Green Team Wins One: Potty Planter Gets Legal “Green” Light

April 5th, 2011. By LucyC

Potty Planter Not Appreciated. City officials in Oak Ridge, TN have been told they went too far recently, in citing resident William Terry’s potty planter as rubbish.

Rubbish! said Judge Robert A. McNees III. His wisdom on the matter is that the city’s understanding of rubbish “is so broad it could apply to most containers and thus over-broad for the purpose of including Mr. Terry’s commode.”

Mr. Terry’s commode is strategically placed on his front lawn (see video) to make the most of the sun as it is home to a ‘variety of flowers’. (Terry admits to not know what kind of flowers, but hey—the devil’s in the details, after all.)

The city had claimed that the toilet shouldn’t occupy Terry’s front lawn as it qualified as rubbish and therefore Terry was in violation of local property maintenance codes. The crapper is crap—and should be dealt with appropriately—i.e., thrown out. Most likely in that scenario the potty would have made the landfill. In fact, Terry told the News Sentinel prior to the ruling, “I say it’s art, I say it’s a flowerpot, I say it’s a way to kind of be green and keep stuff out of the landfill.

Had it gone to the landfill, there’s every possibility it could have become home to wildflowers and then been photographed by some keen-eyed hobbyist and the photo gone viral and ultimately ended up on your computer as a screen saver. 

Then again, maybe not. 

In any event, feeling emboldened by having won his case, Terry is harboring plans to expand. “I might get two toilets and put them beside what you could call my driveway.” Just so long as no one hangs toilet paper next to them he should be okay. After all—that might require a permit—and insurance.

Krispy Kreme Heist High. I say this guy was in it for the Krispy Kremes! A 20-year old was recently arrested in Ocala, FL, for allegedly making off with a truck load of the famous doughnuts. (Oh—what I would give to have to eat my way through a truck load of Kripsy Kremes…)

Randall Travis Roberts reportedly made off with 338 boxes of the wonderful, sugary, iced, chocolatey, mapley, jammy balls of bliss, only to end up in a minor traffic accident. He was probably thinking about the doughnuts and not the red light…completely understandable—it’s very hard to concentrate in that type of situation. Really. I know.

In any event, the police were called to the scene and Roberts admitted to stealing the truck from outside a Wal-Mart, according to the Star-Banner. So he was charged with grand theft auto—and possession of 10 grams of marijuana. Oh, I forgot that bit. Seems he had some pot in his possesion, which is known to increase one’s appetite for doughnuts. 

In his own defense, Roberts reportedly told the police that he hijacked the truck because he was tired of walking (?) and because “he needed somewhere to sleep.” Don’t ask. 

But in all this he wasn’t charged with eating any of the doughnuts. What a waste! Of the doughnuts, I mean.

This was posted on Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 at 11:35 am and is filed under Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.