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| What would you do?; in a neighborhood near me... | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 30 2011, 05:47 AM (593 Views) | |
| RosemaryTwo | Jul 30 2011, 05:47 AM Post #1 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Lives an angry man. The houses are fairly close together in a well kept but moderate suburban neighborhood. The angry man does whatever he can to aggravate his neighbors. In his dilapidated yard he has: 1. dozens of plastic pink flamingos; 2. corn growing; 3. a giant plastic cow; 4. an (ahem) upside-down American flag, facing the street; 5. a confederate flag hanging on his property edge, so it faces his neighbor (believe the neighbor might be Asian). 6. signs announcing that he is a gun owner -- and has many of them. The neighbors have met with township officials and the angry man is not violating any zoning laws. I don't think they have viable legal options. I think that angle has been pursued. I suppose they could gather together and form a trust and try to anonymously purchase the house, fix it up, and sell it. I just feel awful for the kids on that street and the nice families that try to go about their business. I cannot see how this will resolve. It's been like this for a few years. |
| "Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua | |
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| apple | Jul 30 2011, 05:55 AM Post #2 |
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one of the angels
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i suppose find some legality that can make him reform? I would like a giant plastic cow myself. ha ha. |
| it behooves me to behold | |
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| Mikhailoh | Jul 30 2011, 05:56 AM Post #3 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Is there a viable way to sue him for damage to their collective property values? |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| RosemaryTwo | Jul 30 2011, 06:00 AM Post #4 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I think they have looked at all the legal angles. He is angry but smart. Everything is within his first amendment rights, and within local zoning ordinances, I believe. Apple, the cow is kinda cool. I think some of his eccentricity might just be amusing, if it weren't for the gun signs and the flags. None of the parents let their kids play in the street; they all have to stay in their back yards. |
| "Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua | |
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| Mikhailoh | Jul 30 2011, 06:06 AM Post #5 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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That may be, but it doesn't mean you can't find a lawyer who will pursue it and a judge that is sympathetic to the neighbors' situation. It could become quite expensive to him. Failing that, I recommend guerilla tactics. Start with repeated applications of the flaming bag of dogcrap. |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| Mikhailoh | Jul 30 2011, 06:12 AM Post #6 |
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
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Hmm. He's obviously not overly sensitive, but perhaps public (meaning televised) ridicule could help. In any event it is difficult to see how it could make him worse. Perhaps a story on the local news with the right slant? How about submitting his home on YouTube as Tackiest House EVER? |
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Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball | |
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| sue | Jul 30 2011, 06:14 AM Post #7 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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yeah that's always a good idea. Pissing off an angry, crazy guy with guns. Why not just let him be? Every neighbourhood has their crazy person. Your kids will give him a wide berth, and it gives everybody something to talk about. |
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| RosemaryTwo | Jul 30 2011, 06:43 AM Post #8 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Oh I think they are just letting him be, Sue. That seems to work well enough. I just drove by his house, so it's on my mind. It's not close enough to me for it to be a concern, really. I think the neighbors worry, since so many of his gestures seem designed to provoke. And they're so offensive (the flags), that it is affecting real estate values. He sometimes sits in a chair in his front yard, shirt off and stares at passers by. I have heard his facebook page is loaded with angry tirades. I haven't looked. But I wouldn't want to have to sell a house on his street if my bathroom were lined with gold fixtures. Edited by RosemaryTwo, Jul 30 2011, 06:44 AM.
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| "Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua | |
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| Jolly | Jul 30 2011, 06:47 AM Post #9 |
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Geaux Tigers!
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| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
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| Axtremus | Jul 30 2011, 06:50 AM Post #10 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I don't see anything that needs resolving. Live and let live. |
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| blondie | Jul 30 2011, 07:01 AM Post #11 |
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Bull-Carp
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I think the fellow finds success in his mission. Some people do stuff which they know will upset people just enough so they keep things quiet on the street. It's a brilliant strategy. |
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| brenda | Jul 30 2011, 07:39 AM Post #12 |
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..............
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An offshoot of blondie's point: He likes the power he has gained. He gets people upset and he knows they can't really do anything about him. He feels like he has won some sort of game. Anybody thought to give him the kindness routine? Take him homemade bread and jam? A plate of cookies? Get to know him and let him get to know the neighbors? It's harder for him to be nasty to people he has gotten to know and like. This should probably start with the adults, not the kids, if he is really nasty, but the kids can help in small ways, even if it's just a friendly hello as they walk by his yard. See? A Hobart is a good thing for the whole neighborhood. ![]() (Note: This comes from the kid who go to know all the cranky old people in every neighborhood we lived in over the years. They were like a magnet to me. The crabbier they were, the more of a project it was for me. I'd start with a wave every time I rode by on my bike. Then I'd progress to actually saying hello. Then I'd offer to help them with some yard project. Of course, this was back in the good old days when kids didn't think about scary strangers so much.) |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| blondie | Jul 30 2011, 07:42 AM Post #13 |
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Bull-Carp
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You've a good point Brenda, but there's no way in hedoubletoothpicks I'd be tiptoeing past his gate and those gun owner signs with oatmeal-chocolate-chip-anything. I would send Jolly though. |
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| Dewey | Jul 30 2011, 07:47 AM Post #14 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Or Aqua. He seems to have a way with troublesome neighbors. |
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"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685. "Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous "Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011 I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14 | |
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| brenda | Jul 30 2011, 07:48 AM Post #15 |
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..............
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I've met his type before, blondie. Heck, he's like some of my relatives. I have one uncle in particular who likes to be rather anti-social to all the other relatives, but he loves me and I love him. I can even tease him and he laughs. Others don't dare. It's a slow process to get a truly crusty old codger to warm up and mellow out a bit, enough to be socially receptive. It can be done though. I think sometimes these types are actually starving for attention of any kind, even negative. They can be quite surprised to get some positive attention. Sometimes they practically melt. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| blondie | Jul 30 2011, 07:50 AM Post #16 |
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Bull-Carp
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Bringing poo-cakes on a plate might get him miffed . What did Aqua write again? Maybe I dreamed it. |
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| blondie | Jul 30 2011, 07:52 AM Post #17 |
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Bull-Carp
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I've experience getting crusty old codgers into the tub on bath day at the nursing home. Some remain fighters. And crusty. It's the arsenal of weapons I'd fear. |
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| Jolly | Jul 30 2011, 08:03 AM Post #18 |
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Geaux Tigers!
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Nah, sounds like one of my friends could take care of it, though. He was involved in a bit of a community spat over leased hunting rights vs. some folks who had hunted there all their lives, even though they didn't own the land. One thing led to another, and one of the people living adjacent to the hunting land "tacked" the road with a box of roofing nails. After my friend managed to get his four flats fixed, he patiently gathered up as many of the roofing nails as he could find and politely returned them. No, the man wouldn't open up his door, so he couldn't properly distribute them throughout his house. He had to settle for the gentleman's yard and driveway. For the next couple of years, I hunted with two different kinds of bullets when we were on the lease. Until I got into the stand, I carried AP. When I got settled, I'd swap to regular soft-points. We didn't have any more trouble, but you never know... |
| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
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| RosemaryTwo | Jul 30 2011, 08:07 AM Post #19 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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A good friend lives across the street from him. She is a talented nurse. When he faked a heart-attack, she hesitated, but only for a second, and ran into his yard to try to help save his life. His pulse was fine; she said he seemed okay (he's heavy, though). Ambulance hauled him off and she learned later that he faked it. Another neighbor is a cop. He was off-duty when the fake heart attack happened. I think he sorta stayed off the property. I'm glad I don't have this headache to deal with, but I often wonder what anyone can do, really. Did I mention that he let a bunch of roosters free one day? To run around the neighborhood and watch everyone freak out, apparently. I am also surprised -- we have several veterans in the area -- that the upside American flag hasn't created some drama. It hangs front and center in his yard. Maybe it has created drama and I haven't heard about it. Edited by RosemaryTwo, Jul 30 2011, 08:09 AM.
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| "Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua | |
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| Jolly | Jul 30 2011, 08:10 AM Post #20 |
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Geaux Tigers!
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I wish somebody would turn some roosters loose around here. Walking gumbo... |
| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
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| blondie | Jul 30 2011, 08:20 AM Post #21 |
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Bull-Carp
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:snort: [re Jolly's comment. Hey, I'm reminded to ask you of dermestid beetles someday Jolly]. Okay, a psych case. I'd call hands off. I'd drive on by. 'Am not into drama. Especially in my 'hood. |
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| Red Rice | Jul 30 2011, 08:30 AM Post #22 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I like Brenda's cookie idea, but I would poison them first. |
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Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool. I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss! - Cecil Lewis | |
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| RosemaryTwo | Jul 30 2011, 08:32 AM Post #23 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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| "Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua | |
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| ivorythumper | Jul 30 2011, 08:59 AM Post #24 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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Look at the zoning code and the signage ordinance -- if you can get his displays declared "signs" or claim he is operating an art gallery on residential land etc, perhaps you can get city enforcement on him. Are you in a small town where you know your city council members? Maybe a city ordinance prohibiting "ostentatious displays" or something do to with damaging property values??? |
| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| Jolly | Jul 30 2011, 09:03 AM Post #25 |
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Geaux Tigers!
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The beetles are fine. You can get the same results with fireants a lot cheaper... |
| The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros | |
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4:51 PM Jul 10