Homeowners' associations suck. Especially this one.

I've heard some stories about homeowners' associations over the years -- indeed, I've been involved with one or two myself -- but this one takes the cake. Courtesy of Pam's House Blend and via our friends at the St. Petersburg Times:

On Friday morning, Joseph Prudente put on a pair of shorts and his "Grandpa Gone Wild" T-shirt. He took off his wedding band and put his heart medication in a plastic Wal-Mart bag. Then his daughter drove him to jail. Grandpa had time to do.

His crime? He had disobeyed a court order that he sod the lawn at his Beacon Woods home.

And get this...NO BAIL! Yes, sorry Grandpa, we can't have you running around willy nilly in the streets while that brown lawn of yours exits[sic]. We have to protect our law abiding citizens, so it's indefinate [sic] jail time for you. Whew! Glad I can finally walk the streets in St. Pete's [sic] again.

Astonishing. Here we are, three weeks from a presidential election that will change the course of history, paying $3 a gallon for gas and watching our economy circle the drain (the record Dow Jones leap today notwithstanding), and a Florida court sends a man to jail -- without bail!! -- for failing to sod his lawn?! I've said it here before, I know, but never with as much sheer fervor and incredulity: WHAT THE FUCK?!?!

Here's a 66-year-old man in fucking jail, and all the homeowners' association president can say is, "It's a sad situation, but in the end, I have to say he brought it upon himself." Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Some people in Florida have some really fucked up values. So do some judges.