Head Lice Ain't Nice & A Green Quandary

The news today brings us some interesting issues that made me smile.

HEAD LICE AIN'T NICE
First, my Google Alert system spit an article out this morning that caught my eye and made me chuckle. Having been called a nitpicker more than once in my lifetime, I thought I'd better read on. The headline reads:

Head Lice Removal Salon Opens in Orange County, CA Offering Free Head Lice Treatments One Day Only

With the dateline Costa Mesa, CA, February 21, 2008, the article tells us that Lice Control - described as "a leading head lice removal company and clinical salon" will open their second salon on Harbor Blvd. in Costa Mesa. You can read the entire article HERE.

I guess those self-anointed "improvers" are right - Costa Mesa is a "lousy" city. Now they have a chance to fix it and get their first treatment free! I nominate Your Neighbor to be first in line.

While you're scratching your head about that one, here's another:

GREEN QUANDARY
Then, in keeping with the current movement in our city to Build Green, an article in the Orange County Register today seemed to be quite appropriate. The dateline is Sunnyvale, CA. The headline reads:

Neighbors wage legal fight over trees shading solar panels

It seems that Mark Vargas, a resident of Santa Clara, installed a batch of solar panels on the roof of his home. Unfortunately, trees owned by adjacent neighbors Richard Treanor and his wife, Carolyn Bissett, cast shadows on the panels. So, after six years of legal wrangling, the court ordered Treanor to cut down two of their eight redwood trees, basing the decision on what is described as an "obscure state law that protects a homeowner's right to sunlight".

According to Treanor, the Solar Shade Control Act means that homeowners can "suddenly become a criminal the day a tree grows big enough to shade a solar panel".

According to the article in question, the law requires homeowners to keep their trees or shrubs from shading more than 10 percent of a neighbor's solar panels between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun is strongest. Existing trees that cast shadows when the panels are installed are exempt, but new growth is subject to the law."

This law has the potential to make for some very strained relationships between neighbors and is certainly something to consider as Costa Mesa sprints down that Green Road.