Bad bust: A grass bust backfired on an Orem narcotics officer, who should stick to drug arrests instead of trying to enforce a silly city statute requiring residents to maintain meticulous lawns. When the officer noticed brown grass in Betty Perry's yard this month, and tried to arrest the understandably irate 70-year-old for lawn neglect, Perry fell and hurt her nose. Instead of an apology, she got handcuffs and a jail cell, at least for an hour, before police supervisors realized they had jailed a senior citizen for the unforgivable sin of failing to water her grass. Now the officer is suspended, Perry has a lawyer and city officials are apologizing profusely, even offering to help Perry maintain her lawn. Perhaps they should just leave her alone.

Water wise: While Orem officials demand green grass, the Salt Lake City Council has given residents a better option: xeriscaping. The popular form of water-wise landscaping, which conserves water by mixing mulch, rock and drought-tolerant plants with small patches of traditional thirsty turf, will now be allowed after the council altered city statutes this past week. The decision makes an honest man of Mayor Rocky Anderson and hundreds of other water warriors, whose xeriscaped yards mocked the old ordinance.

Loose Cannon: Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, has been shooting his mouth off again. Lacking any evidence that ex-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico deserved to be fired in a White House-engineered political purge, Cannon resorted to name-calling on the Fox News Sunday television show last week. The congressman called Iglesias an incompetent "idiot," a statement easily contradicted by Iglesias' positive performance reviews and Webster's dictionary. Idiot: A very foolish and stupid person. Webster's can find Cannon's picture on his Web site.