So Traute won a reprieve, but the neighbors continued to stew and complain.
Eight years later, they got results.
On June 1, 1998, Traute awoke to the sound of bulldozers. She paid no attention at first, thinking it was a nearby construction project. She was wrong - this was a project of destruction. When she looked out the window, Traute saw, to her horror, that the huge front end loader had stripped away most of her garden - right down to the bare clay subsoil. And this was in the back yard.
A policeman, complete with cruiser stood by to make sure that Traute would not interfere. As the work proceeded, reinforcements arrived, even though there was no ostensible need for back-ups. The neighbors, some aghast and a few quite smug and satisfied, stood by. Traute watched helplessly as they stripped away 15 years worth of work. They took not only the plants and soil but lumber and paving for a future project, the garden tools and the new door she had purchased for the garage. They even took the clothes off the clothesline.
According to the city of Winnipeg's statutes, an inspector may not enter private property unless at least one of three conditions has been met: they must have the owner's permission, or, lacking that, a court warrant or a bona fide emergency such as fire where official intervention is necessary to save lives and property. None of these conditions was met.
Nevertheless, five hours work by a crew of six, with one front-end loader and two huge dump trucks making several trips destroyed Traute's little Eden. The bill for the work was added to her tax bill.
She managed to talk the inspector into a temporary reprieve for the other three sides of the property, and that gave her sufficient time to appeal the destruction of the rest of her property and to win the appeal. The little, untouched front yard now stands there in stark contrast to the devastation of the huge backyard.
Even though Traute has so far managed to stave off any further destruction of her property, the ecological balance that she so carefully
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