Retaliation of Suburban America?

I recently purchased a home in a northern suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. The average age in our neighborhood is about 55 to 60. This is a solid middle class neighborhood nothing really amiss we do not have any home owners associations.

Since we have moved in June of 2008 our family has received SEVERAL anonymous notes (the first in September and several a month since that time). The notes have now become threatening and recently following a note complaining about our back yard having “children’s bikes” strewn about several bikes were stolen from our yard! I am now seriously considering putting up video cameras because now the anonymous writers are threatening our animals!

Our front yard is immaculate on the side of one of our driveways we keep our trash which is usually in order however after a wind storm it blew over and within 24 hours we received letters! They have also complained about the cardboard recycling which is NEATLY stacked next to the trash. We have 5 children and I work over 70 hours a week. They also felt the need comment and send anonymous letters about how grateful they are that we fixed our roof (sarcasm), please if was missing a few (less than 10 shingles) which were gone when we moved in! About the only partially legitimate complaint our neighbors have is our dogs often bark BUT they are never out before 9 am or past 10 pm at night, and are NOT the only dogs barking in the neighborhood! Of course since being treated the way we are my current feeling on the subject is I do not give a S%^& what they think! I hope my dogs drive them BANANAS! I have looked we are not breaking any laws!

The thing that has struck me as bizarre is here are these relatively well off American’s who sit and watch my trash and listen for my dogs? Seriously we are not partying or even being that bad! If we were I would not feel so violated! What has this society come to? It is scary to be honest that my old neighbors are coming in my yard stealing things and sending us these letters! Could you see your grandparents doing this?

What the hell is going on? I feel like I have entered bizarro world! What kind of civil human being terrorizes their neighbors in this way?

I think it may be because these people are just that angry and scared about what is going on in the economy and world that “normal” people are lashing out in weird ways! I am waiting for my neighbors to join in arms and storm my door with torches to drive us out of town! I think they are terrified because everything they have worked for is falling apart! Is this indicative of things soon to come in this country?

Any you the only ones that have small kids in the area? Was the house foreclosed on?

One word: Boomers

Do not get in-between them and their personal experiences or their own private Idahos. Add to it that their 401K's are now 201K's and they have lost most of their investments, this makes them very, very grumpy.

Just kidding. No, not really.

I haven't even begun to comment on the most fashionable and generally accepted form of American Fascism - The Homeowners Association...

Now combine the first issue with the second and you have yourself a suburban nightmare. My condolences

That is terrible, I cant imagine being in that situation. A great question was asked...was it a foreclosure? I mean I would agree that it could be the former resident. I would ask a neighbor if that is the case.

Maybe there are some troublesome people that live in the hood...I would also consider going to a neighbor to ask if they were familiar with that kind of activity. Best of luck.

If I were you I would do everything in my power to annoy the piss out of them...

Just like kosmikjack said, the Home Owners Association is cleverly disguised fascism, seriously its your house, what gives anyone the RIGHT to tell you what to do with it?

Originally posted by kupoliveson
I am now seriously considering putting up video cameras because now the anonymous writers are threatening our animals!

Of course since being treated the way we are my current feeling on the subject is I do not give a S%^& what they think! I hope my dogs drive them BANANAS! I have looked we are not breaking any laws!

Well do you give a damn if your dogs get poisoned? Because if a neighbor were threatening the life of my animals I would be quite concerned. It would not be a “line item” on the laundry list of rude things the neighbors have done, it would be the ONLY THING I was concerned about.

In the cover of darkness when you think they arent watching. Set up video cameras around your house and aim them at the areas such as Mailbox (if this is the area you recieve the letters in)

Catch these people on video and hope you get a great face shot.

Save the letters and file a report with the police. Its probably one disgruntled neighbor.

This way, the cops know about it ahead of time with the complaint.
and you have papers to back up your claim

Hopefully you nab these folks and press charges!

Probably just old "individualistic" control freaks who like everything their way. This is what happens in a society where everything is about "me" instead of about "we." People are atomized and isolated and instead of trying to change their wider society they become obsessed with every little detail that they can control having to be just so.

"The devil is in the details." These people obsess over stupid little things because they vote for Bush.

I definately love these situations. Not for you but when I'm in them. I never gave a rats ass what anyone thought of me and after the first letter, nobody would of ever came on my property again.

KonigKaos........... got it right. Set up the cams. I got 8 setup every angle of my house along with my dogs and capture everything from accidents to fights and people up to no good. I don't know if your handy, but I'm in construction, so when I was fixing up my house (siding, windows, etc) I installed my system and nobody has a clue.

I have a video capture card which came with the kit and captures the video to my PC. I have an external harddrive just for the video data. If I catch anything good I burn it to DVD and erase the rest.If you're on vacation you can also access the video through an ip address from the manufacturers server.

Definately go covert to catch the knuckleheads. Nothing better than making somebody who feels all powerful with the upperhand feel like a worthless worm. Bring them back down a peg or 2. I also have children, so I would be very aggressive in acheiving this goal as soon as possible for their safety.That's why I did it.

Edited to add:

I don't know what type of dogs you own but make sure you have signs posted warning of the dogs all over your property, front and back. If someone gets on your propery and mauled they hold you responsible and euthenize your dog. At least if you gave them fair warning, they have no excuse. Also I suggest you have your dog/s trained. My brother trained our dogs and you could throw a steak in front of it and it wouldn't touch it. Don't let your dog get poisoned.




[edit on 16-12-2008 by Revealation]

Maybe there is an earthquake coming and these neighbors are reacting to their "animal" side.....

reply to post by kupoliveson


Is your back yard fenced? My fencing is typical and about 5 to 6 ft. high, so there are only four neighbors surrounding me that could even see into my back yard-- without coming up to fence and peeking through the slats, that is.

Have you met your neighbors on either side of you? Maybe you could ask them a few questions on their opinion of who it might be harrassing you (if you don't suspect them). It's probably just a lonely senior citizen, living alone and with not much to do but monitor the neighborhood. Still, you never know and I wouldn't take the notes too lightly if you feel they're threatening in any way, especially if you have dogs outside.

Installing cameras is an excellent idea, and they're fairly inexpensive. We put a couple up ourselves.

I think I'd put a sign out in my front yard that read,

Keep the letters coming, and I'll paint this house neon yellow!

There are some other little things you can do. Plant piracantha. It's a natural barrier, and groomed carefully, a man will need a transfusion to pass through.

Cameras are nice, but you'll also need an audible warning. Driveway warning setups can be made to work, or even motion lamps can be modified very easily.

Get 'em.

reply to post by kosmicjack

I haven't even begun to comment on the most fashionable and generally accepted form of American Fascism - The Homeowners Association...

You have that right. We are unfortunate enough to be in a development with a Homeowner Association, and I feel that we moved into the old Soviet Union. There are about 10 people out of 150 homes that go around writing up everyone for minor "deed restriction" violations, such as having an American flag on the front porch, or having a bird feeder in the yard. We had never been in a home where there was a home owners association, and if we had to do it all over, we never would have bought the home. In order to change the deed restrictions, you need a 75% vote of all homes, not just 75% of people who vote, and so many of the people don't show up at the association meetings, that it is impossible to get 75%, and they won't take petitions. Fascist, Communist, whatever you call it- it is not what I would call freedom.

Originally posted by kupolivesonAbout the only partially legitimate complaint our neighbors have is our dogs often bark BUT they are never out before 9 am or past 10 pm at night, and are NOT the only dogs barking in the neighborhood!

Well that would be enough right there for me. Nothing ticks me off more than hearing someone's uncontrolled disobedient yapping mutt any time of the day. Of course I would politely complain in person the first time they needed to be shut up, the second time I would probably get up in your face, the 3rd time I'd call to cops, the 4th time your dogs would disappear. Shut them the heck up. Some people work nights and sleep during the day. Others are retired and would simply enjoy some peace and quiet instead of yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap all day long from some mangy out of control mutt in the neighborhood. That would drive anyone insane.

Originally posted by Revealation
Edited to add:

I don't know what type of dogs you own but make sure you have signs posted warning of the dogs all over your property, front and back. If someone gets on your propery and mauled they hold you responsible and euthenize your dog. At least if you gave them fair warning, they have no excuse. Also I suggest you have your dog/s trained. My brother trained our dogs and you could throw a steak in front of it and it wouldn't touch it. Don't let your dog get poisoned.




[edit on 16-12-2008 by Revealation]

Possibly bad advice!

Some states have laws that state if you post signs saying 'beware of dog,' you are admitting that you know the dog is vicious, so you can be held especially liable for any attack they might make, even if the person is intruding into your yard.

Check your local laws.

Probably just old "individualistic" control freaks who like everything their way.

I ran into one of these idiots a couple years ago.
I called a biker friend of mine and he got a group of biker friends to come to my place for a beer party.

Needless to say i never had another problem after that.
I think the person was afraid of what would happen next after i put the word out that i was veteran and not afraid of any anyone and my friends would take care of anyone that messed with me.

I also heard that the person went and complained to the cops about the bikers.
that backfired as they were a group called the patriot guard
www.patriotguard.org...
en.wikipedia.org...

Get a very loud motorcycle and make you sure you rev it up good twice a day in the morning and at night.

Originally posted by Merle8
Probably just old "individualistic" control freaks who like everything their way. This is what happens in a society where everything is about "me" instead of about "we."

Pure unadulterated rubbish. Pardon me sir/madam -- but your extreme left wing is showing.

Real individualists do not harass others. Most individualists subscribe to the notion of "Leave me the f*** alone and I'll leave you alone".

On the other end of the scale, many authoritarians subscribe to the types of control-freak behaviors being exibited here. They think the group is the only thing that counts -- screw the individual. Clearly one of these leftists or someone mentally imbalanced (or both) is playing these games.

The original poster needs to set up cameras and nail the perp. Very cheap black and white cams usually work very well with a cheap infrared illuminator.














[edit on 12/17/2008 by anonymousATS]

People like that would piss me off to no end. I would love to just make it worse for them. I love the idea of really giving them something to complain about. Hand paint the house yellow with big pink polka dots. Change your mail box to one of those tacky artsy ones like a bass or dog or some other odd looking thing. Unless your opposed to homosexuality, fly the rainbow flag from your home 24-7. Finally, put those plastic pink flamingos with the spinning wings (ideally a whole squadron of them) and garden gnomes out in front of your home. Do all of this after installing the video surveillance with recording devices. Edit: Also, in the summer, make sure you do all your yard work wearing only a speedo.

Edit: Before all of this, I would go door-to-door and ask each neighbor if it were them who sent the letters, or if not them, do they know who had or if they had experienced that themselves. If you found the person responsible, try to talk to them about the issue, if that goes nowhere or no person is discovered, then proceed with plan B.







[edit on 17-12-2008 by Wolf321]

Walk out to your mailbox one morning with a shoulder harness on. No need to have a gun in it. Give those people something to think about. I like the idea of the sign that warns of painting the house neon. I would take seriously any threats against my family. Yes my dogs are family. Give copies of any threats to the police so you are already on file. Install the cameras if you can afford it. Fake putting them up if you cant afford to actualy install them. If you moved into an area where there is a homeowners association try explaning to them there are legal things you can do that will make them even angrier if they dont back off.

spiritowl

Please keep in mind I in no way advocate violence

[edit on 17-12-2008 by Spiritowl]