Man Jailed For Brown Grass And Then...

[Guest guest]

Tamarama♥

Date: Oct 13, 2008 5:01 PM

Thanks:

Yesterday, I posted a bulletin about a man who was jailed for having a

brown lawn. The home owners association had mandated his lawn be

re-sodded (which he could not afford) and was put in jail. The following

is an update of this story and fuses the ideal principles of love,

unity, and community efforts to help each other.

*************************************************************

BAYONET POINT — Andy Law was eating breakfast with his girlfriend,

Dinan, at their Hudson home Saturday morning when she pushed the

newspaper at him.

" Read this, " she said.

It was a story in the St. sburg Times about a 66-year-old

grandfather, ph Prudente, who was jailed without bail on Friday

because his lawn was brown. For nearly a year, he ignored letters from

his Beacon Woods homeowners' association and a court order because, he

said, he barely had the money to pay his mortgage. He was trying to keep

his house and didn't care about the lawn.

" This is not right, " Law said. He was livid.

Law's own handyman business had slowed to nothing, and both he and Dinan

lost money when they sold their houses to buy this, their dream home on

5 acres, which they likely will lose. Both are considering bankruptcy.

Law is a Marine and a problem solver. He is not used to feeling

helpless.

But, he thought, he could fix this for Mr. Prudente.

" I'm going to do something, " Law told his girlfriend.

" What can you do? " she said.

" I'm going to help, " he said, and was out the door.

• • •

Pat Prudente was in her bedroom when she heard a knock at the door. " Go

away, " she thought.

She was in a black daze, thinking of her husband. They've been married

for 23 years and met while both worked at a hospital in New York.

Pat is fiery and ph is calm. Even as he left for jail, clutching a

grocery bag full of medicine, he tried to joke and make her feel better.

The two moved into their four-bedroom Beacon Woods home 10 years ago and

they live off his pension.

The knock was insistent.

" Fine, " Pat thought, and got up.

It was Law, who found their address in an old phone book. He told her

they were going to get her husband home and started calling everyone he

knew to come help.

He got a guy to let him borrow a machine to remove the old grass. Two

companies donated sod. Soon, the yard was full of people. Pasco County

Commissioner Jack no also read the story, found the house, canceled

a speech and went to work.

" I've never seen someone so important get dirty, " said Lehr,

32, who is Pat's daughter and calls ph her dad. Lehr, her husband

and their two young daughters moved into the house two years ago after

barely scraping by on their own.

and Pat kept trying to feed the strangers working on their

lawn, but they kept saying no, to not spend their money.

A man came to fix the sprinkler. People dropped off checks. A neighbor

looked at all the work being done and cried because she felt her faith

in humanity restored.

By 6 that evening, the yard was done. There were blocks of new grass,

red mulch, flowers and a working sprinkler.

A few minutes after everyone left, there was a sudden, thick downpour.

stood in it, feeling the rain, arms wide. And when it stopped,

there was a rainbow stretching over the house.

She looked up and thought, " Our luck is changing.

"

• • •

ph Prudente had a court hearing Sunday morning, arranged by no,

Pasco Sheriff Bob White and others. After hearing testimony from a

Beacon Woods Civic Association representative that the work had been

done, Circuit Judge W. Lowell Bray said ph Prudente could be

released, though he still faces court and association fines.

When Pat Prudente drove up to the jail at noon, her husband was already

out and waiting on a bench. She flew out of the car and kissed him. He

said he had been treated fine. The guards were nice to him. And then he

asked his wife if it was okay if they dropped off another inmate, a

woman who also had just been released, at her home because she didn't

have a ride. She said " of course.

"

The rest of the family waited at the house, along with no and his

wife and children, and Law and his girlfriend.

ph Prudente didn't know about the work that had been done at his

home, about the strangers who came together to help him.

And when he pulled in the driveway and stepped out of his car, he cried.

" Welcome home, " Law said, and shook his hand.

Sullivan can be reached at esullivan@... or (813) 909-4609.

Only Good News:

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