Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The Crazy Neighbor

I have a neighbor who doesn't like us, I don't know why. When we're out side and he's outside he is very friendly, he comes over to talk to us and jokes around with the kids, but we recently found out that he has been calling the city to complain about us since we moved in. His first complaint was that our property drains into his backyard, we live on a hill and he is lower on the hill. He thinks we need to fix the drainage problem. Then he started complaining about the chickens. He complained that we had too many. Then that they were running wild in the neighborhood, a couple got out while my husband was building the barn, but they were never running the neighborhood just us chasing them around the side yard trying to herd them back into our yard. After getting them couped up he started complaining that our barn was too close to his house. It was only 47 1/2 feet from his house and city code says it has to be 50 feet. He had to have jumped the fence and measured, there is noway he could have eyeballed it and figured out that it was 2 1/2 feet short. When animal control and code compliance blew him off he called the city superintendent and then the city came out to measure. Turns out he was right, we measured wrong and they gave us thirty days to move the shed. After this visit animal control let us know that he was the neighbor that was calling and that he had been calling almost every day since we moved in. When that wasn't successful in getting us finned or kicked out of the city he called again, this time about the dog. His complaint was that her rabies tag was expired and we haven't registered her with the city of Fort Worth yet. Her tags aren't expired, they expire the 26th of April, and we didn't register her yet because we planned on doing it after she gets her booster shot so we only have to buy tags once. Again he had to have come into my back yard to read her tags, you can't read them from over the fence. There should be something I can do about him coming into my yard. The animal control officer who came out this time tried to play dumb and act like she didn't know who called, but our front windows were open and we watched her walk from his house to ours. When we explained to her that we knew it was him and we had overheard her talking to him and watched her walk from his house to ours she said that this was the first time that that particular neighbor had called to complain about us, she had no records of him calling animal control before and was insistent that animal control hadn't come out before. When explained that I was going to talk to someone about the harassment she decided to check with the dispatcher and realized that this neighbor had called several time before and animal control and code compliance had come out at least ten times. I don't understand why they try to play dumb, like were not gonna figure it out. His new complaint is that our rooster is too loud. He is in a barn with the door closed. We used to open the doors during the day so the chickens get some air and see some daylight, but we can't do that any more. now we have to wait for our court date. Basically he has to keep a log of every time he is disturbed by chicken noise and after several weeks we have to go to court so a judge can decide what is to be done. The problem with that is its his word against our. He doesn't have to record the chicken noise to show how loud they are, he just has to say they are too loud for his comfort and they are disrupting his day. I just can't believe that he can get away with this, we have no rights in the matter, we just have to wait and see. If the judge sides with us we pay nothing, but if the judge sides with him we pay fines for the chicken noise and all the court fees. Okay, I'm done whining now, just needed to vent a little.
PS this post was gonna be titled something else, but my kids read this blog so I have to be nice.

2 comments:

The Gee Six said...

I can't believe your neighbor. Why do some people think that they can treat others that way? It makes me so angry. GRRRR. I'm sorry! I hope it gets better!

CourtneyB said...

Wow, that guy seriously needs a hobby or something. I wish you could catch him hopping into your yard and get him in trouble for trespassing! Good luck!!