Busted for Growing Veggies! Reason.tv’s Nanny of the Month for September 2010
by Reason TVNanny of the Month turns one-year-old this month, and it seems that public officials’ obsession with minding other people’s business has only intensified over the past 12 months. We’ve exposed meddlers who want to squash other people’s right to do everything from sing karaoke, to drink raw milk, and bust a move at ladies night.
What could possibly top all that? How about the “Greenest County in America” suing a man for growing too many vegetables in his garden?
Presenting Reason.tv’s Nanny of the Month for September 2010: DeKalb County, Georgia CEO Burrell Ellis!
Approximately 1.20 minutes.
“Nanny of the Month” is written and produced by Ted Balaker; Associate Producers: Paul Detrick and Alex Manning; Opening Animation: Meredith Bragg.
To watch previous Nanny of the Month videos, go here.
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60 Comments
One more fine example of
Progressivism generates the exact opposite of its stated intent.
I say lets give them free tomatoes at 90 miles an hour.
The truth is truly stranger than fiction
And the Man gives most of it away to fiends and neighbors
Burrell Ellis is an ass and should be fired.
We need to pay attention to who we vote for and they need to be vetted well, before the election!
Too good!
This is an example of what it's like to live under Socialism. Logic goes out the window! Where are all of the organic green groups? Where's Michele O. the Food Police Enforcer, saying that it's healthy living? No where to be found. Take back our Country. 'Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.'
You must buy your food from the government approved store, get your healthcare insurance from the government approved provider, your student loan from the Department of Education to go to the state run school, your car from Government Motors and you must bank with an institution that is fully compliant with the government imposed diversity workforce.
If it looks like socialism, sounds like socialism and acts like socialism, it's socialism.
Go find some Jihadists. We're at war with Terrorism! Remember?
Spend some time examining the Invaders in the White House!
My mom and dad used to tell me that during the depression people would help each other.
Everyone had a garden and canned. And they shared all of it.
This is worse than any story I heard from my elders about the depression. At least they were able to grow a garden and help one another. This is no government, this is slavery to the max. I take that back, it's a downright SIN!!!!
Ever notice that the true manifestation of liberalism is tyranny?
They'd tell you they want no restrictions on any kind of behavior THEY want to live with. But other people's freedom, well, forget it. You're too stupid to make decisions for yourself.
Count me in, only I want the hard vegies like potatoes and cucumbers, at least than we might knock some sense into them.
November 2010 and 2012.
Remember everything. Help others to learn and see. Help them to make it to the polls. All lawful voting methods must be used.
Orrrrr…..
plant them in pots scattered around the yard and patio.
Whatever you do, DON'T YOU DARE SUBMIT!!!!!!!!
Someone please hand me my shotgun, I have some "scattering" to do.
I wonder if this bunch of Marxists actually know what will happen when they go to the streets and try to take away our guns?
why do elected officials like to call themselves ceo's? ceo is a business designation, elected officals have names like county board president, mayor, governor, president, and dog catcher. why do they need to try and pass themseves off as businesman, when they do whatever they can to destroy business.
He would have been in less trouble if he had grown marijuana. Or possibly carrots that Michelle Obama wants everyone to eat.
I can see it now –
Nanny Cop: "We have a report that you are growing vegetables illegally on your property."
Home owner: "No sir, nothing growing here but this Marijuana.''
Nanny Cop: "Very well sir. Sorry to trouble you, but we have to check out any tips we get. Carry on."
Don't get me started on zero tolerance. They just throw judgment out the window. Where is the wisdom of Solomon, when we need it?
You can never knock sense into a cement filled skull. But I like the hard veggie toss.
If you grow too much food for yourself and your neighbors, the government gets irate because it is going against their "starvation for all" program.
I remember a Green Acres episode where Oliver got busted by the Feds for growing too much wheat, I think it was. That was obviously meant to be comedy, and yet, here we are.
Not any babies, but I know of a few politicians I'd like to see cut in half! Or quartered.
Well that about strikes the nail on the head. To bad its actually happening. Never thought I'd see the day, not in America anyways.
In his case it stands for Clueless Elected Orrifice.
This is INSANE!!! What's next…..Sir, you have too many trees in your yard?? Too many flower beds??? One too many rocking chairs on your front porch??
I know what we have…..ONE too MANY government bureaucrats all up in our business!!!!! Get out of our gardens, off our lawns, and most importantly…..OUT OF OUR LIVES!!!!
.223 or 7.62?
It's definately socialism!
hard veggie toss…sounds like something Greg Gutfeld would say. I don't even want to think about it…
Actually, in THIS case, he wasn't elected. He was appointed. The position is sort of like City Manager–appointed by the Mayor and City Council or, in this case, by the County Commissioners
My wife and her best friend often take the kids to parks to play and do kid stuff. We have three kids, the friend has four. On a weekly basis, they get asked if they're running a day care, and on at least one occasion have been told that they had to leave because the park wasn't put there for day cares to use. Apparently, one can also have too many children.
There was a man in Nebraska who grew some wheat as feed for his cattle who was SUED by the Department of Agriculture, even though he bought his seed in Nebraska, his farm was in Nebraska, his cattle were in Nebraska and his crop NEVER crossed a state line. The basis of their suit was that it affected "interstate commerce" because, if he hadn't grown it himself, he'd have had to buy it from someone who DOES engage in interstate commerce and therefore his crop diminished the amount of wheat that WOULD have been in interstate commerce! A more irrational, idiotic excuse for doing this is hard to imagine.
"The difference between a welfare state and a totalitarian one is a matter of time"
–Ayn Rand
Do you have your papers?
Reductio ad Absurdum:
EAT YOUR VEGETABLES BUT DON'T GROW THEM!
Abject idiocy.
Yep Burris is a low life, almost sub human,
"Therefore, the Lord saw to it that morons would roam the earth, for how else would He try man's patience."
Replace incumbents at ALL levels!
Doesn't Michelle have a garden at the White House?
Crop growers like this one and rogue lemonade stand operators are ruining this country. I just saw a felonious type trying to actually sell the apples off of his back yard tree for profit!!!
DeKalb county is right down the road from me. A more liberal/socialist county you won't find in this part of Georgia. This situation suits them to a tee.
Sorry, I call BS on this one. I wish the story had more information. I have to go by what I saw. What I saw was a HUGE plot of land. This guy wasn't growing his family some cabbage and a few tomatoes. He was *farming* and if the county says you can't farm in a certain area, you can't.
So I did a little research and found this: "Enforcement officers cited Miller for growing too many vegetables and having unpermitted workers on his property."
Again, he was *farming* that land, not "growing veggies". When you are hiring people (without permits) to work your "garden" you no longer have a garden.
Shame on Reason.tv for spreading manure about this story.
Welcome to the People's Socialist Paradise of DeKalb !
Anything that is not mandatory is prohibited.
Have a nice day – you hear? (We know where to find you … )
And that's what will correct this stupidity…removing the stupid person…
Fence it off, before it spreads…
Remember how kudzu got started…
Something about using your own personal property the way you want to goes against your grain…?
If he's using illegals, that's a different kettle of fishing…
But private property USED to mean, "mine to do with as I feel"…
And what's worse…farming…or a junkyard full of rusting cars…
Remember, craziness like this won't go away, till we make liberals go away.
I thought the produce was pretty good , even fiends need food.
YOU MUST NOT ! That's what the massa ordered , that's what the massa want.
LOL! Anyone got a catapault?
Word. My city recently passed an ordinance allowing chickens to be raised in the city limits. The intent was to help the in-city-limits folks save some money by raising proteins along with their veggies. Imagine that!
I fully expect the federal government to attempt to control every aspect of our home gardens in the very near future. It's already nearly impossible for the home gardener to find soybean seeds – while China is buying up all the farmers' soybean crops.
Just another step in the direction of socialism. Punish those who do well and reward those who sit by the wayside doing nothing except holding out their hands out for a free ride.
So what if IT IS farming?
Some people are so brainwashed that they can find any intrusion acceptable!! they've fooled themselves into thinking they're reasonable thinking people.That he had help so it must be farming!!And we can't have that! Uh, why?
Give me a break.
If the neightbors aren't bothered and no one is in danger so what? If there's a major problem let the neighbors petition city/county hell after they've tried to work it out with him.
I don't see a problem with him having people come help him with it. When I moved into my house I had people help me. When I repainted I had someone help me. When I harvested vegs from a small garden I had some help getting it all canned and stored away.
All I can say is if I lived there I'd be planting a garden right now! Or hanging out helping him!!
Folks got to start standing up and standing by people who are in these situations.
Why do we have so many "rules" like this one??
1–Because people have long turned to the government to help them if they had a dispute with their neighbors rather than working it out themselves.2–government officials have to justify their existence so they keep passing laws 3–they're in bed with interesst that are opposed to the people's interests.
Yeah! he he….Don't mess with angry Americans with Rights!
Take it from a Georgian, DeKalb County is forever lost to the statists column. The only real challenge these DeKalb officials face in holding their office is the prospect of a criminal conviction.
That's horrible that some would treat you & your family that way!!!!! Yep, pretty soon there will be a sign at the park stating a two kid limit per adult!!! Makes me sick!! Tell them next time, that you pay your taxes and to get out of your face!! Come back down to the south, and I promise you will NOT be treated that way!!
Awesome quote!
And BOY HOWDY!
So what….let him farm, it is HIS land. If the county just realized he was 'farming' then he is doing it at his own expense with no subsidies from any level of government. But of course statist like yourself cannot sleep at night unless you control EVERYTHING.
I am not a Statist, I am a hard-core conservative. I was in the Army under Carter. I cast my 1980 vote for Reagan with joy in my heart, and have never voted for a Statist, Socialist, or Communist since that day.
MY background on this farming story: 15 years ago, I lived next to a man who wanted fresh eggs and started raising chickens. This was in a residential neighborhood in suburban Fort Worth. Within a month, the smell was so bad you couldn't sit out on your porch. It literally made you sick to go outside. The city found out and they had a law on the books against raising livestock; they shut him down.
Enforcing the law is not "Statist", sir. If the people of that community voted in other people who put on the books that they live in a residential community and farming is not allowed, that is the LAW. This was a LAW against FARMING that Miller knowingly broke.
To paraphrase you, "But of course anarchists like yourself cannot sleep at night unless there are no laws anywhere that don't allow people to do whatever they want at any time."
For a conservative you seem to have no problem with laws on the books that subvert an individuals private property rights just because something 'smells' bad.
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