Can the city stop you from building a snowman?   I mean, has a snowman on your own property ever hurt anyone?  And if a particular one hasn’t, then it should be innocent until proven guilty, right?  Apparently not all city officials see things this way.

Billy Powers, of Anchorage, Alaska, builds a 25 foot tall snowman called Snowzilla every year.  The city ordered him not to build it last year, but he did anyway.  Supposedly this giant snowman is violating city land use codes.  City officials said Powers has ignored land use codes in Anchorage for 13 years and accumulated more than $100,000 in fines.

I’ll admit I don’t know the whole story, so maybe there’s more going on than what’s in the news release.   But based on the article, what’s the big deal? Are there land use codes in Alaska against building giant snowmen?  I sure hope not!  (Surely there’s no rules like that here in Arkansas, where we rarely get enough snow to do anything like that… but if we ever do get a ginormous snowfall, you’ll see some amazing snow creations!)

One of the commenters said Powers has junk in his yard, which would probably be the reason for the $100,000 in fines.  But why is the city manager complaining about a snowman?   If the guy is violating land use codes in other ways, then prosecute him for that.  Why in the world is he getting in trouble for building a giant snowman?

Of course, this isn’t the first time government has done something stupid.  But this is stretching it beyond normal stupidity…