Sunday, January 18, 2015
Some neighbors just can't help but be ass-holes
Over the last few years, on a regular basis, someone has deliberately been throwing fast food trash in my driveway and lawn. Usually a half eaten hamburger, soda cup, beer and soda cans, styrofoam take-away half full of Chinese left overs, or paper bags full of Wendie's or McDonald's rubbish. This morning when I opened the bedroom blind I spotted a slice of pizza in the driveway.
Like the previous events, not just at the edge of the road but quite purposefully flung up the driveway close to the garage.
A half eaten slice of pizza
I can't prove it but from his deranged behavior, I am certain it is George Anderson, one over across the street. When we first moved here, we heard his sob story and like all others took pity on him and helped him when he needed it. Annie arranged for him to have a new sleep apnea machine when his broke. Garden produce and food was shared with him. Knowing he was unable due to his excessive weight, I even repaired his roof for no charge when you could see daylight coming through and a big storm was on his way. Like all others on the street we soon learned he likes to stab people in the back when he no longer feels he can get things from them for nothing. About 7 years ago he suddenly started giving me the one finger salute for no apparent reason. I confronted him about this and only earned a long string of insults and threats and some nonsensical comment about me and my tree causing trouble, which I promptly reported to the police. We then suffered several incidents of vandalism among which included a small home made explosive device thrown in our driveway and painting one of our trees with blaze orange marks as if to indicate an order to cut down. Checking with the electric power company and public works proved they did not order this. His deranged behavior includes photographing the neighbor's kids and wife while on their back deck, as well as legal action two years ago to take possession of a narrow wedge of their property beyond the hedge he had been mowing since before they bought the house. This cost them over ten grand in legal defense fees and in due course prompted them to sell the house and move away. More recently George has taken to sitting in is truck in his driveway just staring at us if we are out doing yard work or deliberately driving by multiple times as slowly as possible and just staring with what can only be described as very disturbing and hateful grimace. We simply ignore him and carry on.
How do you get rid of this kind of bully?
I would recommend hanging, but the authorities might frown on it. Have you considered mounting a video camera under cover of darkness, so he couldn't see what you were doing. If you get one with night vision, you might be able to get some pics of his vandalism. Then again, you could just get a Book of Mormon, tell him that you've converted and go try to convert HIM every time you see him outside.
ReplyDeleteHanging works for me. I have considered a security camera but they are not cheap. Looking in to one of those critter /trail cams of course when he sees the flash go off he will try and take the camera. I could put it high on the barn but then the picture resolution diminishes.
DeleteThat sucks mate. Good neighbours can make or break a place I always think. I think you'd make a good neighbour for me if that's any consultation.
ReplyDeleteSeems like you've done all you can to win him over, the bloke just sounds plain nuts to me and you can't win against someone like that, just keep ignoring him like you are I guess.
Yea Kev, for now I do my best to just let it roll of my shoulder. This guy is a true nut job, I know he has at least one full auto AK and he is liable to use it, so pushing his buttons will get me nowhere and just create more tension. I know one thing for sure, when the fat slob finally kicks the bucket, no one will cry and I am hosting the block party.
DeleteWell legally I'm guessing it would be a long and expensive road to go down and even then the outcome cannot be certain. Personally and of course not speaking from experience I think that, allegedly speaking of course this type of bully/loon may be brought into line by being more of a loon than himself and making his life a living hell. One has to be clever and plan accordingly and of course it helps to know his routine and have a plausible alibi or even some helpers so that blame cannot be pointed at anyone.....I assume that is.
ReplyDeleteJohn: This guy is definitely wacko, he claims to have been a marine in Vietnam but a quick internet search proves he was just on a tin can supply ship in the navy. Don't know that he'd back off if I went postal on him. I am not sure I am prepared to go down that road. Back when I was in the property management business I used to know a few of the less scrupulous types that for a bit of money would take care of problems. But at this point I have lost touch with that crowd. Legally that approach could open up can of worms.
DeleteYou lot were the one's who invented ambulance chasing lawyers and litigious society so there's not a lot you can do now.
ReplyDeleteHere we'd just have what we call a 'quiet word' with him.
Ralph Nader "unsafe at any speed", king and deity of all true American liberals was the one who invented tort law. Remember the Chevrolet Corvair? The problem is that the legal avenue costs money and like my neighbors Wayne and Sarah across the street they wound up spending 10K$ and in the end got nothing for it. And we lost the only really nice neighbors we had. And I fear a quiet word with this bully would just egg him on. Besides all his friends are the true scum of society and those are likely the ones he gets to do his dirty deeds.
DeleteNo, you don't understand, a 'quiet word' (nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean...), round the back of the bike shed wiv a bit of 4x2...
DeleteI got it the first time around Tom. Believe me nothing would make me happier than see this slob take a well deserved hiding. In Angola maybe you could get away with it, but around here this fat bastard is too well connected to "the good old boy" network.
DeleteThat's why I don't have neighbors. If I did, and they tried that stuff I'd be in prison in short order. In Georgia, for someone to press charges for assault they have to have two witnesses not related to them. So if you wait until dark, you could go over there with a piece of automotive hose, or a sock full of coins, and adjust his attitude. Always assuming your laws are similar to ours. Of course, it may not be worth the risk of being arrested, in which cases he will probably die of something or other soon anyway.
ReplyDeleteYea Harry, That is why I envy your isolation. I can't wait for the day we can GTF out of here to a place where I have some more elbow room and be away from his kind. I am not sure what the laws are like here but he is well connected to "the good old boy network". It is a string of seedy characters that visit him. He is just a welfare parasite so he s nothing else to do all day but try and make other peoples life as miserable as his. He used to be a lobster-man but hasn't fished for at least 20 years as he lost his license because he was the main antagonist in the Portland Lobster Wars back in the 90s where he was caught cutting other fishermen's pots. So he has a long history of being a bully. And though he is well known by cops I am not willing to tempt my fate. He does keep a .45 by the bed and has the selective fire AK I have seen in addition to a few other assorted long guns. And though the 450 pound pig has a bad ticker and I am sure it would take little to put him on his ass, I am not willing to risk it. Noting would please me more than to see the coroners wagon in his driveway.
DeleteHe sounds like bad news. We had a guy like him in this county back 20 years ago. He was a plumber and had a bunch of grown sons who were just like dad. Everybody in the county was afraid of him and it seemed like he would just go on terrorizing people indefinitely. He eventually died of a stroke. The problem with people like that is there's no simple solution. If you kill them, you get put in prison unless the cops choose to overlook it. "Yeah, clear cut case of suicide, stabbed himself in the back 18 times...."
DeleteMaybe you will be able to move out of there soon, or maybe you will be delivered by the will of God, and the arschlock will have a heart attack or stroke out. But it's hard, a man should be safe and secure and able to rest in his own home.
Hey Harry, I know he has a bad ticker and is morbidly obese so we have that going in our favor. Our plan for now is hang here for another ten years, pay off the house and then relocate somewhere in the desert south west where there is open space, blue skies, lower taxes, more elbow room and less welfare parasites like him. Seems like a long time to wait though. So we are praying karma takes him soon. Messing with him will just egg him on. If using the critter cam I can catch him delicto-infragante with solid evidence then I might have a way to make him mind his Ps and his Qs.
Deletei feel your pain. we spent a fortune on a bad neighbor and got nowhere. and i now have one on each side. it might sound awful but the best thing you can do is ignore him. my neighbors throw crap on my property all the time and i just go out and pick it up every morning. it is so hard to not get pissed off but there really is nothing else to do.
ReplyDeleteYea Jaz, we moved away from rentals and bought the house in hopes of getting away from that sort of problem. I have a chaotic crack Junkie behind me who likes to run chainsaws at midnight for no go reason at all and this idiot across the street. Don't have the money for litigation and as we already learned it accomplishes little. So for now all I can do is pick the stuff up and put it under the deck for the possums.
ReplyDeletePick up a Bushnell model 119447 (or other model with "black" IR flash) game camera. They just make a very dull glow at night. When it is light out, they produce a 5MP image. Very clear. Still or video. I set mine to take 3 shots & if there is still movement to take the set with one second in between. I have taken photos of trespassers 100 yards away. They are available on eBay for about $100.00US. I have several & I just bought another one. Look back in my blog's history for some photo examples. I doubt he will come right up to your house or even see the camera if you paint it the right color. No proof w/o evidence.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds a useful bit of kit. Does it need the flash at night to get an image? Round here, if they saw a flash at night, they'd nick the camera!
DeleteTom, says here it has "night vision infrared imaging"
Deletehttp://bushnell.eu/uk/produits/all/trail-cameras/trophy-cam-hd/119447/
I would expect it would not need the flash in that case, but it does seem to have one. Will need to dig up more info on it. Perhaps MV will elaborate on this.
Thanks for the tip MV. I will look in to it. We have a local Cabelas so I will see if they carry that model I always prefer to lay my hands on it before I buy. If I can get solid evidence of his unstable behavior I can put a restraining order on him, then if he does it again I can have him charged and arrested. The trouble is I am quite sure he is getting his minions to do his dirty work for him.
ReplyDeleteI can almost taste it
ReplyDeleteI would have thought twice about picking it up and eating it!
You would have John, eating stale potato chips is one thing, but someones mangy pizza in the driveway, no thanks.
DeleteHi Mike, it's always a shame to have someone who can't play well with others. I agree with the game camera. Here in Alaska they are used quite a bit. People use them to monitor their remote cabins and their subsistence fishing nets. Camouflage is good, you can mount them on trees close to the road. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteHi John, I am definitely looking in to a game camera. Don't know if I'd risk putting it on one of the two tree in the front as it would make way too easy to steal, and he could easily spot me putting it up as he has nothing better to do all day. But I think high on the barn would make it inaccessible even if they spotted it. And if it has a good lens it should get a good picture of the bully or his minions.
DeleteI just thinking how unfortunate it would be for him to have a gas leak; even more unfortunate if there was a spark in the house.
ReplyDeletere the camera; even if you did get a picture of him launching a slice of pizza onto your lawn, what would the cops do about it? Nothing I presume.
Hi Cro, and far be it from me to call the fire department if I ever spotted flames coming from his house. I would pull up a lawn chair and a beer and enjoy the scene.
DeleteAs for the camera, with evidence I could press charges of vandalism and could get a restraining order on him so he would have to stay a given distance from my property which would force him to detour the opposite way around if he wants to go anywhere. Of course that is assuming it is actually him doing this and not one of his minions.
Mike, this guy can"t be current on taxes, and maybe he has a open warrant for him somewhere? I would investigate those avenue's.
ReplyDeleteSuerte
Yes we have looked in to that one as well. His property is a long skinny wedge totaling some 7 acres. A quick search in the town record shows he has a forty year long history of not paying his property taxes for several years in a row, and then juts before the town is about to put a lean on it he manages to scrape together some funds, from god only knows where as he don't have a pot to piss in, and cuts a deal with them. But as it is his primary residence state law indicates the best anyone can do is put a lien on his property. It would be nice if we could jump in and pay them, then lay claim to his land and sell it from under him but in Maine you could not do that. At best we'd just loose our money and not really gain anything but a boat load of aggravation. And I am not in that sort of financial position to play that sort of game either.
Delete