Township fines me $5000, claiming my garden blocks rainwater from getting to my own sewer on my property. Guess who my neighbor is?

Get a lawyer ASAP. He'll look at the municipal code and determine if they even have an ordinance to back up their fines.

If they do, you might have to hire a civil engineer to disprove their claim. If you can get that far, you've got a great chance at a harassment suit, citing negligence on the part of the village to back up their claims.

LOL WOW

Wow, those are great ideas! Although, not entirely suitable for this scenario, but I may have to borrow those for future reference

Remind me to never piss you off

LOL I love it that would make a great movie script

Damn man, glad we are friends.

Build a system that collects storm runoff water that comes down your hill and specifically directs the water (like a culvert) straight into the drain grate of the storm sewer.

Have the system designed and built by a certified storm sewer contractor or civil engineer and have that person document how the system works in pictures and/or a video. Then, have an attorney contact the Commissioner's office by letter accompanied by the pictorial documentation of the system along with the certified contractor's/civil engineer's sign-off on the system's specifications.

In the same letter, also have the attorney document the money you have spent on materials and the certified contractor/civil engineer you hired to have the storm water drainage problem properly resolved.

In the same letter, also have the attorney explain that should you be forced into court you will be forced to sue your township for the cost of the system you had to put in as well as pain and suffering and damages due to character defamation as a consequence of the harrassment you've endured when, in fact, your township is in violation of attempting to abridge your civil rights to use your yard for what is a very normal use of one's yard.

SHave the attorney also make it clear that hould your township agree to settle out of court, you will be satisfied just to be reimbursed the cost of having the adjustment to the existing storm sewer drainage system designed and installed.

The bottom line is this. Use of your property is not something that you as the property owner should have to give up just because your property (and not one of your other neighbor's property) happens to be the one at the bottom of the hill in your neighborhood.

*This story will be in a major newspaper tomorrow where I live.*

So, 3 years ago I built a pretty expansive garden on my property. I have grown just about everything. In that time, I have been able to loose over 85 pounds and get my life back on track, living a much healthier lifestyle. I was tired of being fat and unhealthy and decided that planting my own food was the best approach at changing my life. Through my garden, my mother was able to help nearly cure her diabetes after i convinced her to start eating food that i grew from my garden. Today she is off of all of her insulin and diabetic medication.

The problem? My neighbor just happens to be the commissioner in my town. My other neighbor, just happens to be his son. They have made it fairly public that they hate my garden. After i went door to door and had an overwhelming majority of people who live on my street sign a chicken petition, things started to take a curious turn. So curious that my commissioner neighbor and he son, purchased over 40 trees and planted them all in a line right along my property fence to block my garden. He then had the audacity to question my neighbors and ask them why they signed my chicken petition.

It's a long story, but to keep it short, the township sent me a letter claiming that my garden was restricting rainwater from reaching a sewer grate located on my property. We live at the bottom of a hill, so this could never physically be true. The township cites that this water restriction had been, "brought to their attention", by an unnamed source.

We sent certified letters to the township asking for proof that our garden blocks rainwater, and we also asked for proof of the complaint that was called into them. The township ignored our requests and failed to respond to any of our letters. After some time had passed, we received a letter from the township stating that if we did not remove or relocate our garden, they would begin fining us. They township code officer told us we had 7 days to respond to his letter. So, we called his office to talk to him, and what a coincidence, he just happened to go on vacation, so that we could not respond to him in the allotted time frame.

So, we ended up calling and talking to the township administrator. After a lengthy debate the township finally conceded and agreed to send an engineer to evaluate our property to prove what they were saying was true. Guess what? The engineer never came, the township never contacted us and on one fine day we received an envelope in the mail with 3 fines for nearly 700 each claiming that we were in violation for restricting/obstructing stormwater. The citations read that we had 10 days to respond and plead not guilty. Guess what? One of our citations were already 10 days old on the day that we received them. On the very next day, we received 4 more citations for again nearly 700 a piece claiming the same violations.

It still amazes me that this is the world we live in sometimes. People who hold positions of office just do whatever they want. They ignore laws and act as if they can get away with anything they want. Well, i decided to call every newspaper and television news station in my area. One newspaper is running the story tomorrow, and a second one just sent their photographer. I've had tv stations call me back and I am hoping it makes the evening news. At this point, we are going to have to get a lawyer. I know some of you could care less about an organic garden. But for me, this is about a whole lot more, such as property rights and personal freedom. And those two things are worth fighting for.

we are having a battle with an idiot with barking dogs...3000 so far and have not been to court as of yet...gee what does an attorney charge for a day in court couple grand still to come out of my wallet, no one in the county here seems to have any money so We have to carry this fight alone!?!

I have documented for nearly 5 years..the cops suck...this guy is a bully
He was stealing cats from town spraying them with cougar piss and then hanging them in a cage to train his dogs so he stated on his web pages, they'd bark for hours like 12-14 hours a day driving the rest in the neighborhood (all 9 houses) crazy...his answer was
"Dogs bark, there's nothing YOU can do about it, so either move, buy me out , or get use to it"

I hope my attorney is as good as she makes out...we are trying to keep this under 5 grand . We had to cancel our vacation....over this bull shit..
I have documented for years but with NO dog control in the county and no one claiming any missing animals there isn't much the cops can do about this prick.
so now it is civil and the money just flows thru the court system paying the attorney the judge the court costs subpena fees fuck fuck fuck...

My ex father in law had the club "The Frolics" he use the Hells Angels as bouncers years ago...gee they did a great job on straightening out pricks, they would toss the out the door (Ocean side) and they would chill out or wash away!

I hate ass-wholes...and if I say anything to him they get me for harassment justice in America is gone....good luck document document document! that is they key..then hope the judge has some balls to do the right thing!

You should post contact information for that office somwe can bombard the fuck out of them with complaints.

Thanks for all of the responses. I just got in from a late night overtime call at work, so i could not respond sooner. I am located in Pennsylvania near Philadelphia. I will post the link to the news article when it comes out. I will also put up some links so people can see the garden I am talking about.

[link to i213.photobucket.com]

*This story will be in a major newspaper tomorrow where I live.*

So, 3 years ago I built a pretty expansive garden on my property. I have grown just about everything. In that time, I have been able to loose over 85 pounds and get my life back on track, living a much healthier lifestyle. I was tired of being fat and unhealthy and decided that planting my own food was the best approach at changing my life. Through my garden, my mother was able to help nearly cure her diabetes after i convinced her to start eating food that i grew from my garden. Today she is off of all of her insulin and diabetic medication.

The problem? My neighbor just happens to be the commissioner in my town. My other neighbor, just happens to be his son. They have made it fairly public that they hate my garden. After i went door to door and had an overwhelming majority of people who live on my street sign a chicken petition, things started to take a curious turn. So curious that my commissioner neighbor and he son, purchased over 40 trees and planted them all in a line right along my property fence to block my garden. He then had the audacity to question my neighbors and ask them why they signed my chicken petition.

It's a long story, but to keep it short, the township sent me a letter claiming that my garden was restricting rainwater from reaching a sewer grate located on my property. We live at the bottom of a hill, so this could never physically be true. The township cites that this water restriction had been, "brought to their attention", by an unnamed source.

We sent certified letters to the township asking for proof that our garden blocks rainwater, and we also asked for proof of the complaint that was called into them. The township ignored our requests and failed to respond to any of our letters. After some time had passed, we received a letter from the township stating that if we did not remove or relocate our garden, they would begin fining us. They township code officer told us we had 7 days to respond to his letter. So, we called his office to talk to him, and what a coincidence, he just happened to go on vacation, so that we could not respond to him in the allotted time frame.

So, we ended up calling and talking to the township administrator. After a lengthy debate the township finally conceded and agreed to send an engineer to evaluate our property to prove what they were saying was true. Guess what? The engineer never came, the township never contacted us and on one fine day we received an envelope in the mail with 3 fines for nearly 700 each claiming that we were in violation for restricting/obstructing stormwater. The citations read that we had 10 days to respond and plead not guilty. Guess what? One of our citations were already 10 days old on the day that we received them. On the very next day, we received 4 more citations for again nearly 700 a piece claiming the same violations.

It still amazes me that this is the world we live in sometimes. People who hold positions of office just do whatever they want. They ignore laws and act as if they can get away with anything they want. Well, i decided to call every newspaper and television news station in my area. One newspaper is running the story tomorrow, and a second one just sent their photographer. I've had tv stations call me back and I am hoping it makes the evening news. At this point, we are going to have to get a lawyer. I know some of you could care less about an organic garden. But for me, this is about a whole lot more, such as property rights and personal freedom. And those two things are worth fighting for.

do you have a facebook or twitter link with this so I can share it? to get the word out more to other peeps?

good advice
- heed it

best wishes for you
keep us posted and you Christians reading this can pray for OP too to have victory of the powers of darkness that want to control us like this - that satan comes in many forms and this is just one of them

Take pictures of his license plate.


Rent the same car he has and print out a picture of his license plate so you can tape it over the one on the rental.

Now it looks like his car and license plate.

Drive through every red light camera you can find.

Go to shady areas where drug dealers and hookers hang out.....


Play his game. He wants to play dirty then play dirty.

Put a locking gas cap on his car and super glue his windshield wipers down.

Pay for strippers to show up to his house when his wife is home. Have them call his house when she is home....take pictures of different women in the rental car with his license plate.

He will be so busy with his wife busting his balls he won't have time to fuck with you.


Christ man, use your fucking brain and take the fight to him.

Thanks for all of the responses. I just got in from a late night overtime call at work, so i could not respond sooner. I am located in Pennsylvania near Philadelphia. I will post the link to the news article when it comes out. I will also put up some links so people can see the garden I am talking about.

[link to i213.photobucket.com]