Tear Down This Wall. ... NOT !

Norma Essex, 76, of Centerville, Minnesota, who built a 4-foot retaining wall herself at age 62, is my new hero for the day:

Two days after a 76-year-old Centerville woman finished serving a house-arrest sentence following a long-running building code dispute, city officials said the case stemming from a backyard retaining wall is closed.

Norma Essex served the 10-day sentence at her home without incident. The sentence was handed down after she pleaded guilty in December 2009 to a misdemeanor charge of failing to obtain a permit for an obstruction in her front yard.

The city does not expect to pursue a civil lawsuit as a next step in the fight because too much money has been spent on the issue already, a Centerville city official said Monday.
...
Essex's house at 7333 Old Mill Road sits perched above Clearwater Creek. More than 14 years ago, she built a retaining wall behind her home to keep her small back yard from eroding down the steep bank. Because she did the work herself, she said, she thought she didn't need a permit.

In 2008, Essex trucked in dirt to build an extension to the wall. Her neighbors complained to the city, and the complaints eventually focused on three bricks that Essex placed on the edge of her yard to protect a sprinkler head from the neighbor's lawn mower, she said.

The neighbors argued she should have obtained a building permit for the bricks. Their objections reached City Hall, and at the request of the council, City Attorney Kurt Glaser decided to prosecute Essex for the retaining wall and the bricks.
Essex was charged with two misdemeanor counts of failure to obtain a permit for obstruction in the right of way and two misdemeanor counts for failure to obtain a building permit. Three of the four counts were dropped with the guilty plea.

She was given one year to get a permit for the bricks in her front yard or face a 10-day jail sentence. She removed the bricks, and the city then asked Essex to take down the retaining wall.

She refused, after being advised by landscaping contractors that tearing it down would do more harm than good. She was then given until Aug. 11 of this year to remove the wall. Essex did not tear down the wall. She started serving her 10-day sentence on Aug. 11, finishing Saturday.

Talk about civil disobedience: you do the "crime", you serve the time. With neighbors like that, I'd be in line to get a permit to build a bigger wall...

I'm sick and tired of you setting me up ...
Setting me up just to knock-a knock-a knock-a me down down down ...

or how about a little Petty instead?

Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground and I wont back down.
...
Well I know what's right, I got just one life.
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground and I won't back down.