Azusa Mayor Surrenders in War Against Poison Ivy

Mayor Eugene Moses has ended his battle with poison ivy and the county Fire Department by calling in the county’s professional weeders to clear the brush from the backyard of his hillside home.

Moses said he will pay about $1,000 to the county agricultural office for the work, which was completed last week.

The county Fire Department had been pressuring Moses since June to remove brush, which it regarded as a fire hazard. Moses told the Fire Department that he would do the work himself.

However, Moses said, an infestation of poison ivy made weed clearance on his one-acre lot slow and tedious. Even though he wore a protective mask, Moses said, he got a cough and a rash whenever he attacked the weeds. And, he said, friends and workers hired to help would quit as soon as they came down with poison ivy.

The pace of the mayor’s efforts displeased a county fire patrolman, who issued repeated warnings to Moses and then cited him on Sept. 26. Ronald Jones, assistant fire chief, said the citation was later withdrawn to give the mayor and his neighbors, who had not been cited, the same amount of time to clear their land.

Jones said property owners who receive weed abatement notices have the option of doing the work themselves or paying the county to do the job.

Moses opted to save money by doing the work himself and said he made “an honest effort.”

But with the Fire Department pressuring him to finish, Moses said, he decided to turn the job over to the county and pay the cost.