Bad Neighbors Ruin Our Pursuit of Happiness
We are all familiar with the alienable rights bestowed to us by the Declaration of Independence. One right that we all strive to achieve is “the pursuit of happiness.” We look for the best job, the best schools for our children, and the best neighborhoods to settle into a peaceful life. Although my husband and I have ardently attempted to maintain a peaceful life; our past and present neighbors, either consciously or unconsciously, have tried to disrupt our pursuit to happiness. The more we experience the horrors from our neighbors, the more I think Robert Frost what right when he said, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
We moved to our home in 2003 when the home market was thriving, and when the opportunity to purchase a new home jumped at us, we immediately found a nice pre-built corner home that fit our needs just right. When we moved into our beautiful home, the neighborhood was not yet completed. There was at least 20% left to complete the Deed Restricted neighborhood. We were newlyweds, and eager to make friends and begin a family of our own.
Our daughter was born the following year—it was a perfect spring that welcomed our very fist child. Two months after our daughter was born, new neighbors moved in behind us. At first, they seemed quiet and reserved. A family of three with a father, a stepmother, and his son appeared to be friendly until the father, John, decided to allow his brown lab to roam around our yard. This bothered me a bit, but I never spoke to him about my discomfort. Until one bright sunny day during the summer, I noticed his dog was digging a whole outside our bay window. I realized that his dog was freely declaring our yard as his own space, and I became furious. My husband asked him to please keep his dog away from our lawn and that is when all our problems with our neighbors escaladed.
Our back yard became a walk-through for not just neighborhood kids but for adults as well. We had not asked for a perimeter fence at the time of the building of our home never thinking we would need one. It seemed that everyone thought that our back yard was a right-a-way to the other side of the neighborhood, and after numerous arguments with the freely-trespassing individuals and our neighbor’s dog digging holes all over our yard, we decided to build a perimeter fence.
Soon after we build the fence, our neighbors, who we thought to be quiet and reserved, decided to allow their friends to park their vehicles on our yard. My husband knocked at his door and repeatedly asked him not to park vehicles on our grass. By the seventh time I found a car parked freely on our yard, I called a tow company and had their car removed. Twenty minutes later, I heard banging on my windows, cursing and racial remarks, “Those fucking Mexicans! You come out here and get my car back you fucking Mexican!” Needless to say, neither my husband nor I are Mexican (Not that it matters!) A call to the sheriff’s office banned them from approaching our home and during the end of 2007, their home foreclosed and they finally left the neighborhood.
During 2008, a new breed of disrespectful neighbors moved in next door to us. A man in his mid fifties and his son who seemed to be in his early twenties moved in during the summer. At first, we never heard a noise coming from next door, until one day it abruptly occurred. The son and his friends began to hang out outside the front of his home smoking weed and drinking alcohol. While my daughter slept in her room that was separated by about four yards from the son’s bedroom, he would climb in and out of his window drunk. He began to chat with people who visited his window on a regular basis (To do what? Why would anyone have visitors at his or her bedroom window late at night? You can figure that out.) Over the months, their loudness continued and their screams and drunken behavior woke my daughter from her sleep several nights.
On a Friday morning last year, I awoke at 7AM to loud laughter and cursing coming from our neighbor’s back yard. I peeked through the window from our guest room and noticed a large group of youngsters congregated in their backyard drinking beer. I couldn’t believe my eyes! They were drinking alcohol at 7AM in the morning? I also noticed that there were several party goers that did not look to be of legal drinking age, so I decided to make a call to the police. As the police car made its way passed the home, kids began to run in all directions. Only three were able to flee the area while the rest were quarantined inside the home. Two kids emerged along four police officers and took a ride in their squad car.
Across the street, we now have a pervert. It is an unfortunate situation for the only female friend I have in the neighborhood who happens to live next door to the disgusting human being. The man, a step father of two and father of one six-year-old girl, masturbates while watching women live on chat. He drinks beer with one hand and masturbates with the other without any regard to close his blinds and make his living private. When his wife travels out of state, he decides to have cyber-sex almost everyday. When my friend brought this to their attention, the wife began to call my friend a peeping-tom. This off course made us all laugh since her pervert of a husband is overweight and extremely unappealing.
And…just last night, my husband and I had a sleepless night when the pervert’s right door neighbors decided to throw a happy party that eventually took a dangerous turn for the worse. I mentioned to my husband around 10PM that the mother of two teenagers was not around again. We are not sure what the mother does for a living, but these kids are always drinking alcohol and smoking pot—one day I warned them I would call the police if they did not move inside the house to smoke weed.
The party continued passed 2AM the next morning and soon after I heard screams coming from the street. When I looked out my kitchen window, I noticed there were about twenty young teens running after one young man who was screaming at the top of his lungs. He seemed to be having a violent outburst as he swung his arm at a girl and took off his shirt as if ready to attack. I told my husband to call the police. When the police drove by, all the lights in their house turned off and the inhabitants avoided opening the door to the knocking of two police officers who arrived at the scene. They knocked about seven times until a light finally turned on inside and the young girl who lived at the house met the officers outside.
I believe these kids pretended to be sleeping and that nothing had occurred, but they were not very bright. There was evidence of a wild party all over the front of the home—including a smashed beer bottle on the floor. A trail of booze could be followed from the wall onto the floor. There were bottles all over their front lawn and cigarette buds everywhere.
Needless to say, I am afraid I have to inform the mother of what is going on in her house when she is not there. I am afraid that she will become not be supportive and call me a liar. However, I am fed up with the neighbors in our community who insist on ignoring the peace of others. I am also fed up with the fact that we pay an association fee every other month for what purpose? The community’s association never takes care of violent community members and every time I ask for their assistance, they tell me that I should take care of the problem myself or call the police.
I wish I was able to build a ten feet tall perimeter fence that encircles our home. I will even build a fort if I had the money! However, why do I have to think about such extremes measures just to live in peace? We don’t bother anyone. We don’t make noise. We don’t park our vehicles on other people’s property. We don’t throw loud and dangerous parties, and we never—never—never…disturb anyone’s happiness. I wish I was able to build a very tall fence that would keep the junk off our lives.
Letters from Earth 
carla hudson
December 21, 2013
I also have neighbors from hell, loud horns 2 am, loud music all hours, their dogs defecating on my land, even their calf would come eat my garden and flower beds! They constantly watch me when i work outside and yell obscenities when i look out my window to see why all the noise is going on after midnight. I have tried asking for a more peaceful relationship to no avail. I have decided to move my driveway ( they constantly use it, or their company does) and put up an 8 ft fence the whole length of my property. And surveillance cameras to watch the outside of it in case they try to vandalize it. I am so sick and tired of the abuse!