SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – A Long Island town's board members who had drawn the line at hanging clothes to dry outside are cutting residents some slack: It's OK for them to use clotheslines now.
The Southampton Town board has lifted a ban on clotheslines that had stood since 2002, when some homeowners complained the laundry on their neighbors' lawns was making the town look shabby.
But no one objected when the town board voted Tuesday night to repeal the clothesline ban.
Town Councilwoman Anna Throne-Holst says being able to hang her children's clothes on a line outside instead of drying them in a machine will keep her energy bill from going through the roof.
Other residents say they had ignored the ban despite a possible $1,000 fine or six-month jail term.
But no Southampton resident had been sanctioned for hanging out a clothesline.
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