Another "idiot neighbor" thread...

[Richard]

I'm looking to see if anyone has any interesting ideas....

Scenario:

I live on dead end street. On my road, there are maybe 7 houses in a geographic area that is probably pushing 1,000 acres (my FIL owns 250 of it and most of the rest is TVA land)

1/4 mile down the road is another dead end road. There is as best I know, a single house (farm) on this road.

We're not neighbors in the sense of seeing each others kitchen lights on but part of the farm (ours) evidently does border his although it's on our backside of farm.

I've been told by others what a punk redneck this guy is and I've always thought they've overblown a bit.

1. Father in law: Let this guy "hay" the farm for several years as long as FIL was paid a certain amount. This went on for 5/7 (dunno) years and the guy was always telling FIL "Don't worry...I know I owe you, I just don't have it on me right now...I'm not forgetting about you"

Of course, over the years, he's never paid. I always thought this was a bit of an embellishment story from my FIL.

2. This guys kids (now grown and not living there) and their buddys were caught hunting on our side of the fence. "My daddy (idiot neighbor) said we could" When asked about it by my FIL, evidently he got real ugly saying he never said/did that with anyone.

Above true or not true? I wasn't there, I don't know so I always downplayed it.

3. This guy is ALWAYS just pulling out of his street (though he lives on a dead end road, it IS a paved public road that happens to have his name on it) He just whips on out and on more than one occasion, I personally COULD have hit him had I not hit the brakes. I now believe these stories that others tell me about his road hogging. He seems to drive with a "size makes right" attitude and everyone has to move over for him. Something I got particularly sensative to while I owned a tiny car too, but I dont' think he ever ran me off the road then.

4. This one is what has finally caused me to post this: Just the other day, I was driving down road and what happened again, but he just barrels out of his road as though he owns the world and cut me off. Again, I could have hit him had I wanted and been "in the right" howver, instead I nailed my brakes. As he was driving down the main public road, he rolls his window down and just tosses some trash out the window onto the road. Now that I've personally witnessed some of this, I've now lost ALL respect for him.

Fast forward to today and he's driving out "my" road so I stop & roll window down and he stops...then he cut his diesel engine off because you can't talk worth diddly do with that engine idling....

"Hi" I said
"hi"

"say, I just wanted to let you know that I saw you dump some trash out your window the other day and wanted you to know that dumping your trash out on the road isn't appreciated by some people"

"HUH???.... I OWN that land!!!!!"

"uh...no, I'm talking about the public road behind us" I said

"huh?.... what's your name" he demanded to know (wasn't a question, it was a demand)

"Richard"

"Where do you live"

"out here" as I pointed down "my" road that he was on

"how much land do you own" he demanded to know

Not really thinking about what an idiot I was facing, I didn't state what I was really thinking (it's no matter how much land I own) I wanted to be respectful and polite...

"mmmm..... maybe 4 acres" I said

"Well, I own 350 acres, so don't "screw" (not what he really said ) with me"

then without another thought, he started his engine which disallowed any kind of statement to be made by anyone and still be heard and he drove off.


Some tidbits:

1. This guy has had several of his cows on MORE than one occasion, get through his fence and end up on "our" road (public dead end road). Every time I've seen them, I've called him (very politely I might add) to let them know their cows are out. I've always tried to be the nice neighbor but those days are now over.

A) Next time I see his cows out, instead of calling HIM, is there some agency that can be called that by doing so, will someone create some kind of "cost" to him?? Meaning, by them collecting the cows. Or, can "I" collect them and somehow charge him for me removing the hazzard? (I doubt it, besides, I'd rather 'authorities' deal with him) Is there a 'cow catcher' much like a dog catcher? (unfortunately, I don't think there is)

B) what if somehow, there is a minor fender bender with a said cow? (serious question), is he at risk/fault?

c) Can I simply have this 'lost cow' taken to the butcher?


I told the wife tonight that what I'd REALLY like to do is gather up some trash & drive down his dead end road....dumping it all the way. Although he'll "know" it's me, I can simply say it wasn't & prove it...after all, we DO get a freaking TON of punks driving these dark roads, dumping their trash & animals & other activities.... Besides, it would be really interesting to ask him how it's so "bad" for someone to dump trash on HIS 'road' yet, it seems to be ok for HIM to dump HIS trash on the other public road....


personally, I'm now realizing he's a very small person (big in stature but small mentally) who's got to be a 'tough guy' and intimidate people. I really think the best thing that could happen to him is someone drag his hiney out & knock some sense into him (not that I'm proposing that, just that it would help adjust his attitude a bit)

Anyways...getting long here....

thoughts on trash, cows...?

Can I report him to cops? (hahahaha)


I'm looking for honest things I can pursue that might (legally) cost him time, effort or perchance, money. I really think someone needs to knock him down a notch or two and if I'm part of that process, it has to be legal (I'm not into breaking kneecaps even when that is the right answer)

 

[Travelover]

Never mud wrestle with a pig. You'll lose and the pig likes it.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Never mud wrestle with a pig. You'll lose and the pig likes it.

Well said

Richard, don't worry too much about it. What you can do is mount a camera on your dash like the police do and just record your daily driving. If he cuts you off again or tosses trash out the window you can show the video to the police and then it is up to them if they want to do anything about it. But if you try to start a war with the guy all you will do is drive yourself crazy worrying about what he is going to do next and so on so forth. Just ignore the idiot and when he does something that endangers you or your family you report his reckless behavior to the police. Who knows, maybe they will start patroling your road to see what is going on and who knows, maybe They will find his cows.

 

[Jimbrown]

I agree with Tom. But, it varies by state. But here if you see trash throwing you can report it to the sheriff with license number. They will probably not issue citation but will call and say he was seen throwing trash and remind him of the fine $500. Also if a animal does damage to your property, fence ect. You can confiscate the animal and sell it at auction to recover your damages. Sort of a mechanic lien. Now what happens if you do any of that is another story. He may just do worse. You gotta be prepared for that. My closest neighbor owns 7000 ac and the next closest owns 25000 plus wounder how he would deal with that.

 

[WayneB]

It's a tough one and I think I agree with Robert, let the authorities handle it. We had a break in two years ago and I knew it was the neighbors grandson (s), so I decided not to call the police, just let the neighbor handle it. Well, his wife got all up in the air about the situation (not to us but everyone else in the area) saying what an SOB I was and her grandson would never do such a thing.

Turns out nothing was ever done about it, and I am the one that has to worry now everytime we go someplace. If only I would have called the police and let them deal with the situation.

Call the police!

 

[scott_vt]

Good Evenin Richard,
Personally I wouldnt have pointed out his trash throwing activities to him ! At this point if the authorities are notified the little light in this dimwits head will turn on and he will remember the "idiot" neighbor that scolded him about this previously ! JMO !

I would have driven by the dimwits house and tried to figure out what brand beer cans were in the majority at that location ! Drive down to the local package store and get a six pack of that brand and pay him a visit ! Id start the conversation something like, what a beautiful piece of property he has, and isnt it a shame what all these punk kids are doing by littering up the roadway ! He might get the idea !

Second, I would go out and buy a Mack truck, a large one, and if he pulls out in front of you just hit the accelerator instead of the brakes ! Just kidding of course. Bring yourself down to his level temporarily, maybe you can get through to this dimwit !

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Never mud wrestle with a pig. You'll lose and the pig likes it.

What a great quote.

Take the high road, life is too short to worry about every idiot. I've seen sheriff's deputies throw litter out their car window.

 

[tallyho8]

Richard
I think just writing about this situation helped relieve some of the tension that you have about this idiot. There are idiots everywhere (we all have one in our neighborhood) and getting yourself all worked up over them will do nothing except raise your blood pressure. Don't lower yourself to his standards by copying his actions. When these kind of people discover that they are annoying you, they feel victorious.

Ignore him as much as possible and concentrate on the important things. Don't let him win by getting under your skin. It's hard but try to just laugh at the ahole who lives around the corner and realize how much a better person you are in comparison.

 

[Kendrick]

have a spead bump put in at the end of "His" road just after dusk. wait for the trainsmission to disapear

actually if he has a set time that he loves whiping out of his drive and nearly running over people tell the cops that a couple teans have been drag racing out of his drive.

the others are right though never confront ones like that let the law deal with it.

as for the cows if he has a history of ignoring maintance on his fences the law is likely to be on your side. if he has smart cows its an act of god...

as for the hay send a bill sevral times then you will have the ability to recover the money. if you choose the video cam thing it would be wise to get him on camera saying ya ya ill pay you later.

 

[schmism]

I'm looking to see if anyone has any interesting ideas....


B) what if somehow, there is a minor fender bender with a said cow? (serious question), is he at risk/fault?

when i was getting insurance for my property the question of what is considered a farm, and what does that mean in the insurance world. basically it boils down to liability. The quote as best I can remember

should you get any livestock be shure to let us know as youll need to have some additional liability insurance to cover you in case it gets out and hurts someone. Now we dont insure for the loss of the animal, just the liability that comes with it

call up your own agent and pose the question to him. Do you have cows? If not pose a question of what would i need if i wanted to keep some, or a horse etc. My guess is he will tell you that you are responsible and youll need additional coverage to cover it.

as for the rest of it... it mostly boils down to the pig in the mud thing. Although it might be of some intrest to a local county officer how he drives on the road. Find a friend of a friend thats on the force and tell him about your situation, at worst, nothing happens, at best there is a significant change to his driving.

 

[Richard]

Thanks all for the comments/thoughts.

Tallyho8 hit most of it on the head : "Richard, I think just writing about this situation helped relieve some of the tension that you have about this idiot."

This had just happened as I was coming home so I came straight here to ask. I was in the 'heat of the moment' (pretty heated dude, aren't I ) lol

Just to clear the other thoughts up...

"wresting with the pig", yep already knew that and it crossed my mind, still good words of wisdom!

For the cows 'trespassing', don't misunderstand me... these are (or were) his cows but they were not on our land, they weren't even near our land at the time... they were actually on the road we have to use to get out of here (dead end road, that is kind of a single lane) There is no way around an obsticle that's on this road (or many of the narrow roads here) so as I or anyone leaves for work, if there are 3 cows meandering down the road, it's a road block. This happened probably a couple thousand feet from the border of the farm (ours).

We don't have any livestock although the farm use to. I don't know the condition of any of 'our' fences or even if all of them are there.

For the hay bills... that's water under the bridge, besides, that's my FIL's issue, for all I know, the idiot guy might have said that his cutting the farm would be payment and FIL agreed... (he doesn't always remember all of the details so I'm still only 90% on this one)

Back to cows & accidents... if anyones cow is on any public road then the owner of said cow would have some liability if there was a (legitimate) accident... now....question.... how do you prove the cow is theirs?

Oh, and why the trash really bothers me? I'm one of the folks who will stop (when on my backhoe) and try to keep it all either picked up OR kept to a minimum as much as I can. There are others who will do the same from time to time but to catch one of the creators of this red handed AND to find out it was a freaking neighbor who lived here.... was just beyond my belief. I wonder what the inside of his home looks like.

I thought it was bad enough fighting some of the punks who drive out here (booze, drugs, trash, other...) but to find out a local is helping them trash the area......

 

[Chuck52]

I'm familiar with the area and the folks around where you live...not the particular folks, but the type, since I grew up close to there. My younger brother still lives fairly close to you, and I expect he would tell you more-or-less what I am about to propose. You have three options. You can save up your money and buy him out. Since you seem to have more than the usual number of neighbor problems, while buying him out you might like to go ahead and buy all the remaining private land in your area and fence it in. Two, you can sell out and find an area with better neighbors, or at least with neighbors more to your liking. Three, you can learn to live with the various inconveniences associated with living near rednecks. One of the things that always bugged me most about some of my fellow Tennesseans was their propensity for creating trash and distributing it all over what should be some of the prettiest land on earth. While the area around Tellico lake is considerably more gentrified than it was before TVA stole all that land and re-sold it to non-rednecks, the rednecks persist. We are harder to dislodge than cockroaches. Some of us rednecks can be fine neighbors; some can be real PITAs. Not all rednecks are created equal. That's probably a fair statement about most other groups, too.

I do sympathize with you. It would be great to only have neighbors who do not cause problems for you. At present, I seem to be in that happy situation, but it can always change. A story to illustrate redneck interactions: My brother likes to ride his bicycle along some of the country roads near his place. I guess that makes him a redneck of the other kind to some extent. Anyway, there is one house near his that is home to a fairly aggressive large dog that likes to chase cars, bikes, little old ladies, etc. Brother was chased once by the dog in full view of the owner, and knew he wouldn't get anywhere remonstrating with said owner, so next time he went that way he carried a little 22 pistol loaded with snake shot. No more chasing by dog, and owner had no real problem with the solution. Of course, both brother and owner are rednecks and recognized each other as such.

Chuck

 

[ctpres]

He is probably dumb enough to put his mail in the trash. I'd be a good neighbor and pick up the trash, take it home and then answer every piece of junk mail. who knows what else I might learn from his trash. I would have some fun.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Morning Richard,
I thought I needed to make a followup post on your thread ! To begin with I certainly hope you dont think I was trying to make light of your situation, by the comment about buying a Mack truck, refering to this guy pulling out in front of you all the time ! Really just trying to add a little levity to a bad situation !

Secondly Ive allways felt that I can talk with just about anyone ! To reason with someone is something totally different, I realise that, but Ive allways felt its worth an attempt. If it doesnt work well what was the harm ! I dont know the total situation you have down there, and I dont think anyone else who responded to your thread does either ! I believe in my original post that I advocated getting down to his level temporarily. Maybe I should revise that statement. To go talk with someone about an issue thats troubling to you, and talk with this fella on his level, doesnt really bring you to his level! I think it makes you a better person to resolve an issue before the law gets involved ! I stand by that statement. Im also cognizant of the fact that this method will not allways work, simply because there are a bunch of people out there that can not be reasoned with.

I hope this post more accurately portrays my feelings on this subject !
I also wanted to add that I know you had one brief encounter with this guy but Im not sure that constituted as a real conversation, I think your the only one that knows that !
Lastly good luck with this situation Richard !

 

[davitk]

"how much land do you own" he demanded to know

Not really thinking about what an idiot I was facing, I didn't state what I was really thinking (it's no matter how much land I own) I wanted to be respectful and polite...

"mmmm..... maybe 4 acres" I said

"Well, I own 350 acres, so don't "screw" (not what he really said ) with me"

I was at a county planning meeting not long ago while some local "redneck" farmers were presenting their feelings/beliefs to the elected officials. I was both shocked and enlightend at the same time to hear "one acre, one vote!"



....seems not all people are created equal in redneck country.....

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I was at a county planning meeting not long ago while some local "redneck" farmers were presenting their feelings/beliefs to the elected officials. I was both shocked and enlightend at the same time to hear "one acre, one vote!"



....seems not all people are created equal in redneck country.....

When you think about it, we had to pass laws to protect the farms from urban sprawl as well as city folks moving to the country on little building lots. A farmer could be working his 500 acre family farm the same way for generations and then some day his neighbor sub-divides his land and he has a little development move in next door who opposes his farming practices. Now, these guys with their little postage stamp building lots out number the farmer so before the laws were passed to protect the right to farm they had a strong chance to win in court and waste the farmers time and money protecting his livelyhood.

I do not see any fair way to really address the situation but someone who rents their appartment in town has just as much right to vote as a farmer who owns 25000 acres. Both their votes count the same even though the farmer owns a considerable chunk of land. Does it seem fair? I don't think so but then again I don't see any alternative either short of a weighted vote system which would be complicated and cause a lot of problems so we keep the same system we have used for years.

Generally speaking it is never a problem but the problems start when you get a couple new guys come into an area and want that area to be like they are use to. But then again you have land owners who think they are above the law and they are just as bad.

 

[4720 OWNER]

Are you friends with any other neighbors?

Take out a subscription and put 'idiots' name on magazine and neighbors address so it will go there. I will leave it to the imagination as what kind of magazine it could be, maybe something that is a promotion that has to come in a brown wrapper. Also name and address will be sold to other companies as a contact for people of 'like interests'. One neighbor gets it and brings it to the 'correct' address. Will be the talk of the bar for months.

Get one of those rubber stamps with 'idiots' name and address. Go to state fair (or any large vendor venue), stop at every booth and sign up for whatever is availabe, esp any insurance or expensive water treatment or anyone that would put the name on a master list for resale of names of contacts. This is a gift that will keep giving for years!! I know it is not fair to the companies but i have to deal with enough junk mail and they do not seem to mind sending it out when i do not like (want) it anyway!!

 

[rox]

Thanks all for the comments/thoughts.

Tallyho8 hit most of it on the head : "Richard, I think just writing about this situation helped relieve some of the tension that you have about this idiot."

This had just happened as I was coming home so I came straight here to ask. I was in the 'heat of the moment' (pretty heated dude, aren't I ) lol

Just to clear the other thoughts up...

"wresting with the pig", yep already knew that and it crossed my mind, still good words of wisdom!

For the cows 'trespassing', don't misunderstand me... these are (or were) his cows but they were not on our land, they weren't even near our land at the time... they were actually on the road we have to use to get out of here (dead end road, that is kind of a single lane) There is no way around an obsticle that's on this road (or many of the narrow roads here) so as I or anyone leaves for work, if there are 3 cows meandering down the road, it's a road block. This happened probably a couple thousand feet from the border of the farm (ours).

We don't have any livestock although the farm use to. I don't know the condition of any of 'our' fences or even if all of them are there.

For the hay bills... that's water under the bridge, besides, that's my FIL's issue, for all I know, the idiot guy might have said that his cutting the farm would be payment and FIL agreed... (he doesn't always remember all of the details so I'm still only 90% on this one)

Back to cows & accidents... if anyones cow is on any public road then the owner of said cow would have some liability if there was a (legitimate) accident... now....question.... how do you prove the cow is theirs?

Oh, and why the trash really bothers me? I'm one of the folks who will stop (when on my backhoe) and try to keep it all either picked up OR kept to a minimum as much as I can. There are others who will do the same from time to time but to catch one of the creators of this red handed AND to find out it was a freaking neighbor who lived here.... was just beyond my belief. I wonder what the inside of his home looks like.

I thought it was bad enough fighting some of the punks who drive out here (booze, drugs, trash, other...) but to find out a local is helping them trash the area......

Richard I think I would have reacted exacly like you did. All kinds of scenerios, what can I do to get him back for DUMPING TRASH ON THE ROAD. I feel that offence does deserve capital letters. It is so thoughless and self centered. What kind of people liter AND in thier own neighborhood. But also like you I would ahve cooled off a bit afer blowing off steam. Th best part of the situation is now you know. Now you know exactly what kind of individual you are living near. You know Richard every dog has his day. His day will come one day and in the meantime you know much more about him than he knows about you. It may be a long long time but I bet one day legally you will get your satisfaction. You ahve time on your side just be patient. He will be around again one day and you will have the upper hand.

 

[Richard]

You know Richard every dog has his day. His day will come one day and in the meantime you know much more about him than he knows about you. It may be a long long time but I bet one day legally you will get your satisfaction. You ahve time on your side just be patient. He will be around again one day and you will have the upper hand.

Ya know something Rox.... you know me FAR better than you might have realized!!

(insert Vincent Price voiced "muahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa")

 

[ultrarunner]

I've had a few over the years...

They have either died, were killed or are in prison!

Kind of what goes around, comes around?

It just took awhile for the law to catch up with the two that are now in prison... tax evasion for one and theft for the other.

The one that was killed was somehow involved with illegal drugs...