Dog License Charges Dismissed Against Oak Park Woman With Front-Yard Vegetable Garden

OAK PARK – Two charges against Julie Bass over dog licenses were dismissed Tuesday, ending prosecution of .

Oak Park Prosecutor Eugene Lumberg told WJBK-TV on July 14 that .

Bass said that once she was informed the dogs needed to be licensed, she took care of it immediately.

On Tuesday, 45-B District Court Judge Michelle Friedman Appel dismissed both dog license charges.

"I feel pretty comfortable they're not going to bring back any charges," Julie Bass's husband Jason said Tuesday outside the court after the ruling. "But, if they do rewrite the (vegetable garden) ordinance, I expect they'll come back – if we do the same thing next year."

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Lumberg said the dismissals Tuesday end the case against Bass. He declined further comment.

During a City Council meeting July 18, Oak Park Mayor Gerald Naftaly said the dog license tickets weren't related to the vegetable garden issue.

"I'm happy that it's not going to be this gigantic weight around our necks," Julie Bass said, adding that she felt the dismissals were anticlimactic and did not do enough to vindicate her right to plant the vegetable beds.

"Ideally, in a perfect world, I would have liked to have an outcome that allowed me to hold my head up and say I did nothing wrong," she said.

The Bass family said they're not sure whether they'll plant a front-yard vegetable garden again next year and that they'll closely monitor updates to the city's ordinance governing front lawns.

"If people that live in Oak Park want to see a change, I think they'll need a new administration to drive the change," Jason Bass said. "The current administration is not going to be an ambassador for this change."