It's troubling that Butler officials have to waste time every year reminding able-bodied homeowners and landlords to mow their properties' grass.

A picture in Thursday's Butler Eagle showed excessively high grass in front of a home in the 500 block of East Pearl Street, but that is by no means the only problem property in the city.

Police Chief Tim Fennell is right that neither the police department nor other city officials have the time to keep reminding people about the city's ordinance requiring that grass be kept short - and that violators risk a $300 fine for non-compliance. Indeed, city officials shouldn't have to do that at all.

Certainly there are some property owners with health problems who cannot properly care for their yards. However, even a health problem or disability is not a valid excuse for allowing one's property to remain overgrown and a public nuisance.

The city has a list of people willing to mow the grass of people who cannot - or who chose not to - mow their grass; the only stipulation is that the price for the work is a matter for negotiation between the property owner and the person selected to do the work.

Like Fennell, Mayor Leonard Pintell made a good point that high grass is more than an eyesore.

"It is a health and safety issue," the mayor said. "High grass can hide rodent problems and other hazards."

After Fennell made a quick survey of two city streets, found nine houses that were in violation of the grass ordinance, and put tags on the doors of the homes, reminding owners about the existence of the ordinance and its requirements, the grass at some of those properties was cut soon thereafter.

The quick response was an indication that the problems never had to exist and, in at least some of the cases, that the problem resulted from laziness or irresponsibility, not from health issues.

The city should continue to put pressure on problem property owners regarding high grass - and other dangers to the public's health and safety. Allowing such conditions to exist projects the message that city residents and their leaders lack community pride.

At this time, when the city is experiencing the start of what portends to be an exciting period of renaissance, high grass and other forms of property deterioration shouldn't be soiling that effort.