Retaliation of Suburban America?

If I were you, and this is just my advice...I would go door to door and call a neighborhood meeting. Be pleasant, politely ask them if they would meet at point A at X time because there is a matter that needs to be discussed.

When the groups of neighbors were gathered I would lay it out on the line, let them know your experiences thus far, your fears and concerns. Let them know clearly that anyone who has an issue with you or your home to get it out in the open now so it can be addressed.

Be firm but not combative. Let them know that you are working long hours and trying to raise five kids and give them the respect of knowing that you will do your best to address any problems anyone may be having with you.

Also let it be known that you dont care for personal threats, let them all know that you are installing closed circuit cameras on the property (even if you arent they dont know that). That way you can document any criminal acts of mischief or poisoning of animals (my big concern).

By drawing it out in the open you will easily get a feel for who is the beligerant neighbor, odds are it is just one bitter A-hole in the group playing neighborhood nazi. What this does is it makes the others aware of what is happening and it also gives you extra sets of eyes to watch your property. And who knows, maybe this person has been tormenting others on your street as well, very likely.

Pull their covers...make the issues known....let them know that whatever issues they may have with your homes appearance you will be happily willing to address, but let it also be known that anonymous threats will not be tolerated and anyone who crosses the line will be prosecuted.

If all else fails there is an excellent hand book for such matters, it is called "Screw Unto Others" and will give you some great ideas for handling such nonsense. Good luck in protecting your family

reply to post by asmeone2


Funny how laws can be drastically different from one state to the next. You have to have them in NY, otherwise your liable. Regardless, they are animals and should always be looked at as dangerous and provided a warning and if you decide to go on somebody's property, you get what you deserve.No matter how domesticated man thinks he can make an animal,he is still just that.Same goes for humans.After all look at the alleged people who are doing this to him.

It is good advice to look into your state laws, but I have to say this is why I have ABSOLUTELY no respect for the law. It is in place to manipulate it into their own favor. It's not for the protection and benefit of the people. I know from experience. It is nothing more than a tool to bring revenue to the corporation it was created by.It's all business.Self serving, manipulative man-made laws.

The IRONY. The same state that may have these laws are also the ones that allow a cancerous, death causing carcegine to be inhaled in the form of cigarettes,as long as the WARNING is there. They should be accomplices to a slow torturous murder. Or how about the drug alcoholism which claims tons of live from DWI or cerosis of the liver.Amazing that these rules NEVER apply to our government,only the people who pay the bill and are actually the ones building and keeping the entire world running. The hypocrisy.

Originally posted by Revealation
Regardless, they are animals and should always be looked at as dangerous and provided a warning and if you decide to go on somebody's property, you get what you deserve.

Yeah in Georgia generally speaking your dog can eat all the people it likes as long as it occurs on the owners property. As it should be; property rights and personal responsibility.

I have lived in 6 states and Maryland appears to me the kookiest one of them all, including South Carolina as being less kooky, so go figure. Maybe you could call it an EMO state, you know like EMO rock, sad mopey and complaining about absurd things.

reply to post by guliver


yes we are the only ones with young kids... I am a young mom, a dr and back in the day a teenage parent, so I am a bit unusual and non-traditional and I get the sense that bothers them too!

reply to post by Divinorumus


1st- No one has EVER come to talk to me in person! I might actually feel bad if someone said hey I am trying to sleep during the day...
2nd- My dogs are only out there for 15 to 30 minutes at a time and NEVER out when someone is not at home!
3rd- They are NOT the only dogs who are barking in the neighborhood! There is a Westie at an adjacent house who is out ALL day and does not just make an occasional bark but a CONSTANT yip ALL DAY LONG...
4th One of the reasons maybe because they are bull terriers (pitt bulls if you will) BUT they are the nicest, sillyest, knuckle-heads who mainly bark at our cats cause they just want them to play! Otherwise no cat in sight they usually happily play quietly.

No the house was NOT previously foreclosed on...

Also I am worried about someone poisoning them and now they are calling the cops on me like every other day!

They called the cops on me the other day... I fed the dogs it was 8:30 pm, they wolfed down thier food, then I put them outside at 8:40 ish... I brought them in when I heard them barking at the cat at a few minutes after 9pm. I was in my room reading which is right outside where they are tied up and they were for the most part quiet, until like I said one of them started barking at the cat.

At 9:45, literally over 1/2 an hour AFTER I brought them inside the cops came knocking at my door. Seriously give me a break! I talked to the people who own the Westie and they said no one has ever complained to them! There are plenty of times I am not home and my kids are and stuff happens but this time it was all me! Once I get my taxes, the camera's are going up...

This is kind of funny, now they call animal control, except I am connected to animal control as a vet here, so the calls go no-where... But they are NASTY and always annoytomous things like I am not feeding them, leaving them outside all day in the cold with no water when I know they are inside! The people working for the county know my animals as many of them have come from the shelter and they know they are all healthy and well fed. I got one guy there who when he takes another one of these calls, says he will ask the person to come in and make out a signed statement but so far that is all I have.

Oh yeah and someone broke into my car and stold a bunch of CDs and change...

? so if I catch someone doing something to my yard, dogs, animals ect on camera, is it only legit if there are signs up warning them? I do believe here in Maryland at least where I live if my dog attacked and hurt someone on my property I would be liable and the animal potentially euthanasied, after a 10 day quarentine. Of course you would have better luck getting mauled by one of my feisty felines then my dogs, unless they knocked you over to lick your face off!

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have not yet gotten up the gall or the time to go door to door yet but maybe when I have a day off!
[edit on 1/29/2009 by kupoliveson]

[edit on 1/29/2009 by kupoliveson]

I feel for you, kupoliveperson. I remember being a single mom (many centuries ago) and know all too well the animosity that flows from more "traditional" people.

For whatever reason(s) these grumpy people have singled you out for harassment you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. Nor should you waste any more time trying to understand. You can't negotiate with unreasonable people.

They are actively harassing you.

It's time to go on the offensive...seeing as all else has failed Use all the legal tactics that the posters here have suggested. I'm especially fond of having the Patriotic Bikers over for a beer bash! Seriously

Implement a way to turn the tables on them and get them to leave you alone. If you don't... before you know it you'll be packing up your stuff to move into a new home. That would be a major imposition on you and your family.

Best of luck!

What you are experiencing is nothing new to human behavior. I have seen many situations like this in my life, it usually turns out to be a group of at least two of the neighbors working in tandem to destroy anything positive that happens to move in to the neighborhood. They will stoop to any level to make life as unpleasant as possible for you.

I suggest you turn this over to the police for further investigation and have a good set of records for each and every call made to them and subsequent meeting.

Have a phone recorder set up as they will most probably begin to make calls at some point in the future. Since you are receiving anonymous notes, they could possibly have plans to turn you in to family services on some heinous child abuse or neglect charge, they never have to produce a shred of evidence, just their anonymous charges which can and will be outrageous and once reported will be on your permanent record. Even if the investigators find no substantial evidence to confirm the allegations you will never be clear of the allegation.

Think ahead, know that this is a dangerous game played by the criminally insane. I have been there... Watch your pets and children.

Turn the letters over to the police.

Ask for an officer to come to your home. Take a day off if necessary to do this.

Document every instance of this harassment and don't be afraid of making a nuisance of yourself.

You say you are a "dr."

You should be resourceful enough and have sufficient financial resources to nip this in the bud before it gets out of hand.

Hire an attorney to represent you if your appeals to authorities are not taken seriously.

I've had to deal with similar circumstances for several years and by being persistent and by asking for the help of the authorities, I now have my situation in hand.

Don't delay.

Procrastination will only be viewed as weakness.

All excellent ideas!

@nd for the mods

get a camera. I would do that right away. you could get a moultrie Game-Spy-D40 for right at 100 dollars. Its motion detector works great, and it takes night and day photos. I would be careful where you put it, because they can be swiped. The way this particular model works is it bounces its images to a SD card, so you cant really put it in a super hard to reach place because you need to be able to take the card out.

Heck, a good webcam inside your window might even do the trick, but i havent ever used one so i dont know about its recording format, and to have a 12 hour steam of video to scrub through would be a major pain, even for a video guy like me, so Im thinking still photos would do really well. as you can see, it really gets the job done!




with the camera you could at least see who is doing it. if its just one person who keeps it up, then you could confront them, but if its people from all over the neighborhood, then you might have a slightly more complex situation.

one last thought, and I hope im not stepping on toes here, but, if your of a slightly different race or religion than your neighbors, then they are essentially perpetrating hate crimes, or at least hate annoyances.


[edit on 29-1-2009 by drsmooth23]

reply to post by GradyPhilpott


I am a doctor! That means I have enough money to pay my bills and not a whole lot to hire an lawyer and NO TIME! Sorry we do not make that much at least in my line of work! Also since then I have talked to the police who basically laughted at me and told me they have real crime to take care of!