U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry

Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop. Froehlich is among the growing number of people across the U.S. fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal. Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to demand that she stop drying clothes in the sun. She also received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about. "They said it made the place look like trailer trash," she said, in her yard across the street from a row of neat, suburban houses. "They said they didn't want to look at my 'unmentionables.'" Froehlich says she hangs her underwear inside. The 54-year-old is one of a growing number of Americans demanding the right to dry laundry on clotheslines despite local rules and a culture that frowns on it. Their interests are represented by Project Laundry List, a group that argues people can save money and reduce carbon emissions by not using their electric or gas dryers, according to the group's executive director, Alexander Lee. Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, and Hawaii have passed laws restricting the rights of local authorities to stop residents using clotheslines. Another five states are considering similar measures.

I think it is rediculous that some states are banning the use of clothelines. People own their own land, and it is not like people are making noise or disrupting others, they are just drying clothes. People do not have look at their neigbours backyards to see what they are doing. If they came on to their property, it would be a different story. Plus, Carin said she washed her underwear inside, so only shirts and pants were being washed. This law, in my opinion, is one of the craziest things I have ever heard of. This should not be a law in any state. People should be able to hang clothes whenever and wherever they want, as long as it is on their own property, and isn't disrupting others through noise.