Apparently the City Council in PERKASIE, Pennsylvania has very little to worry about.

Hmmmmm…Peraskie has a property crime rate of 2.12%, which is a third of a point lower than the rest of the state’s average and the violent crime rate is barely a third of the state’s.  So, I suppose that the boys in City Hall really really have to hunt for something to get their panties in a wad about.

Enter Carin Froehlich.

Carin Froehlich likes to hang her laundry outside.

The City Council doesn’t like for her to do so.

Carin, who lives in an 18th Century Farm House is obviously an ‘earth shoe kinda gal’.   She’s one of a rapidly increasing number of people in the US who like that “yard fresh” smell of air dried laundry. 

There are no laws on the books of Peraskie banning the practice of ‘outside drying”, but some bozo down at City Hall called Ms Carin and asked her to stop drying her clothes in the sun.   She has also pissed  off a few neighbors as well.  TWO of them wrote anonymous notes saying they did not want her undies a flappin’ in the wind.   Anonymous?  COWARDS!

“They said it made the place look like trailer trash,” Ms. Froehlich offered. “They said they didn’t want to look at my ‘unmentionables.’”

Froehlich hangs her underwear outside.  And she believes in her constitutional “RIGHT TO HANG”. 

This debate is so heated that there is a group, Project Laundry List, which argues people can save money, protect the environment  and reduce their, along with Cairin’s carbon footprint by not using their fancy store bought electric and gas dryers.  And yes, the group is so big it actually has an executive director, Alexander Lee.  I like him already!  Alex, not that we’re on a first name basis, says that dryer use accounts for about 6 percent of U.S. residential electricity use.

Some states, Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Colorado and Hawai’i, to name a few have already put laws into place protecting the “RIGHT TO HANG”.  Several others are working on similar laws.  Oh, yes, Lee, who is a lawyer, quit his practice to head up this group. 

The bad guys in all this are those nasty home owners assocations and housing authorities.  About 20 percent of the US population live in condos, town houses, and residential communities with “associations”.  That’s about 60 million folks.  Most of these associations have rules or by-laws against hanging, and usually enforce them with fines, or even worse, property liens. 

Imagine if 60 million people started to hang dry their sheets what the impact on the environment would be?  Now, I’m not an environmentalist, tree hugging, whacko, and I usually celebrate Earth Day by not tossing my plastic water bottle out of the SUV on the way home from the gym one day a year, but even I can see the impact.

And that’s not the point.

It’s her laundry, her financial and personal decision, and her yard.

Another lawyer, from the dark other side, says these rules and by-laws are there to protect property values.  He said it’s an ‘asthetic issue’.  Come on boys, it’s not like she’s parking a big rig in the front yard.

He also said that most people don’t want to see other people’s laundry. 

I’ve never avoided a street because of drying laundry.   Crime, hookers, drug dealers, pot holes, gangs - yes. LAUNDRY – no!

My Mother hung laundry out all my childhood.  It’s a good memory and a good thing.  The smell of clean, air dried sheets in the summer reminds me of home, a Mother who loved me, and peaceful family comfort.  If it wasn’t a good thing why would all the fabric softener people advertise “the air dried smell”, Downy Fresh and all that?

The dark other side lawyer added, “There is more awareness of the impact on the environment, I would not be surprised to see people questioning these restrictions.”  Well, DUH!

For Froehlich, the “RIGHT TO HANG” is the embodiment of the American tradition of freedom.

And she’s right!

She stated her opinion this way, “If my husband has a right to have guns in the house, I have a right to hang laundry.” 

(Oh yes, she’s writing a book on the subject, which I will have to say is overkill…do we really need a book, when I’ve said it all right here?)

BTW, hanging your laundry outside can save you about $80 a month!  That’s $960 a year.

And since the girl lives in a city where it is highly unlikely someone will steal her panties off the line, (see crime rate information above) the City Hall boys should just toughen up and butt out!