A California Transplant Wants Tumbleweed Outlawed in Idaho

Let me tell you why many Idahoans will assume the guy complaining about tumbleweed is from California or some urban center. You can read the Facebook post here to get the backstory.

We don’t know much about the identity of the man who believes the government needs to outlaw tumbleweed. But it sounds like he lives in a new development and didn’t expect that he would see endemic weeds blowing through a windy high desert. What does he expect the developer is going to do to eradicate a species that stretches from the high plains to the southwest? Why does he believe the government should force a developer to come up with a solution?

We've Heard These Complaints Before

This is like the apocryphal fellow who buys a house next to an airport. Then he shows up a month later at a county commission meeting and complains about the noise! Or, if you see cattle grazing in a field next door, there may sometimes be the odor of manure (the smell of money).

An Additional Village Idiot

I grew up in a small town and we had our share of village idiots. We didn’t need more relocating from big cities thinking it was all going to be Andy, Barney, and Opie. When I was in high school, one of them told me we couldn’t be considered a real place because we didn’t have a McDonald’s restaurant.

A Twin Falls City Council member once told me a radio host from a big city questioned local tourism policy. She criticized the city for not raising the level of the Snake River! The woman thought it would attract more tourists.