DragonFire
Member
Since we moved into our new house in 2000, I've had exactly one conversation with the neighbor across the street. Well, not exactly a conversation, it was two or three minutes of him yelling, screaming and cursing at me, because my dog ran into his yard. I simply walked away without saying anything to him. (I had been prepared to appologize since my dog shouldn't have been over there.)
Since then, he's shot fireworks over my house on almost every summer weekend, pumped out his flooded basement into my front lawn every spring, and occassionally sat on his front porch staring at my wife and I gardening.
The neighbor next to him, who were are very close friends with installed a spite fence between their properties because he would sit outside and call her foul names as she mowed her lawn.
Anyway, last night I was trimming around my trees in my front lawn when I came across some garbage thrown on my lawn (a plastic cup thrown from a passing car). I kicked the cup a couple of feet to the side of the road. Well I didn't take three steps before the neighbor is standing on his side of the road yelling and screaming at me again. Basically he was saying that I had nerve throwing stuff into his yard!
Again I just ignored him, and finished my trimming. I came across an old beer can , and kicked it to the side of the road, just to be a PITA.
When I went back around the front yard again, I notice the cup and can had been thrown into the middle of my lawn. When I picked them up, there he was again, yelling and screaming how I had to finally throw them away. (he had walked to edge of his property several times, and actually picked up the garbage, but I'm the lazy moron for not throwing them away?)
I called the sheriff. Besides the fact that I didn't want me kids to hear the foul words coming out of his mouth, I figure if he's going to yell and curse at me over garbage, whatelse is he going to yell at me for. Sheriff came rather quickly for such a minor problem. I told her what happen, and said that I just wanted him to leave us alone, to totally ignore us. She seemed to understand why I was upset, and said she'd do what she could. At this point, basically she could only talk to him, which is all I really wanted I guess. She also said that she'd tell him that if he did the same thing while the kids were around, she'd do more than talk (I forget the charge, something about endangering minors).
When she left my house to go talk to him, I went and put my j-frame into my pocket, figuring I might get a visit from him when she left his house. He likes to have a "biker" image, but realistically I think that's not really him, and he's getting too old and out of shape to be very physical (though his twenty-something son does live with him). My wife thinks that I'm being a bit parnoid, but also thinks that things will just get worse with him.
My intent is to just ignore him as best I can (like I told the sheriff I would), but I'm also going to carry a bit more often around the yard just in case.
I'm not looking for revenge or anything, but any suggestions on what I should do, or should have done?
Since then, he's shot fireworks over my house on almost every summer weekend, pumped out his flooded basement into my front lawn every spring, and occassionally sat on his front porch staring at my wife and I gardening.
The neighbor next to him, who were are very close friends with installed a spite fence between their properties because he would sit outside and call her foul names as she mowed her lawn.
Anyway, last night I was trimming around my trees in my front lawn when I came across some garbage thrown on my lawn (a plastic cup thrown from a passing car). I kicked the cup a couple of feet to the side of the road. Well I didn't take three steps before the neighbor is standing on his side of the road yelling and screaming at me again. Basically he was saying that I had nerve throwing stuff into his yard!
Again I just ignored him, and finished my trimming. I came across an old beer can , and kicked it to the side of the road, just to be a PITA.
When I went back around the front yard again, I notice the cup and can had been thrown into the middle of my lawn. When I picked them up, there he was again, yelling and screaming how I had to finally throw them away. (he had walked to edge of his property several times, and actually picked up the garbage, but I'm the lazy moron for not throwing them away?)
I called the sheriff. Besides the fact that I didn't want me kids to hear the foul words coming out of his mouth, I figure if he's going to yell and curse at me over garbage, whatelse is he going to yell at me for. Sheriff came rather quickly for such a minor problem. I told her what happen, and said that I just wanted him to leave us alone, to totally ignore us. She seemed to understand why I was upset, and said she'd do what she could. At this point, basically she could only talk to him, which is all I really wanted I guess. She also said that she'd tell him that if he did the same thing while the kids were around, she'd do more than talk (I forget the charge, something about endangering minors).
When she left my house to go talk to him, I went and put my j-frame into my pocket, figuring I might get a visit from him when she left his house. He likes to have a "biker" image, but realistically I think that's not really him, and he's getting too old and out of shape to be very physical (though his twenty-something son does live with him). My wife thinks that I'm being a bit parnoid, but also thinks that things will just get worse with him.
My intent is to just ignore him as best I can (like I told the sheriff I would), but I'm also going to carry a bit more often around the yard just in case.
I'm not looking for revenge or anything, but any suggestions on what I should do, or should have done?