patrickyoung
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? pennsylvania
Bear with me this may take awhile…
In 1989 or 1990 my older brother takes an English literature class with instructor RS. When he begins to fail (which many people do, he is a difficult teacher) I am told that he and my mother and father (now divorced) knew each other back in college. My father tells me this in a tone of voice that suggests that it was not a friendly relationship but does not elaborate. I never meet him, nor do I take his class when I am a senior.
In 2009 I purchased a home in a higher end neighborhood with my wife and 2 dogs. After we have lived there for a few months (it is now January) my wife gets a visit, at work, from a man who says he is our neighbor and that if we do not keep our dogs out of his yard he will call the police. My wife is a little freaked out that a man who she has never met or talked to was able to find out who she was and where she worked. She is also very embarrassed that he did this at her place of business rather than walk the 100’ to our door. She calls me, and after work I stop over to talk to him. He introduces himself as RS, and after introducing myself, I mention that he knew my parents. After a 20 minute talk I promise to clean up the mess that my dogs had made 2’-3’ over the line. I apologize for this, as my dogs are new to the house and are still learning their boundaries. The house we purchased has an electric fence, but for some reason it is not working. As soon as the snow melts and spring comes I promise I will get it fixed. I apologize for the mess, and mention that if he ever has any other issues please call me directly. He seems amicable to this resolution. I clean up as much as I can given the amount of snow on the ground. When I talk to my mother about this, she reveals that the relationship between RS and my father was more than just disdain and was openly hostile, actually escalating to violence once. Had I known this, I probably would have kept my mouth shut.
A day later he calls to tell me that my dog was in his yard again, and that the dog matter was still in his yard. Since my dog was inside all day, I am sure it wasn’t her that made the tracks in his yard. But I dig around and find 2 more deposits I missed in the snow and let it go. I do not want to have bad neighbors, especially when my dog did make a mess in his yard before, so I don’t belabor the point and just clean it up. In April we pay 800 dollars to repair and upgrade the electric fence. There are no more incidents with my dogs making a mess in is yard and I receive no more contact from RS.
Fast forward to a few days ago (it is now September) and my wife and I are outside doing lawn work most of the day Sunday. I am mowing and doing lawn care and my wife is painting the garage. A policeman shows up in my yard and tells me that RS called his precinct to complain about garbage in his yard. The officer takes me over and shows me some small scraps of plastic in his yard. I remember this as when I was mowing earlier there was a small piece of clear, saran wrap like material that got caught in the mower before I saw it. For this, he called the police. And during his conversation with the policeman he states that he has been keeping a journal of events he perceives to be…unjust? Unfair? Rude? The policeman said he was shown the ledger and saw entries such as:
August 31st-Piece of Styrofoam blows into yard
July 12th-Yard clippings vented into yard
And other entries that even the policeman admits as “trivial”. He also tells the policeman he has pictures. Of what, I don’t know, but pictures of something. Mind you this is September. I haven’t spoken to him since January, so as far as I was aware we were getting along just fine. So the officer advises me to basically turn the other cheek, don’t do anything to escalate things and just try to be more mindful of his yard as he seems very particular about it. The officers tone, language and body language is one of annoyance over being called out over something so trivial, and then tells us that this isn’t the first time the police have been called, by him, for “trivial incidents”. We go pick up the plastic. All of the plastic would make a fill a large tablespoon.
After the policeman leaves my neighbor comes over and tells me that she received a phone call, from RS, that morning asking her questions about how she felt about us and our dogs. He even goes so far as to tell her that he did not like my father, and actually told her things about their relationship that even I didn’t know. This was hours before I mowed the lawn and the offending plastic blew into his yard. This all happens on a Sunday.
On Tuesday (yesterday) the local animal control officer stops by my house and leaves his card taped to my door. Both of us were gone, and the dogs were inside all day, like always. Even when we do let them out, we have always kept them in the front yard, away from his yard. I have no idea what he could have told the officer.
I am at a total loss. I have no idea what to do. He has called everyone, police, neighbors and animal control….everyone except me. I cannot be held responsible for every scrap of that might blow into his yard, and my dogs haven’t gone near his yard in months. They aren’t big, and they are not dangerous. They barely even bark at strangers at the door.
What can I do? What should I do? I don’t want to confront him; it’s obvious he has no desire to interact with me personally. But I can’t have the police at my house every time paper blows into his yard or an animal walks through his yard? What do I do?
Bear with me this may take awhile…
In 1989 or 1990 my older brother takes an English literature class with instructor RS. When he begins to fail (which many people do, he is a difficult teacher) I am told that he and my mother and father (now divorced) knew each other back in college. My father tells me this in a tone of voice that suggests that it was not a friendly relationship but does not elaborate. I never meet him, nor do I take his class when I am a senior.
In 2009 I purchased a home in a higher end neighborhood with my wife and 2 dogs. After we have lived there for a few months (it is now January) my wife gets a visit, at work, from a man who says he is our neighbor and that if we do not keep our dogs out of his yard he will call the police. My wife is a little freaked out that a man who she has never met or talked to was able to find out who she was and where she worked. She is also very embarrassed that he did this at her place of business rather than walk the 100’ to our door. She calls me, and after work I stop over to talk to him. He introduces himself as RS, and after introducing myself, I mention that he knew my parents. After a 20 minute talk I promise to clean up the mess that my dogs had made 2’-3’ over the line. I apologize for this, as my dogs are new to the house and are still learning their boundaries. The house we purchased has an electric fence, but for some reason it is not working. As soon as the snow melts and spring comes I promise I will get it fixed. I apologize for the mess, and mention that if he ever has any other issues please call me directly. He seems amicable to this resolution. I clean up as much as I can given the amount of snow on the ground. When I talk to my mother about this, she reveals that the relationship between RS and my father was more than just disdain and was openly hostile, actually escalating to violence once. Had I known this, I probably would have kept my mouth shut.
A day later he calls to tell me that my dog was in his yard again, and that the dog matter was still in his yard. Since my dog was inside all day, I am sure it wasn’t her that made the tracks in his yard. But I dig around and find 2 more deposits I missed in the snow and let it go. I do not want to have bad neighbors, especially when my dog did make a mess in his yard before, so I don’t belabor the point and just clean it up. In April we pay 800 dollars to repair and upgrade the electric fence. There are no more incidents with my dogs making a mess in is yard and I receive no more contact from RS.
Fast forward to a few days ago (it is now September) and my wife and I are outside doing lawn work most of the day Sunday. I am mowing and doing lawn care and my wife is painting the garage. A policeman shows up in my yard and tells me that RS called his precinct to complain about garbage in his yard. The officer takes me over and shows me some small scraps of plastic in his yard. I remember this as when I was mowing earlier there was a small piece of clear, saran wrap like material that got caught in the mower before I saw it. For this, he called the police. And during his conversation with the policeman he states that he has been keeping a journal of events he perceives to be…unjust? Unfair? Rude? The policeman said he was shown the ledger and saw entries such as:
August 31st-Piece of Styrofoam blows into yard
July 12th-Yard clippings vented into yard
And other entries that even the policeman admits as “trivial”. He also tells the policeman he has pictures. Of what, I don’t know, but pictures of something. Mind you this is September. I haven’t spoken to him since January, so as far as I was aware we were getting along just fine. So the officer advises me to basically turn the other cheek, don’t do anything to escalate things and just try to be more mindful of his yard as he seems very particular about it. The officers tone, language and body language is one of annoyance over being called out over something so trivial, and then tells us that this isn’t the first time the police have been called, by him, for “trivial incidents”. We go pick up the plastic. All of the plastic would make a fill a large tablespoon.
After the policeman leaves my neighbor comes over and tells me that she received a phone call, from RS, that morning asking her questions about how she felt about us and our dogs. He even goes so far as to tell her that he did not like my father, and actually told her things about their relationship that even I didn’t know. This was hours before I mowed the lawn and the offending plastic blew into his yard. This all happens on a Sunday.
On Tuesday (yesterday) the local animal control officer stops by my house and leaves his card taped to my door. Both of us were gone, and the dogs were inside all day, like always. Even when we do let them out, we have always kept them in the front yard, away from his yard. I have no idea what he could have told the officer.
I am at a total loss. I have no idea what to do. He has called everyone, police, neighbors and animal control….everyone except me. I cannot be held responsible for every scrap of that might blow into his yard, and my dogs haven’t gone near his yard in months. They aren’t big, and they are not dangerous. They barely even bark at strangers at the door.
What can I do? What should I do? I don’t want to confront him; it’s obvious he has no desire to interact with me personally. But I can’t have the police at my house every time paper blows into his yard or an animal walks through his yard? What do I do?
