Legal Juice
There are folks who garden in more traditional garb (clothes), and then there are the Pierces of Boulder, Colorado. They were spotted gardening in front of their rental unit with very little on – Ms. Pierce was sporting pasties and a thong; Mr. Pierce was was just wearing a thong. Some uptight neighbors called the cops. As reported by the Daily Camera:
… the officers who responded confirmed what the Pierces already believed to be true: Their dress, though scanty, was legal.
As long as a person’s genitalia are covered, no law has been broken, Boulder police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley said.
Yeah! Take that, you uptight, puritanical … What’s that? You say there’s a nuisance clause in my lease? And I’m going to get kick out anyway?
… the Pierces received a letter form Annie Mount at Boulder Housing Partners, their landlord, warning that the behavior was a “nuisance” to the community and needed to be changed. A clause in the Pierces’ lease prohibits “nuisance” behavior, and violating the lease agreement can be grounds for eviction.
Kind of a vague term, no? Yes.
Betsy Martens, executive director of the Boulder Housing Partners, which administers Boulder’s affordable housing program, acknowledged that defining the word nuisance is one of the “most difficult concepts in the law.”
If Boulder tries the nuclear option, the Pierce’s won’t go down without a fight.
“We want our freedom,” Robert Pierce said. “We want exactly what the law gives you, and we don’t want to be harassed about it.”