I've posted on this before.
This is not ugly. Look! A kitty!
PERKASIE, Pennsylvania — Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop. Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.
Perkasie is just a couple of miles from me. At my first convenience I'm going to try to contact her to offer my support, tonight or this weekend.
Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside,
Then STFU, Perkasie.
And what the Hell is a "formal law", anyway? That sentence should have read "there is no law against". I think that word "formal" shows bias by a writer that thinks that an informal call from a local potentate should be the law.
a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about.
How do you think the town official got wind of this terrible eyesore? I'm betting the same neighborhood busybodies that courageously left anonymous notes have friends in high places. If a neighbor politely came to the door and voiced their position to my face, I could at least respect them for doing it that way. I'd still laugh in their faces, but I'd respect them while I was doing it. Leaving anonymous notes is cowardly and would cause me to do something like hang some really interesting things out for them to see, right next to the Gadsden flag.
Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, and Hawaii have passed laws restricting the rights of local authorities to stop residents using clotheslines. Another five states are considering similar measures, said Lee, 35, a former lawyer who quit to run the non-profit group.
Yea!
"The consensus in most communities is that people don't want to see everybody else's laundry."
...said Carl Weiner, a lawyer for about 50 homeowners associations in suburban Philadelphia. If you wish to live in an association with such restriction so that your delicate eyes won't be offended by the horror of laundry, that's your right and freedom. But Froehlich doesn't. No one can legally stop her. Neeners!
This is what line-dried laundry is like. You can't get it out of a bottle of fabric softener.
Line-drying laundry for a family of five saves $83 a month in electric bills, she said.
I have a family of 5. I don't think it's that much, but it surely does save money. Not just energy, but clothes last considerably longer. Drying with high heat and tumbling is harder on clothes that most people realize. Also, sunlight kills fungus and bacteria.
Kevin Firth, who owns a two-bedroom condominium in a Dublin, Pennsylvania housing association, said he was fined $100 by the association for putting up a clothesline in a common area. "It made me angry and upset," said Firth, a 27-year-old carpenter. "I like having the laundry drying in the sun. It's something I have always done since I was a little kid."
Then, Mr. Firth, you shouldn't have moved into a condo. Dummy. You don't even own the land you live on. What does "common area" mean? It means "not yours". You can't do anything other than walk there, and then probably only during association-approved hours, wearing only association-approved shoes.
God I hate condos and the little nazis that run them. They are festering tumors of collectivist mentality and political correctness. Those are the people that want to impose their vision of sameness on the world. They are pod people. They distrust and fear individualism.
My one joy in this is tends to pit condo-dwellers against each other. Give that most condo types are very Liberal and PC, this issue is a "green" one because "it's helping to save the planet". These people insist on CFL lightbulbs in all common areas and snoop into each other's trash to make sure they are recycling correctly, but put up a clothesline to save kilowatts of energy a day? Are you mad? Think of the property values!
To end this on a happy note:
For Froehlich, the "right to hang" is the embodiment of the American tradition of freedom. "If my husband has a right to have guns in the house, I have a right to hang laundry," said Froehlich, who is writing a book on the subject.
Put me down for an autographed copy, Mrs. Froehlich. Her and her husband are the kind of neighbors I want. Carin, if you see this, you and the mister are invited to the Perk for dinner on me.
I saw this on FARK, of course. The comments are hilarious.
I found her! We've made contact and my offer of support (and dinner) has been accepted! More later, but here is her site: Laundrywisdom.com. I will add a permanent link in the Plugs later. Also see dryingforfreedom.com, which is about a film in production about the issue.
Friday, November 20, 2009 at 8:57AM 
Annoyed White Male
