(Memphis) When 81-year-old Cassie Cannon got a notice from the city threatening to fine him, he didn’t mince words.
“I cussed,” he said.
Cannon said the city is going to charge him $50 a day if he doesn’t cut down weeds taking over his backyard in Orange Mound.
“I think they’re nuts,” he said.
Cannon used to work for the city sanitation department before he got hurt.
He said a neighbor recently helped him cut his front yard, but it’s starting to grow up again.
“That little gal across the street come over here and cut the yard with her little boys,” Cannon said.
No one has mowed the back.
His mower is in the shop, and even if he had it, he couldn’t push it.
Cannon is on oxygen and struggles to walk with his cane. He’s also on a fixed income of $400 a month.
“I ain’t got no money to pay nobody to cut,” he said.
Back in the day, Cannon said he not only cut his grass, but planted flowers and weeded beds.
John Harper, the city’s ground services director, says homeowners are given notice, then given two weeks to cut their grass. If they don’t, they go to environmental court and the judge can assess a fine.
Cannon said all he’s worried about now is who’s going to cut his backyard and keep it cut this summer.
“Jesus ain’t going to come down here and cut it,” he said.