Letters to the Editor
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To the people saying 'don't let it go'
Butt OUT!
It is not the neighbor's place to report this to the police. Why doesn't the LW buck the trend in the neighborhood and allow the 'non-white' person to actually have their preferences listened to. The elderly neighbor has a son and they can decide what to do. It is not the LW's place to 'wage war' with the neighborhood. For goodness sake, can't any of you see that the LW also infantilizes this lady? Again, ASK THE FAMILY WHAT THEY WANT. No sneaky plantings, no self righteous ranting, DON'T PULL THEM UP. For all you know, this (though badly intentioned) may be the answer to the neighbor's prayers. Stop behaving like a paternalistic white liberal for five minutes and allow her a choice.
I'm NOT supporting the other crazy planting neighbor, but it is clear that the elderly neighbor has politely declined to involve the LW in her business and the LW really needs to listen to that.
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LW has some gentrifying guilt of her own, maybe
It's one thing to refuse to "let go" a wrong done to YOU. It's another thing to go on an unasked for crusade. The LW's neighbor has resisted offers of help from her; it's unlikely that this neighbor will be grateful for the LW pouring bleach on her plants. (By the way, people may be making too much of the fact that the plants are oleander...sometimes LWs change certain details to maintain anonymity. If not, oleander is poisonous, we get it, let's move on.)
I wonder if the LW feels guilty about her role in the neighborhood's changing demographic and wants to differentiate herself from the nosy, dissaproving neighbor who plants flowers on other people's lawns! Getting involved in someone else's yard is getting involved in someone else's yard. If the neighbor asks for help, help her. But there is nothing for YOU to let go of.
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Did your neighbor ever hear of code enforcement...
I assume your town has some sort of code enforcement. If your neighbor had a problem with the other neighbors unkept property, that is the avenue to pursue. Call them up, have them come out, and if the property is not code compliant then they will issue a ticket. If it is compliant then your neighbor should go home and close her door and keep her gardener working in her own yard. You don't go onto other people's property and plant oleander (I have no idea what that is, but from some of the letters posted here it sounds pretty nasty).
Now as far as second guessing the lady's choice in political candidates, I have read the letter twice and I see no indication of a preference for Obama. For all Cary knows she has a McCain sign in the front yard.
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Am I an upity neighbor?
Planting things is going a bit overboard, but I sympathize a bit with the neighbor who planted them.
When I moved into my house in a "neighborhood in transition," the house next door was a major concern. It was a big old house that had been split up into a duplex. It was owned by the family of the downstairs guy -- a 500 pound guy who never left the house. The tenants upstairs (a family) wanted to buy the house, but the owners weren't selling.
The fat guy died last winter. The tenants offered again. The family thought they could get more. The house went into probate. The tenants got kicked out. The block was abuzz with the possibility that this house would change hands -- anyone would be better than the current owner.
Over year later, the house is still vacant. Last spring, my husband and I cleaned the garbage -- yes, garbage -- that the dead fat guy left in the back yard and porch. Between the neighbor across the street and us, we kept the grass in decent shape. Now it's spring again and my husband is eyeing up the front yard.
The irony is that the longer the house remains vacant and unmaintained, the less it's worth. The offer the owners turned down last year is gonna look like a windfall by the time the family gets done fighting over it.
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A line in the sand... er, oleanders
If this were my letter, my home, my elderly neighbor being bullied, I could not in good conscience allow this behavior to pass.
The shrubbery planter has trespassed and has taken her neighbor's property to use as her own. These are the facts, plain and simple. And why? Because the elderly woman's house doesn't look very nice.
If the esthetically (and ethically) challenged planter were a big corporation, the howls of outrage would echo from end to end of this website. Instead we have a neighborhood busybody committing this mugging-- let's face it, snatching the elderly neighbor's property for one's own benefit is really not much different than snatching her purse (and either way, it's a both an act of immorality and a crime) and calls to "mind your own business."
Call the police. Frankly, I'd be amazed if they took any action, but please do so.
If they fail to act, as a firm believer in the effectiveness of direct action I'd dig the plants up in the night and leave the lifeless stems on the planter's doorstep.
We all are, in the end, each our brother's keeper-- and our sick and our elderly brothers (and sisters) perhaps most of all. Allowing this to pass is no different than turning a blind eye to a physical assault or an act of arson.
It's funny. As a liberal, I just assumed that this whole looking out for your neighbor thing was a given.
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Lolly, the LW needs to report for her OWN safety
The incident needs to be reported because the crazy neighbor may strike again. She may strike someone else. If the next victim (could even be the LW) wishes to press charges, there will have been a previous record of such behavior, establishing a pattern.
I agree that the trees shouldn't be touched without permission, nor should charges be pressed. But if you witness or hear of a crime, particularly one that is likely to be repeated, you should report it.
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Post a Big Sign Next Door: "FREE OLEANDER PLANTS -- DIG UP AND TAKE FOR FREE!"
Make the sign REALLY big and have it face the obnoxious neighbor's house.
(Of course, this would only be done with the neighbor's agreement!)