23 posts from August 2007

Thanks, everyone, for the assistance with my recent neighborhood problem (and the sympathy). For so long I had to deal with the problem silently because I thought people might not believe me or would think I was overreacting or exaggerating. But the lawyer I spoke to says she has dealt with cases like mine before. One of her clients actually had her pets killed in a neighborhood dispute, so I am lucky none of my cats have been harmed by the plant poisoning.

Right now my business office is moving, our home Internet is still iffy, and it's almost Labor Day weekend, so I might not be around much in the next few days. I hope everyone has a restful Labor Day.

Thanks for all the fun, Mr. Hilly Kristal! I will always think of CBGB's bathrooms as the scariest place in New York City. I'm glad I got to see at least one show at the legendary club before it shut down.

For years now I have wanted to blog about this topic, but I have refrained from doing so out of fear that people would think I was crazy or paranoid. But the events that occurred in my neighborhood yesterday have left me no choice but to publish this post.

If you are from Brunswick, Maryland, then this post might be of interest to you. If you do not live in Brunswick, you may very well wish to skip this post entirely.

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Most of the time, I try to post about positive topics and highlight the positive aspects of living in Brunswick, Maryland. Generally speaking, it’s a great little town and I would typically recommend it to anyone.

Unfortunately, there is one bad thing about living in Brunswick that I am powerless to stop: my next door neighbor, who has executed a 4-year-long campaign of harassment against me and vandalism against my property.

The sad thing is, according to the Brunswick police, under Maryland laws, there is nothing that they can do to protect me or my property. Unless someone witnesses my next door neighbor committing an act of violence against me or an act of vandalism against my property, then our police can do nothing to stop this man.

So, for 4 long years, my next door neighbor has conducted this relentless campaign of:

¨       Poisoning my plants in my yard, including ones that I eat (which I believe is a direct attempt to sicken me);

¨       Trying to kill my crepe myrtle tree and hacking away at its branches (over the property line), because once a year it drops messy berries onto his sidewalk that he does not want to sweep up;

¨       Bumping the rear end of my car with the front end of his (burgundy red Silverado) truck, thus chipping off paint on my back bumper in numerous spots;

¨       Playing a radio at such a loud volume that I can hear it loudly and clearly in my house at 3 AM most nights of the year;

¨       Reporting me to the city every time he thinks I have committed some kind of code violation (such as not scooping up my snow within 6 hours of the first snow fall. Considering that I work in another state and can’t always drive home within 6 hours of the snow first starting to fall, I get fined $25.00 by the city each time he calls me in).

¨       Blocking access to my home’s foundation with fencing so that I cannot conduct simple home maintenance without setting foot onto his property (which in turn makes me vulnerable to charges of trespassing).

Even though this man has done this stuff to me for 4 long, stressful years, he gets away with it, always.

Even though the police have been called to assist me at least 4 times since September 2003, they say they can do nothing to get him to cease.

Even though this man scares me, and possibly tried to run over my bare feet today, and called me a bitch today, and told me he will cut down my tree and throw it into my yard today, apparently no one can stop him from harassing me. I tried to file a peace order against him tonight (a document that instructs him to stay away from me and my property, as well as my workplace and my son’s school), but because he has not slapped me in the face (yet) nor burned down my house (yet), my request was denied.

So, even though this type of blog entry might make me seem like a crazy person (after all, how do you know if I am a sane and logical person?), this is my only outlet and the only form of protection I have: to publicly declare that this man is harassing me and has been doing so for the past 4 years, and to describe him as closely as possible so that my fellow citizens can be vigilant in case they come across this person vandalizing my property or trying to hurt me.

I can’t give out my neighbor’s name or address here, but I can describe him as closely as possible:

¨       Male

¨       Caucasian

¨       Old—senior citizen

¨       White hair

¨       Balding

¨       No mustache, beard, or glasses

¨       Overweight, round-ish in form, possibly 200 pounds in weight

¨       Kind of short, perhaps about 5 feet and six inches in height

¨       Walks with a slight limp sometimes due to knee replacement surgery

¨       Korean War veteran, used to be in the Army

¨       Used to be an appliance repairman

He drives a burgundy red Silverado with Maryland plates (the first numeral in the license plate is a 7, and there is a stainless stell lockbox in the flatbed), even though his primary residence (where he spends most nights of the year, and the most hours of every day) is actually in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. His wife drives a burgundy red SUV, also with Maryland plates; sometimes he shows up here driving her vehicle. Their first names rhyme. Their last name is printed on a sign that hangs in front of their blue house. There’s almost always a distinctive yellow snow blower on his front porch.

Please note, my dear neighbors: he has bumped other cars with his truck before, so take a look at your own bumpers to make sure that you don’t have any scratches or chipped paint. I’m not this man's only victim.

This man and his wife are only my next door neighbors in that they own the house next door to mine and come by to visit it about once a day (usually between 9 and 10 AM on weekdays) to cut the lawn, deposit the trash, and pick up mail. The man grew up in the house and is so emotionally attached to it that he can’t sell it. He doesn’t actually live in it anymore (except on snowy days when the roads to his West Virginia house are too treacherous to drive and he can subsequently call me in to Brunswick city for not picking up my snow fast enough). (A side note: I have always paid my fines and cooperated with the requests of the city, because I know they are not trying to harass me--the workers are just doing their jobs. But I hope our city employees are aware that certain citizens are using the city ordinances as a means of selectively persecuting and harassing and targeting other citizens, a practice which is unjust and unfair and should be stopped.)

Most of the day, my next door neighbor has the radio in the house turned on to volume eleven so that I can hear it all day and all night from inside my house (sometimes even when my own television set is on), a subtle form of audio torture. My neighbor is not around to hear this noise pollution himself—he is safely ensconced in his West Virginia home, blissfully reveling in how he has gotten away with harassing a woman and vandalizing her property for 4 years.

A little side note to the police officers, city employees, and judges in this county: this neighbor of mine thinks he owns you, and he thinks he owns this town, just because he is old and he has “lived” here all of his life (even though he really lives in another state these days). How do I know this fact about him? Because he told Officer C--- this stuff on September 4, 2003, when I was within earshot to hear him say all of this to her. That type of language sounds like a threat, but I guess under Maryland law, Officer C--- could do nothing about this because such verbal threats aren’t actionable in this state.

In other words, this man thinks he is above the law. He thinks he is better than me, and he thinks he is better than the police, and he thinks he is better than you. I guess because he thinks he is better than all of us combined and above the law, that’s why he feels he can poison my raspberries and damage the bumper of my car repeatedly with complete impunity. And so far he has done exactly that--destroyed my property with impunity. That makes me sick—literally nauseated. I think it should make some other Brunswick citizens feel a little sick, too, because one day this man might turn his unbridled wrath onto one of them. (This man also used to harass the former owners of the house I now occupy, so harrassment is a longstanding pattern with him.)

Because the police say they are unable by law to stop this man, and because under Maryland law I am not eligible for a peace order telling him to stay away from me and my home (I know this because I tried to file for a peace order tonight and was denied, because no physical assaults against me have occurred--yet); I am posting this blog entry in the hopes that it will help to stop him.

I hope that by alerting my neighbors to this man’s behavior, I can make them aware and vigilant, so that if they witness him harming my property or threatening me, then they can call the police about it and serve as a witness. If someone actually witnesses my next door neighbor doing these things, then some action can finally be taken to stop him. But until there is a witness, all of the photographs I have taken of the damage he has caused, all of the video clips I have filmed of how he has mutilated my plants and marred my car, all of the times I have called the police and asked them to help me, have been futile.

Apparently it doesn’t matter how threatening my neighbor’s actions and his words have been; it doesn’t matter what names he calls me, or how scared of him I become. No one can protect me until he knocks out one of my teeth or breaks my arm or slaps me in the face. This saddens me greatly, because I don’t want to get hurt, but I am afraid over how these events are escalating, and I worry that one day he will physically harm me because he cannot control his temper and he believes he is above the law.

I should note that this man typically executes his acts of vandalism whenever I am at work or otherwise away from the house and thus unable to protect it. He strikes my car in the mornings when I am either asleep or in the shower, unable to videotape his truck making contact with my vehicle. Also, the only times this man yells at me and says rude things to me and calls me names is when my husband isn’t around to help me. I truly believe this man likes to pick on women and other people whom he feels are lesser than him; he only acts on his bullying impulses when other men are not around to watch what he is doing. I don’t think he would have yelled at a male police officer, for example, but he felt he could threaten Officer C---, a female, in 2003. My husband would protect me if he was around me when these incidents occurred—but what can I do in the future when my husband is not around to help me?

I guess if my neighbor finally hits me or runs me down with his vehicle and kills me one day, then this blog post will serve as a testament to the fact that Maryland laws need to be changed to protect people from harassment before someone else gets hurt or dies. I think the definition of what constitutes criminal harassment needs to be altered to encompass multiple-year campaigns of property destruction like the one this man has waged.

That’s why I am posting this, too: so that if anything happens to me and I can no longer speak out about all of this, then at least some kind of public record of my problem exists (because the request for a peace order I filed tonight will most likely be disposed of, leaving no documentation that I ever tried to stop this harassment).

I am truly saddened that the actions of one lunatic like this makes me feel like moving away from Brunswick. I’d move away (to another state with more protective laws) this very instant if I could afford to do so, but I can’t afford it right now, so all I can do is blog about this pattern of events and “out” this neighbor for his immoral behavior. I am sad that for all of the great, wonderful people and things that exist in this town, one crazy, unstoppable vandal is coloring my feelings about living here and is making me want to leave.

I hope that my descriptions of this man have been significant enough to “out” him for his devious and malicious behavior and to stop him so that he never succeeds in vandalizing property or harassing people again. At least if my fellow Brunswick citizens know who he is, then they can watch out for him, because he will harm my property again, and I do believe he would gladly mutilate the property of others, too. After all--he knows he is unstoppable, and he has already stated in front of a police officer that he owns all the police officers and judges in this county. Does that sound like a man who will respect the property rights, peace and privacy of others?

I just want my neighbor to leave me and my stuff alone. I just want peace and an end to the incessant fear and worry. How much longer do I have to deal with this? Is 4 years going to turn into half a decade or more of this harassment and property destruction?

Every time from now on that this man threatens me or harms my property, I am going to post a detailed blog entry about it here, revealing every detail and fact about the events that I can. I will also post any relevant photographs, even if it inadvertently reveals where I live. It’s the only thing I know of that I can do to protect myself, ironic as that might seem.

(Postscript dated August 27^th: Any interactions between me and my neighbor described in the paragraphs above as occurring “today” occurred Sunday, August 26, 2007, at approximately 6:10 PM, in the street in front of our houses. My house modem is down right now so I could not post this blog entry until Monday.)

A storm killed our home modem this past weekend; I am not sure when we will have our Internet restored.

This month our charitable contribution went to the Yellow Ribbon Fund for recovering veterans. In their own words, "The Yellow Ribbon Fund was created in early 2005 to assist our injured service members and their families while they recuperate at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center," both of which are located near Washington, DC, in the Maryland suburbs, just a short drive away from our home in Brunswick.

The best way to illustrate the impact of the Yellow Ribbon Fund is this exerpt from their website:

"From March 1, 2005 through February 28, 2007, contributions made through the Yellow Ribbon Fund have provided our military members and their families with:

• over 475 free rental cars,
• over 3,700 free taxi rides,
• over 1,600 free rooms in hotels,
• over 33 families the free use of our 3 apartments,
• hundreds of free tickets to sporting games, concerts and plays, and
• hundreds of lunches, dinners, golf games, duck and goose hunts,
  fishing trips, etc."

For an example of Yellow Ribbon Fund donations at work, check out the blog of the very articulate, brave, strong, and funny Josie Salzman over at Life in a Cracker Box. This amazing young lady has been assisting her husband JR with his recovery after he lost an arm and a finger and sustained multiple other injuries in an attack in Iraq. The Yellow Ribbon Fund helps people like JR and Josie access the services of rental car companies and hotels during the many months away from home that it entails to rehabilitate after suffering such severe injuries.

I'm back from Florida, but I'm sick. I think all the rich food I ate while on the road has left my stomach in turmoil. That, combined with the fact that I have to take my husband to an important medical test today, followed quickly by attending "Back to School Night" at the high school, means I probably won't be back online until tomorrow or Saturday.

A few quick notes--

L and J--Congratulations on the early but healthy arrival of Milo Fox! Can't wait to meet him.

Florida was more hot and humid than I could have possibly ever imagined.

I can now say that I have experienced a crab walking up my leg for the first time.

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts and words regarding my husband's recent job layoff--we appreciate everyone's help and support! Luckily he has a temp job right now that pays decently so we are not in a financial death spiral (yet).

I have many people to whom I owe emails and messages, and I have missed several birthdays--I am sorry. Time is moving so fast I can't seem to keep up with everything. I will try my best to write everyone this weekend.

I hope everyone is doing well.

Thus far, I don't have any business travel scheduled for next week so I think I can catch up...

Strangely, I have not been in the mood to write this weekend...and now I have to go to Florida for work purposes. I suspect I will be back online late Wednesday or perhaps Thursday. I hope to at least have one hour on a beach to collect shells and see the sunshine during this trip. I hope all you Voxers have a good week!

How old were you when you had your very first boyfriend/girlfriend? Do you still know them now? 
Submitted by KIM. 

In a sense I was a "late bloomer"--I didn't start dating anyone seriously until age 15, whereas many of my girlfriends and peers began dating around age 12.

I don't know the guy anymore, and it's one of those relationships that brings an automatic wince to my face everytime I think about him. It's not that he was, or is, a bad person...it's just that I stayed in that relationship way too long, partially because I didn't think anyone else would ever want to go out with me. Ah, the self confidence problems of adolescence...

I typically shy away from "diet foods" because they either taste like chemicals to me or else have no flavor at all. But I kept hearing about Skinny Cow products and their famously delectable ice cream sandwiches. So finally I took the bait and bought a box at my local grocery store yesterday afternoon. I am a convert! They are delicious--creamy, thick ice cream swirls wedged between gooey chocolate cookie pieces, with none of that flat "diet" flavor. Taking a peek at the Skinny Cow website, I see they make these ice cream sandwiches in a variety of low calorie flavors. I am now officially on the hunt for the chocolate peanut butter ones. And the cool thing is....I worked off all 140 calories of the ice cream sandwich I ate today after only 30 minutes at the gym--no guilt! 

I started out using the step machine at the gym on "Level 1" two weeks ago. Today, the machine harrassed me into going as high as "Level 4." You see, it beeps at you angrily and pesters you by telling you every 15 seconds that you need to increase your level of effort. After climbing the equivalent of 50+ stories of steps, bicycling more than 2 miles, and speed-walking 1 mile today, I am completely exhausted. But it was rewarding to see that I could move up from Level 1 to Level 4 on the step machine now that I have been exercising for 2 weeks--progress!