Horrible neighbor

[KarenK65]

What is the name of your state (Ohio)?


(Sorry this is so long, but there is so much to this problem)

Hi, I hope I can get some advice on this. 13 years ago we moved into our house. We got along with the next door neighbors on both sides. Around 7 years ago, our neighbor to the left had a heart attack, and got very controlling after that. He started taking meticulous care of his lawn, to the point that he mows his lawn every day to make lines on it, (even in the winter) and he crawls around on his hands and knees picking up bits of stuff. He came over around that time and DEMANDED that we cut down our two big trees in our front yard, and the two in the back yard, because he cannot have a leaf marring his perfect lawn. My husband told him politely that we were keeping the trees.

Well, after that, he started a campaign of harassment against us. He tells untrue lies about us all over the city. He said that I was dying of cancer, that our dog had died; he told people when my husband lost his job, when my son lost his job, when we had financial difficulties, all sorts of things. All we hear is, “Hey, you know what so and so said about you?” We can’t go to the store, to our daughter’s school, anywhere without someone repeating gossip they heard from him about us. We called our attorney, but he told us unless we could get people in court to testify against him, we couldn’t prove anything, and no one wants to testify because they don’t want him coming after them.

He stands in his yard and yells things and swears at the top of his lungs when he is leaf blowing in the fall. Now, my husband and I rake and leaf blow the leaves from the trees, but we can’t get them ALL. Last week, he was out every half hour blowing leaves on his lawn during 30 mile an hour wind gusts.

He’s called the health department on us, said there was cat odor coming from our house. (We have 3 indoor cats, 2 dogs. All spayed and neutered, all clean.) The cat litter box is in my son’s room, and he changes the litter every two days to keep it clean. Health department has come out 10 times. He hasn’t found an odor, but the inspector tells us that he has to keep coming because the city won’t close the case. (Our neighbor is a REALLY close friend of our Mayor and the City Director and helped with their campaigns and donated money to them.) So he has to come out whenever they call him.

He showed up two days ago, inspected the outside of the house, and found no odor. He went down to City Hall, but they refused to close the case until he comes in the house and inspects the whole house “From basement to attic” for “excessive animals”, which of course we don’t have. (Our city has a law: 4 cats, 4 dogs. We have 3 cats, 2 dogs, so we are not in violation.) He called the humane society on us twice, and they came out, because he said we were abusing our dogs. They said there was no problem, but once again, they have to come out for every complaint.

Now, he’s added something new: he’s coming to the workplace of my 18 year old (and very pretty) daughter. He stands around in her department and surreptitiously watches her. They switch her around from department to department sometimes, and he follows her there. He doesn’t say anything, just stands there and looks at her. Her friend’s mother works at a store where they take bills for payment. She says he’s been coming in and talking about my daughter, as if she was his. And the really strange thing about him is that he knows stuff about her that only our immediate family knows, nothing that any of her friends know. I don’t know where he is getting this personal information about her. He even mentioned to this woman one time that she was on her period! We think he might have some kind of device he listens to that magnifies sounds. Our two houses are very close together, and he knows WAY too much about us, but we can’t prove it. My daughter has been in tears and has hated going to work the past week.

We called the city law director, but he told us that we can’t complain if he is at a mall, as long as he isn’t saying anything to her. He also said that the city can’t do anything unless he crosses the property line and assaults one of us. My kids are afraid to go outside, and our house we love is turning into a nightmare. We don’t have the money to move, our area’s housing is very depressed and we would have a hard time selling now. Is there any advice anyone can give us? No one will testify in court about him, (we asked my daughter’s friend’s mother, but she said she didn’t want to get involved and be on his bad side), the City won’t help us, and the police say they can’t do anything either. Is there a way we can stop him? Thanks

[Dougthegreat]

You need to get the police involved and get a TRO barring him from following your daughter around, first and foremost.

[FarmerJ]

When third partys repeat gossip things to you , you should First tell the other person ` thats interesting` and drop it GIVE no reaction. These busy bodies are probably thriving on this BS.
Make it your business to learn your states stalking laws , Ask your daughter to create a short log book out of a date book start noting the dates and times and length of his stalking actions. If your city / county atty wont act on complaints of stalking then go to your states atty general office and get help from them to get the locals to follow the law. Make a log book of all the visits from inspections and the others. IF it were me Id go to the city and INSIST on getting copies of every report made , IT is public information there is no valid reason they cannot give you copies of each complaint and the final finding , Then print off the definition of harrassment> 1 a: exhaust , fatigue b (1): to annoy persistently (2): to create an unpleasant or hostile situation for especially by uninvited and unwelcome verbal or physical conduct, ( online dictionary) to give to this inspector and tell this inspector if they do not end this harrassment that your going to go to local media and see if they would like to air a story about a local inspector. About his other behaviours well consider putting up a fence that meets local zoning rules and when he goes on a rant about leaves or what ever smile say nothing and continue about your business. ( just like some DD clients if some one is acting badly and the attention they were getting even if negative stops they might try harder for a while but when it ceases to work for them they do move on to something else) Also dont hesitate to learn from a atty any thing else that would help you with creating records and preparing to eventual legal steps to make it stop.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by KarenK65

What is the name of your state (Ohio)?


(Sorry this is so long, but there is so much to this problem)

Hi, I hope I can get some advice on this. 13 years ago we moved into our house. We got along with the next door neighbors on both sides. Around 7 years ago, our neighbor to the left had a heart attack, and got very controlling after that. He started taking meticulous care of his lawn, to the point that he mows his lawn every day to make lines on it, (even in the winter) and he crawls around on his hands and knees picking up bits of stuff. He came over around that time and DEMANDED that we cut down our two big trees in our front yard, and the two in the back yard, because he cannot have a leaf marring his perfect lawn. My husband told him politely that we were keeping the trees.

Well, after that, he started a campaign of harassment against us. He tells untrue lies about us all over the city. He said that I was dying of cancer, that our dog had died; he told people when my husband lost his job, when my son lost his job, when we had financial difficulties, all sorts of things. All we hear is, “Hey, you know what so and so said about you?” We can’t go to the store, to our daughter’s school, anywhere without someone repeating gossip they heard from him about us. We called our attorney, but he told us unless we could get people in court to testify against him, we couldn’t prove anything, and no one wants to testify because they don’t want him coming after them.

He stands in his yard and yells things and swears at the top of his lungs when he is leaf blowing in the fall. Now, my husband and I rake and leaf blow the leaves from the trees, but we can’t get them ALL. Last week, he was out every half hour blowing leaves on his lawn during 30 mile an hour wind gusts.

He’s called the health department on us, said there was cat odor coming from our house. (We have 3 indoor cats, 2 dogs. All spayed and neutered, all clean.) The cat litter box is in my son’s room, and he changes the litter every two days to keep it clean. Health department has come out 10 times. He hasn’t found an odor, but the inspector tells us that he has to keep coming because the city won’t close the case. (Our neighbor is a REALLY close friend of our Mayor and the City Director and helped with their campaigns and donated money to them.) So he has to come out whenever they call him.

He showed up two days ago, inspected the outside of the house, and found no odor. He went down to City Hall, but they refused to close the case until he comes in the house and inspects the whole house “From basement to attic” for “excessive animals”, which of course we don’t have. (Our city has a law: 4 cats, 4 dogs. We have 3 cats, 2 dogs, so we are not in violation.) He called the humane society on us twice, and they came out, because he said we were abusing our dogs. They said there was no problem, but once again, they have to come out for every complaint.

Now, he’s added something new: he’s coming to the workplace of my 18 year old (and very pretty) daughter. He stands around in her department and surreptitiously watches her. They switch her around from department to department sometimes, and he follows her there. He doesn’t say anything, just stands there and looks at her. Her friend’s mother works at a store where they take bills for payment. She says he’s been coming in and talking about my daughter, as if she was his. And the really strange thing about him is that he knows stuff about her that only our immediate family knows, nothing that any of her friends know. I don’t know where he is getting this personal information about her. He even mentioned to this woman one time that she was on her period! We think he might have some kind of device he listens to that magnifies sounds. Our two houses are very close together, and he knows WAY too much about us, but we can’t prove it. My daughter has been in tears and has hated going to work the past week.

We called the city law director, but he told us that we can’t complain if he is at a mall, as long as he isn’t saying anything to her. He also said that the city can’t do anything unless he crosses the property line and assaults one of us. My kids are afraid to go outside, and our house we love is turning into a nightmare. We don’t have the money to move, our area’s housing is very depressed and we would have a hard time selling now. Is there any advice anyone can give us? No one will testify in court about him, (we asked my daughter’s friend’s mother, but she said she didn’t want to get involved and be on his bad side), the City won’t help us, and the police say they can’t do anything either. Is there a way we can stop him? Thanks

**A: why have you not hired an attorney like 7 years ago?

[usafdrew]

This sounds like a movie in-the-making. Sorry to hear your story. It sounds so horribly creepy and depressing. I would be DETERMINED to get this under control by doing what FarmerJ said and keep a log of everything. Find some close friends who wouldn't mind testifying to see if they can get him to talk trash and personal info to them. Have those same friends around your daughter to witness the stalking. Also, if he is spouting profanity at you, there should be code against that in public. A private-eye might not be a bad idea. Hope things get better.

[Wendie]

Next time he looks your way and makes a comment ...tell him to go into the light! What a nightmare! We've got a old fart in our neighborhood who has been a tormenting,neighborhood recking idiot. He has had a heartattack too. I'm sure it has too do with the hardening of the arteries and he sounds like he is in need of mental help. Maybe you could even consult Maybe there really is a correlation to terrorist neighbors that have had a heart attack.

Good Luck and my prayers go out to you!

Wendie

[rkjohnson]

Get a restraining order. If your daughter has a camera or camera phone, she should take a picture of him every time she sees him at her workplace. Make sure the camera's settings show the date on the photo. He won't like having his picture taken and should stop, OR, the photo's will serve as evidence in court.

[Alex23]

Does the OP have a youTube channel that shows the neighbor mowing the lawn everyday?

[Ozark_Sophist]

My parents have a neighbor who vacuums her lawn.

[ignitespeed]

lol I know this is no laughing matter but if you can please get a video recording when he leaf blows the lawn when its 30mph wind.

9/10 people on this forum will disagree initially however if no legal statutes are helping you, when nothing within the legal boundaries can fix this problem. I would personally try vigilantism.


Your children fear going outside, your daughter has to always look behind her back, you said yourself you can't go anywhere without a defamatory repercussion.

Sounds like hell, I would start planting more tree's in your lawn

[Alex23]

Sounds like hell, I would start planting more tree's in your lawn

Or, just drop apostrophes everywhere. They look like leaves.