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MILLSTADT, IL – A man got so fed up with high grass at a business in town that he took matters into his own hands. Jared Mueth also stirred up a bit of a ruckus. It happened at the Dollar General store on West Washington Avenue, which is the “main drag” in town. The grass outside is short and neatly mowed now.

“A few days ago, it was knee high,” said Jared Mueth, resident.

He mowed the grass himself, Sunday, posting a sign while he mowed to make clear he was not hired to do it.

“I’m mowing this for free because it’s embarrassing our town,” the sign read.

He said been driving past the high grass for about two weeks. His efforts and perhaps the sign rubbed store management the wrong way. Mueth harbors no grudge.

“No grudge whatsoever. I was just driving by every day (and thought), ‘this is getting bad’. I took matters into my own hands…I was told not to be on premises after I had a discussion with the police.”

“Initial calls for Mueth to be cited have faded,” said Mike Todd, Millstadt Mayor.

“Mueth is still welcome at the store,” said Dollar General District Manager, Edmund El Hasan.

“A work order for mowing was filed but delayed likely by wet weather,” El Hasan said. “Though Mueth was ‘well-intentioned’ he overstepped his boundaries with no insurance to guard against damage or injury to vehicles, customers, and the building,” he said.

“I understand that but I feel like I’m in the majority (feeling that) I did more good than harm in the grand scheme of things,” said Mueth.

Mowing matters.

“With a lot of rain, the past couple of weeks, we know it’s hard, people have to work. A lot of times we just like people to be more considerate of their neighbors and cut their grass,” the mayor said.

It may be a coincidence, but a Facebook page for the nearby town of Freeburg just posted this message: “KEEP CALM AND MOW THE LAWN”.

Though Mueth’s renegade mowing days were behind him, keepers of unsightly, out of control grass, better beware.

“They might be next … they’re on the list,” Mueth laughed.

Dollar General had been warned repeatedly about high grass in recent years and again in the past week prior to this incident, said Mayor Todd.

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