odds & ends 9/1

Outhouse built to protest city rules

CRESAPTOWN, Md. -- A property owner who thinks state building regulations stink is sending a message with his latest construction project: an outhouse.

Gene Pratt said he built the nonfunctional privy along U.S. 220 to protest rules that would add $2,000 to the cost of putting a small office building on the site.

Under the building code, Pratt would have needed a certified architect's drawing of the project. Outhouses are excluded from the requirement.

"When you get to be 67 years old you just don't need the aggravation," Pratt said. "I'm definitely not going to build anything there now."

In 1993, the state began requiring certified architectural drawings for any new buildings that would be occupied by the public. In 1998 the state mandated that the requirement become part of the county's building code.

"It can take a very significant amount of money to pay for the drawings, but it's state law," said David Eberly, Allegany County's community services director.

--From wire reports