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VDOT hasn't been mowing as often because of budget cuts, so Mike Clowes decided to cut part of the median on State Route 3 in Stafford himself. SUZANNE CARR ROSSI/THE FREE LANCE-STAR Visit the Photo Place

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This budget cuthelps out VDOT

One man takes a stand with his mower and cuts grass on State Route 3 median in Stafford

Date published: 6/9/2009

By KELLY HANNON

Idling at the stoplight at Chatham Heights Road and State Route 3 in his Kia Rio, Mike Clowes reached a breaking point.

Day after day, he had watched the grass grow higher and higher from the driver's seat. Clowes estimated the thicket of grass was approaching 3 feet.

"It was just getting out of hand," Clowes said. "It was just way too tall."

Faced with this sight, most drivers would call VDOT or a county supervisor. Others would rage silently, fiddle with their car radio, and forget about it until the next time they stopped at the intersection.

Not Clowes. He set his alarm for 5:30 a.m. on the Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend.

Not telling his wife, Dawn, where he was going, Clowes crept from bed, loaded his push lawnmower in the car and drove to the median.

He then proceeded to spend the next 6 hours mowing a publicly owned strip of land. For free. "I thought I could knock it out before my three-day weekend was ruined," Clowes said.

Clowes, 55, is not a landscaper. He works a 70-hour week as a wine wholesaler. He drives his Kia hatchback from his Ferry Farm home in Stafford County to the Springfield area every day, where he stops in restaurants and retail stores to talk about their wine needs. He leaves home at 4:30 a.m. and returns around 6:30 p.m.

But Clowes enjoys mowing his lawn. "It's the feeling of how nice it looks after it's done, like painting a room," Clowes said.

Mowing the Route 3 median was not as easy as Clowes assumed it would be.

He estimated the median was about 15 feet wide, "and it felt like 400 feet long." The high grass clogged his 3.5-horsepower lawnmower. Every few yards, he had to stop, bend over and yank out a clump of weeds. Also, the grass was wet at that hour, making it slippery.

"It was a whole lot harder than I thought," he said.

No one stopped to question what he was doing. One "kind lady" gave him a bottle of Gatorade, a hot dog and an apple, Clowes said. A man thanked him.

If residents want to know when a median will be mowed, they should call the VDOT Fredericksburg Residency at 540/899-4300 to learn the schedule, spokeswoman Tina Bundy said. Also, anyone can call the same number to suggest an area to be mowed if there is a safety hazard, she said. Medians will look less manicured than they have in the past, but VDOT won't let anything grow to the point it creates a risk, Bundy said. "Absolutely give us a call, because safety is still going to be our primary focus," Bundy said.

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Date published: 6/9/2009

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