Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 3, 1992                   TAG: 9203030281
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

FORGOTTEN DIMMER SWITCH ENDS IN BRUSH WITH THE LAW

The warrant, it later turned out, was for failing to pay a fine levied against her for letting the weeds on her property grow too tall.

Cleola Edwards, 59, was driving to work one day last week when she was stopped by a Richmond police officer. When the officer ran a routine check of her license, he was told by a dispatcher that she had an outstanding warrant issued by the court.

Edwards was put in the police cruiser and taken downtown. When she arrived at the city lock-up at General District Court, a deputy required that she be handcuffed, Edwards said. She was fingerprinted and placed in a holding cell for about 2 1/2 hours.

The warrant against her was from October 1987 and involved a house she owns. Edwards said the tenants were supposed to have taken care of the lawn.

But because she owns the property, she was cited by city officials for weeds in the yard that had grown taller than 12 inches. That's a class-one misdemeanor, according to O.K. Priddy, Richmond's environmental compliance officer. Court records showed that the $70 fine hadn't been paid.

"All these murderers that they have out here that they can't find. They . . . have nothing better to do than pick up an elderly lady . . . put me through all of this," Edwards said.

Police officials said officers normally don't know why the suspect is wanted on such a warrant, called a "capias."

"That could be for weeds or for a disorderly [conduct] or for a robbery . . . or for anything," said Lt. F. Wayne Johnson of the city's South Side precinct.

Col. Marty Tapscott, the police bureau's chief, said officers must work under strict guidelines: "You do have to bring the [person] along . . . to try to get it taken care of."

Priddy said issuing warrants for a case like Edwards' is normal procedure for his office, which handles more than 10,000 complaints a year regarding weeds, old tires, broken-down cars and illegal landfills.

A month ago, a man was pulled over for a traffic violation and arrested after police computers showed a warrant was on file from 1988 for having an inoperable car on his property, Priddy said.

Edwards' bill came to $137 for the old fine, plus interest, plus the fine for not paying, plus court costs. Her husband paid part of the tab and the couple went home, she said.

Distraught over her brush with jail life, Edwards said she is now apprehensive about even driving her car.

"It was all for $70 over cutting some weeds," she said.