Desperate economic situations sometimes call for desperate, over-the-top, borderline-crazy measures. Rather than see his home taken in foreclosure proceedings, one Ohio man bulldozed the property before the bank could seize it. Rather than bite the bullet and somehow figure out a way to get her torn rotator cuff treated by a doctor, one unemployed Michigan woman shot herself in the shoulder and went to the ER for immediate treatment. And now, rather than simply pay a hefty water bill related to a sprinkler system to his rooming house, a man in Connecticut is refusing, and protesting by living only on water mixed with lemon juice and honey.
Larry Lewis and the case of the $3,400 disputed water bill is described at TheDay.com. Apparently, the New London man wanted to install a new sprinkler system at a home he was planning on renting out:
He said he went to the water department office and was told the upgrade would cost $1,227 and work could not start until he paid in full. Lewis paid, the work was done, but three weeks later he received an additional bill for $3,400 because he had been mistakenly billed for a residential upgrade rather than commercial.
Lewis responded by saying it was their mistake, not his, that he shouldn’t have to pay for their mistake, and had he known of the real price of the upgrade, he wouldn’t have installed the darn sprinkler system in the first place. This all began in 2005, mind you, and rather than give in after the latest threat from the water authority’s lawyer, Lewis decided to fast in protest.
I guess the city hasn’t turned off the water in Lewis’s home, and that’s a good thing: It’d be really hard to survive on a water-only diet if there’s no water in your house.