Carin Froehlich of Perkasie, Pennsylvania is staging her own private little rebellion against the powers-that-be.

The 54-year-old grandmother is fighting for the right to … bear arms? … host a Bible study? … fly an American flag?

No, no, and no.

Mrs. Froehlich is fighting for the right to hang her laundry on an outdoor clothesline in her front yard.

Although there is no ordinance in Perkasie currently prohibiting an increasingly retro practice, Mrs. Froehlich was asked by a local official to “stop drying clothes in the sun.” Neighbors have sent her anonymous (the cowards!) notes complaining that they don’t want to see her “unmentionables,” although this clothesline freedom fighter is a discreet lady. While she continues to hang garments and linens outside, the underwear is hung indoors.

Yes, it’s all utterly ridiculous, but Carin Froehlich and others like her are enmeshed in the proverbial David v. Goliath property-rights fight. The opposition are typically large, lawyered-up housing associations of condominiums and townhouses. (Froehlich’s 18th century farmhouse is located across-the-street from a neighborhood of pretty, suburban-style homes.)

These housing associations often require residents to adhere to strict covenants that often forbid green-friendly, money-saving practices. Besides clotheslines, some ban solar panels, awnings, and even vegetable gardens, and violators face stiff penalties.

Considering that nearly 60 million Americans live in such associations, it’s hardly a "fringe" infringement of property rights.

Uniform aesthetics and stable property values are the core reasons why many Americans voluntarily submit to such uncreative restrictions and rat on neighbors who don’t comply with the rules. In exchange, they value the opportunity to live in safe, modern, well-maintained residential areas with amenities like pools and tennis courts.

But more than a few independent-minded Americans are having none of it.

Project Laundry List is on an ambitious national mission to make air-drying and cold-water washing a widely practiced frugal virtue. The organization has even compiled a list of “laundry heroes.” Among them is Richard Penley, president of a Maine-based company that sells wooden and plastic clothespins.

Project Laundry List also has an ongoing petition campaign which requests the “First Family of the United States to line dry their clothes on the White House lawn during a one day photo op. This symbolic act will send the message to America and the world that our nation is ready to regain energy independence.”

It’s all in good fun, and it’s also deadly serious.

Some states, like Florida, have enacted powerful pro-clothesline legislation, a direct challenge to draconian zoning laws and the mandates of overzealous landlords: “The adoption of an ordinance by a governing body … which prohibits … clotheslines, or other energy devices based on renewable resources is expressly prohibited.”

Whether it’s a debate over laundry, fences, noise, or animals  — what citizens have a right to do or not do with their plot of land, however humble or grand, continues to be one of the country’s most contentious and colorful battles.

Hang in there, Carin!

Isabel (Izzy) Lyman's op. eds. and articles have appeared in the Miami Herald, Wall Street Journal, Dallas Morning News, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Investor's Business Daily, Boston Herald, Los Angeles Daily Journal, National Review, Homeschooling Today, Chronicles, The New American, Daily Oklahoman, Middle American News, Ventura County Star, and Lancaster Sunday News.













 

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rprew said:

... Carin is being overly kind to hang her "unmentionables" indoors. I would not only be hanging them out on the line, I'd be taking in laundry from others, ESPECIALLY the "unmentionables"! She isn't a part of the homeowner's association and is therefore not bound by their silly rules. Perhaps the association needs to construct a tall fence around their perimeter so that members can avoid being "offended" by neighboring parcels.

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November 20, 2009
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Stophel said:

	... If she's not part of any home association, she can just tell them to p--s off. If she is part of one of these ridiculous planned communities, I have NO compassion for her, nor anyone else who signs a contract to participate in such a program.
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November 20, 2009
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Izzy said:

HOA/point of clarification I think it's safe to assume that Carin is not part of any HomeOwners Association - her older home just happens to be located across the street from a newer subdivision where folks, who live there, either aren't allowed to hang their clothes outdoors or consider it gauche to do so. Carin is being pressured to conform to the so-called prevailing standards of her community (or, at least, those in her neighborhood).

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November 20, 2009 | url
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DDW said:

	Right on, rprew and Stophel!!! I'd do exactly the same thing, making sure that some of the "unmentionables" had some biological stains that would not come out in the wash. What do you want to bet that the majority of the fops giving her trouble are of the "liberal" left persuasion? Which shows another "liberal" quality: confusion. The lady should be given approval for being "green", no?
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November 20, 2009
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Carie said:

hanging out I've hung out laundry since I was a kid helping my mom. You would think the complainers would see how environmentally friendly this is. Why is it that those that come to an area, where people have lived before they got there, expect others to change their behavior. I've seen this numerous times in all areas of the country. It goes further than the laundry issue. What about the farmers that have had to sell off land to make ends meet. Then the new neighbors start complaining about dust from tractors, or animal smells-where did they think they were moving?

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November 20, 2009 | url
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Stophel said:

	... It's the same thing with putting wind turbines off the coast of Hyannisport. It spoils the Kennedy's view.
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November 20, 2009
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DDW said:

	Carie What you're writing about is exactly what has happened to California in general and Southern California in particular.
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November 21, 2009
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Still Free said:

	Does Al Gore know about this archaic practice? Think the complainers dry their thongs in the dryer? You betcha! There is nothing better than the way line-dried clothes smell, including "unmentionables." But, come on guys and gals, isn't it good to know that the "Undie Cops" are on duty?
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November 22, 2009
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