DRAWING A LINE; FENCE LAW STEPS ON PROPERTY RIGHTS.

Byline: SCOTT HOLLERAN / Local View

LA Crescenta resident Shawna Smith appears to understand the founding fathers' philosophy - and the principle of property rights - much better than the Glendale City Council does.

Smith, who has a chain-link fence in her front yard to protect her children, was among those recently threatened by the city of Glendale with jail if she does not remove her fence.

Smith, accused of violating the city's 77-year-old ban on front-yard fences, told a reporter, with clarity Thomas Jefferson probably would appreciate: ``If I want a fence on my property, then I should be able to do it.''

Glendale Neighborhood Services director Sam Engel disagrees, though he estimates that one in every 10 residents has a front-yard fence. ``Fences create a barrier where you no longer have a community,'' he recently said. ``People look out for themselves.''

And why shouldn't residents look out for themselves? Engel apparently thinks that personal responsibility threatens the community and that front yards - not values - create a sense of community. The opposite is true.

A neighbor who takes care of his or her property is productive and virtuous; the fruits of his or her labor help create a sense of shared values with other neighbors - and a better neighborhood.

However, Glendale bureaucrats, backed up by Mayor Larry Zarian and the Glendale City Council, continue to actively enforce the ban. They claim, through the ``threat'' of rampant individualists looking out for their own property, fences contribute to a higher crime rate.

That's especially hard to believe in Smith's case; La Crescenta, an annex of Glendale, is among the city's safest areas and Glendale consistently ranks among the safest cities with a population over 100,000 in the nation.

Nevertheless, throwing people in jail for putting a fence in their front yard is perfectly acceptable in the city of Glendale. Punishing those who use their property as they see fit isn't acceptable to the philosophy upon which America was founded: the idea of individual rights.

Individual rights are meaningless without property rights. The right to property means you have the right to make money to earn property and the right to use and dispose of your property.

Freedom of speech, for example, is worthless if you have no right to earn a living and use the products of your labor. Where property rights are violated - as in Glendale - the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is abrogated. As long as he or she doesn't violate anyone else's rights, government, whether federal, state or local, has no right to regulate how an individual uses his or her property.

Make no mistake - there is no right to a fence, or a home as such (nor do you have the right to construct a nuclear weapon in your back yard - that's an implied threat to the community). The right to property is a right not to an object but to an action - it means you have the right to build a fence in your front yard if it pleases you.

Mayor Zarian and others on the council, especially council member Ginger Bremberg, claim to recognize individual rights. It is time they acted on their professed conviction.

The Glendale City Council, increasingly a band of bullying busybodies, ought to rescind this archaic encroachment of individual rights. They should repeal the ban on front-yard fences and leave residents alone. Instead, the city of Glendale also reportedly has slapped Smith with a citation for not mowing her lawn.

Smith's children should be proud that their mother stands on principle for her rights; they are fortunate to have a mother love them so much that she would build a fence in order to protect them.

Instead of regulating her fence, Glendale's City Council should honor and protect her individual rights - and repeal the code against front-yard fences.

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PHOTO La Crescenta resident Shawna Smith has run afoul of Glendale's 77-year-old law against fences in the front yard.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News