pollinator garden?   

The inspectors refuse to tell me if House Bill 322-2021 applies to my property or not. This is the third request.  As it appears you recognize in previous phone calls. 

The inspectors said anything over 12 inches should be treated as a weed and cut down. He specifically pointed out poison ivy. He did not define what a weed is. Dandelions are a mess but they are beautiful. Some people think it is a flower and some do not.  My garden this year has been destroyed because I would have had to take my strawberries up, which ignore the law, and do not come to the height requirement. He specified that some of the weeds are over 12 feet high. I would like him to define or point out plants that are not 12 feet high. Has he not seen blooming grasses? All of these are necessary to maintain equal distance between us and our pollinating friends.  Wheat and oats, could I grow those in my yard or are these plants to eradicate? Please point to me laws that state this.   

I requested a virtual hearing. I know a little bit about computers. I
have been insulted about my knowledge of computers. In the previous cases, when I first moved in, I was protecting my garden from kids playing basketball in my neighbor’s yard.  Further, one of the county inspectors offered me a deal with $1300.00 to get the neighbor’s diseased tree chopped down. The neighbor who moved into that residence decided to pull down the diseased tree by using his pickup.

My garden is  a FOREVER GARDEN.  It is visable by day and night.

I continued in my parents'  footsteps, allowing pollinators to live and breed in my garden. I obtained milkweed flats while teaching in the Prince George’s County School System. I was forced to retire from that school system.  See the attached article by Jay Matthews in the Washington Post on my  efforts to teach about pollinators in the public school system
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/whats-a-library-without-books-go-to-some-schools-and-thats-what-you-will-find/2018/08/16/f5774648-a0d8-11e8-8e87-c869fe70a721_story.html ).
 

So we have gotten the run-around by several people. So does House Bill 322-2021 relate to my land and other land that would affect mowing schedules?   I have also

worked on electronic lawnmowers to avoid gas pollution in the air to save our environment. The results of this idea, with what appears to be a toy, but it is not. It is a device to help insects. I have not had a chance to test this either. We have not had a hearing to establish boundaries.

 Issues:

1.    Does that law apply to us?

2.    To define carefully what they mean by defining weeds from a flower. There is no distinction.

3.    Since the year is over, when does this mowing season start and when does it end? There are NO MOW signs for the NOW MOW SEASON.

4.    If I am required to show up, please arrange with the Fire Department

5.    If you have any questions, please contact me. Although Inspector Rick Smith, told

me to not talk to anyone about this case except himself.

Over the past 50 years my yard has been immaculate. We had beautiful KNOCK OUT ROSES and they were KNOCKED OUT.
Note the enclosed pictures of the past and this current year. Also note that  Monarch Butterflies are in my yard this month.

Who am I to be making this above request? In the words of Emily Dickenson:

“I am nobody! Who are you?Are you nobody, too?Then there’s a pair of us — don’t tell!They’d banish us, you know.How dreary to be somebody!How public, like a frogTo tell your name the livelong dayTo an admiring bog! “And in 1963, I won $100.00 from the Freedom Foundation that “I must become an Evangelist for Freedom”.Does a County Law supersede a State Law? Can a State Law supersede a Federal Law?Thank

you for any consideration you have given the above words.

But they did not have to do it.   The Maryland General Assembly voted unanimously in favor of House Bill 322-21, the low-impact landscaping bill that specifically codifies residents' right to be wildlife-friendly, plant-friendly, and environmentally conscious.

My dad, a Vietnam War Veteran and retired Patent Examiner,  kept writing letters to the former inspectors on the case but they told us that we had to cut ALL the plants down that they considered a weed.

This bill is a State-wide bill to cover not hobbies but to cover and protect two things:

1. To protect pollinators
2. To define issues as to how this would affect and modify present laws
in Prince George’s County on pollinators.
3. By the way, butterflies and bees are equally protected under this bill.
For example, bees and other pollinators on my property should be
protected. However, if I have a whole property of bamboo, it is not
covered in any way to deal with pollinators because no pollinators are
associated with this.

Over the last 50 years, the environment has been changed by the loss of
pollinators. Such is evident in my article written over 40 years ago, “Where
Did the Bees Go”, from the Washington Star, 1977?

The problem with Prince George's County Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement Division, started on May 24, 2023.  An inspector told my dad that we were breaking the law.  We worked in my mom's pollinator garden every year but this time was different.  A Prince George’s County Enforcement Inspector taped a citation on the front of our home door. 

 It stated the following: 

INFRACTION

Respondent is charged with violation of the following         

$300.00 fine:

Code Section: Housing Code Section 13-118(d); International Property Maintenance Code (2018) Section 302.4 VIOLATION:  All premises and exterior property shall be maintained free from weeds or plant growth of more than twelve (12) inches.  All noxious weeds shall be prohibited.  Weeds shall be defined as all grasses, annual plants, and vegetation, other than trees or shrubs; provided, however, that this term shall not include cultivated flowers and gardens.  No plant growth shall be allowed to impede or obstruct walkways, sidewalks, streets, or adjoining driveways, or the required letters or numbers that identify the property's address.

2  HOUSE BILL 322-2021

CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUIRED:  Cut grass and weeds in the front and back yard.

Why now after over 50 years of growing a pollinator garden?   

House Bill 322-2021 is a State-wide bill to cover not hobbies but to cover and protect two things:

1. To protect pollinators
2. To define how this would affect and modify present laws in Prince George’s County on pollinators.

By the way, butterflies and bees are equally protected under this bill. For example, bees and other pollinators on my property should be protected. 

However, if I have a whole property of bamboo, it is not covered in any way to deal with pollinators because no pollinators are associated with this.

3  Pollinators Lost

Over the last 50 years, the environment has been changed by loss of pollinators. Such is evident in my father's article written over 40 years ago, “Where Did the Bees Go”? (Washington Star, 1977).

I obtained milkweed flats while teaching in the Prince George’s County School System. I was forced to retire from that school system.  See the attached article by Jay Matthews in the Washington Post on my efforts to teach about pollinators in the public school system
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/whats-a-library-without-books-go-to-some-schools-and-thats-what-you-will-find/2018/08/16/f5774648-a0d8-11e8-8e87-c869fe70a721_story.html )

Issues:

1.    Does that law apply to us?

2.    To define carefully what they mean by defining weeds from         a flower. There is no distinction.

3.    Since the year is over, when does this mowing season start           and when does it end? There are NO MOW signs for the NO         MOW SEASON.

4  The Gardening Class

Every day, my mom would plan out garden lessons for me to work on.  She and my dad loved growing their food.  Our pollinator garden was our grocery store and it was also my gardening school with my mom as the teacher and principal.

When my father left for work, my mom would start our school day.  As the principal and teacher of my gardening school, my mom carefully outlined what a plant was with my dad's emphasis on how to keep evaluating your garden to make sure  it was growing and not dying.  I had to  watch carefully for decay in the garden.    I was taught how to avoid mold and creeping vines that wanted to devour my mom's garden and house.

5 Why Did They Call the Police?

The Actions of the Police and the county inspectors surrounding my house make a person wonder why on August 20, 2024.  2 police and 1 Code Inspector came knocking on the door.  They still did not answer our questions about the grass height or other questions we had asked them from the beginning.  They ignored our e-mails and phone calls for 2 years.

My father and I  were assigned a virtual hearing on 09/19/2023 at 1 pm.

It ended before it began. The councilman who oversaw the hearing demanded to know why our property had Tall Grasses in which Citation HOU-3042 called for us to cut TALL GRASSES down. 

When we told him it was the Inspectors fault and his department's fault, he hung up the meeting.

Before he had hung up on us, one of the Inspectors insinuated that my father was pollinating with the bees and butterflies in a negative tone as to insinuate that my father was performing some sort of bestial ritual in our Pollinator Garden.

The Councilman presiding over the hearing even refused to accept my doctorate in the educational field by just referring to me by my name without the “Dr.”

We pleaded, to see all materials shipped to the inspectors' office to show  that for 3 months we had been trying to find out what Tall Grasses Inspector Smith was referring to cut down.   

The reason why we repeatedly asked during a 3 months period about which Tall Grasses to cut is because there

are many Tall Grasses that could be in our yard  (https://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/perennials/ornamental-grasses/). So without help from Inspector Smith, we are trying to mow the Tall Grasses in the yard.    

We have also been asking how House Bill 322-2021 applies to our property.  We have been asking our board members and still no reply.