Malicious mowing and the law

Pranksters mowed a bicycle into the hillside of Highway 14 last fall and created a controversy this spring.

Anyone traveling on Highway 14 just east of the Riverfront Drive exit likely saw the larger than life bicycle image with surprisingly round wheels and precisely drawn frame. Apparently motorists were noticing it too much. The Minnesota Department of Transportation took to mowing it this spring - in essence, "erasing" the hillside graffitti.

Letter writers and others took exception, noting the art on an all natural canvass could not be as bad looking and distracting as billboards are on other highways. One caller suggested that MnDOT broke the ditch mowing law by mowing outside the July 31-Aug. 31 time period.

Well, that's not exactly true. MnDOT spokeswoman Rebecca Arndt says MnDOT has the right to mow for weed control and safety any time throughout the summer. MnDOT says it mowed the bicycle for safety reasons as it was distracting drivers. When MnDOT does mow for such purposes it is to mow to a height of no shorter than 12 in. Anyone have a ruler?

As for the bicycle artists, they were in violation of Minnesota Statute 160.2715 (a) 11, which says it is a misdemeanor to "deface, mar, damage, or tamper with any structure, work, material, equipment, tools, signs, markers, signals, paving, guardrails, drains or any other highway appurtenance on or along any highway."

Statute 160.232 restricts MnDOT from "clear cutting entire sections" of right of way, except from July 31 to Aug. 31. But it does not restrict MnDOT from "spot mowing" as needed for "control of our right of way," says Arndt.

The art itself was intriguing in one respect. It left many wondering how the artists created such precisely round wheels from what seems more or less to be a "free hand" drawing. Word on the street is they used a rope, giving rise to the theory that the perpetrator did not act alone on this "grassy knoll." The accomplice stood in the center of the circle holding a rope tied to the mower, and the lead artist then simply walked in a circle with the rope held tight as a guide.

Have to appreciate the ingenuity.