My property is not the county dump!

Mark4510 · Oct 20, 2004

I came home last night to find a large pile of trash dumped on our property. Mind you this is not the “3 large garbage bags and a dead house plant” dump but more like the “I have a full pickup loaded to the brim and don’t want to make a dump run” dump.

Over the last 5-8 years our little slice of heaven has been growing up with a lot of new folks moving in. For the most part these folks have been really great neighbors but in the last 4 years or so we have had a different element moving in, more expensive homes being built and lots little import cars with loud exhaust systems, wide tires and huge stereos along with Mom and Dads Mercedes and Lexus.

Perhaps I am mistaken but it seems, as a result of this new group of folks moving in, times are changing. Early this spring I chased out a group of kids, with these sports cars, throwing firecrackers at the ducks and baby ducks in our pond. About a year ago I drove down our driveway, after hearing shouting, to find, what looked like, a bunch of kids doing a drug deal. I cannot hardly get out on the road with the truck and trailer without be hit by some kid going, seriously, 50-60 mph on a road posted for 30mph. A few days ago a kid in a lowered pick up with fat tires did not make a corner, hit a power pole, which fell across the road and started a fire on our neighbor’s ranch. 3 of the five bee hives, down by the creek, were kicked over and broken open along with their water and feed spilled. A year ago I came home to find one of those really tall, big tire half ton pickups with a chrome roll bar, high centered on a small oak that they had run over but gotten stuck on. I called the sheriff and they indicated that it belonged to some kids up the road from us. Early last summer, in an insurance fraud case, a kid drove his mom’s mini van up on to our property, in the trees, and set it afire. And now this trash…….

This is not just half a dozen kids…..it’s more, and also the parents. I get passed at least once a week by a Mercedes/BMW/Lexus on our very little country road that is not even, in many places, a full 2 lanes wide. Not surprisingly, even though I am going the posted speed limit, the passing car feels compelled to salute me, my wife, and our horses with a single finger as they pass us. We probably appear to be a bunch of cowboys to be looked down on but dang, if we wanted to, we could afford a car like that. In fact, I bet, most of our horses cost as much as their car. To them, we are an inconsequential inconvenience. I feel like I should buy that AR50 that my brother in law keeps trying to get me to buy but, in the mean time, I guess I will just put in that gate down by the road.

This is not just me either. My neighbor had some goats get shot with BB and paint ball guns. Another neighbor but in a nice gate only to have it chained up and pulled off its hinges when he tried to keep folks off of his property.

I really wish my city cousins would leave their city ways in the city when they move to the country or just stay in the city.

Not sure there is an answer here……just venting. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Mark

Soundguy · Oct 20, 2004

I htink I might use my backblade/fel to push that trash to the edge of the street... perhaps the police will search it.. find a name of who it belongs to on some discarded mail.. then prosecute them. That sort of thing has happened here before.. though it is hard to get the cops in marion county to do much unless you are being murdered at that moment.. or you are murdering someone else.. while actually on the phone.

I just had to put up a few hundred feet of fence to keep 'wonderfull' people and their ATV's off the front of my property.. where they were spinning donuts and plowing up the field..

Soundguy

TWINKLE_TOES · Oct 20, 2004

Mark, I had a similar event (garbage dump) at my place. I sifted through all the "stuff' and found a persons name and address. I looked up the phone number and called. Turns out it was an elderly lady who had paid some kids to haul some stuff to the dump, they kept the money for the dump and left it at my place. She gave me the names of the two boys and I called the Cops. Guess what, nothing happened. I cleaned it up and hauled it to the dump.

Bob_Skurka · Oct 20, 2004

Mark, as one of those fancy car driving big house owning city cousins who moved out to the country, I find that I have the same things to complain about that you do. Early on, when we moved out (had the land 15 years, lived on it for the past 10) we came to the belief that we had to change to fit into the area. But I do see some of the same problems you see with some of my neighbors. I don't know that there is a solution. Fences probably help. I've not had to put one around my property (yet) but I have been considering one along part of my frontage, more to prevent a problem that MIGHT occur than to keep out problems that have occured.

We have a neighborhood associaton for our road (155 acres, 32 homesites, but only 26 homes) and I asked in one of the meetings "who's idiot kid has a car with stereo that is so loud it shakes my furniture . . . the front window has "gettin it" written on the window" without waiting for an answer I said I guess that when his sister turns 16 and gets a car she'll have "puttin out" on the window of her car! Funny thing, those letters were scraped off the window of the car within a week and I have not heard that loud stereo ever since . . . that was 2 years ago.

There are a few of us in the neighborhood who point out stupidity in a public way. It seems to help. But then again, we have the benefit of having a newsletter and an association with land covenants to back up some of our concerns.

Bird · Oct 20, 2004

( I called the Cops. Guess what, nothing happened )

That's a bit surprising. I know a fellow who got to go clean up a mess that he dumped and pay a fine when identifying paperwork was found in the garbage he had dumped.

ByronBob · Oct 20, 2004

Not sure there is an answer here……just venting.

I have a few answers in my basement. They're names are Remington, Winchester, Savage and Mossburg. We have a decent understanding with each other. I feep them oiled, dry and out of the sun and they hit whatever I'm pointing at with excellent accuracy.

You start shooting or threatening to shoot and the law will listen. I know this is wrong but as someone else mentioned the Second Amendment is the original homeland security.

Hambone · Oct 20, 2004

I live and work in a rural area also. Our company cleans the highway between here and town. About three miles. The seems to be a lot of bags that end up there. I realize some comes from our trucks (refuse) and some gets blown out mistakenly, but, why pay to go to the landfill when they will pick it up from the road??? I guess that is what they are thinking.....

slowrev · Oct 20, 2004

Bird,
Maybe he should have called the EPA ? Had a similiar problem once with brush dumped on my place, I found out who the kids were and realized I knew their grandfather. Went to see him and filled him in, very nicely of course. Mess was cleaned up fast by the kids who apologised. Of course this was with country folk, not rude loud city folk. Your reputation means something with country folk. Treat them good and they will return the same, well almost all the time anyway /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ben

TWINKLE_TOES · Oct 20, 2004

Bird, I wasn't very clear on "nothing happened". For all I know the boy's got life with no parole. But after two weeks I cleaned up the garbage.

RobertN · Oct 20, 2004

Our neighborhodd has a central garbage can location at the bottom of the hill, where we take the cans every Wednesday night for the 5am Thursday pickup. We have had a lot of extra trash dumped in the area. The garbage guys don't pick it up. Usually it's only a can or two worth of garbage, and one of us adds it to our cans.

Only thing you can do for the garbage dumped is look for an address. There must be some junk mail in it, although it is no fun sorting through it. If you do, wear gloves, preferrably a good barrier latex type for substance isolation.

Shame is, our transfer station/dump is not helping; they are on the expensive side. It's easy to have a big bill there, while the Gerber dump for Sac county is like $10 for a small trailer or pickup load. So, these people dump and run.

Even here in our little neighborhood with private roads, speed bumps and all, I have been passed by neighbors, mostly kids. They really hate it, as when I have a trailer I go real slow over the speed bumps.

It's funny, 'cause the speed bumps don't slow most cars down; they can go thump-thump over them at 30+mph. In my 3/4 ton diesel 4x4, they will jar your tooth filling out no matter how slow you go over them.

Yesterday, there was a little red car with wide wheels sitting spun out in the side of the road past the ditch. It was on Buckeye, like the sped past the school, and lost control scoming around the corner to the stop sign. I just laughed as I went by; although I had 4x4, and chains in the truck, I would not help an obvious dumb-dumb kid. Let them pay for the tow truck and explain to Daddy.

Many kids have no respect these days. Not all, but a bunch. A lot of adults fit in there too. Look at what Richard had to do with Brutus to keep people off his and TVA land.

Mark4510 · Oct 20, 2004

I will try to go through it and see if I can find any identifier and will take safety precautions as Robert suggests. My first reaction was much like ByronBob suggests but I am no marksman so I would probably hit someone. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bob S....I am sure not saying all the folks that move into our area are rich city folks that dont care. Actually, most of them are like you. They adapted the rural life style for a reason and want to fit in so all can enjoy it. I love where we live and would not begrudge anyone the same life we have and love.

As Robert can attest, our little road is rough enough that a speed bump would be the smoothest part of the road and as he can also attest, even with a fully loaded truck and trailer you get pretty beat up going the speed limit. That being the case I find myself going slow to keep the horses from being beaten up but frequently see cars coming up on my 25mph pace while they are going twice that. I worry about being rear ended with horses in the trailer. I guess I will call the Sheriff and see if they do some speed control out there. I guess I would just call the Sheriffs office and go from there.

Robert, I know the area you are talking about and I can just see you going by with a knowing grin on your face. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Thanks gents....
Mark

Taylortractornut · Oct 20, 2004

Mark do what i did on my neighbors property. He had an old home site some of the preppy kids were taking the old antiques out of and also dumping garbage there. It was down hill and I knew where an old sectoin harrow on the property was. I misplaced it upside down in the tall grass one evening about 4 of them drove over it in a line. At the private plant landfill at work weve had problems with the new plant chunking house hold rubbish in with the inert. We go through alot of the bags and find old check stubs, bills and all sorts of tattle tales in them. I know a few farmers that had property on a road cut off by a fallen bridge. the local tire shops were dumping on his place in the creeks and all then it came to be a local monthly dumping by alot of folks. It smelled like a soured garbage truck. Him and his son boxed them off with 2 big farm tractors and called the cops. 2 of the dumpers were county employees in a county truck saving a trip to the landfill 10 miles away. If the police dont take it serious cll in the local news papers and the EPA when the EPA gets done shaking them like a bulldog theyll want make the landfill trip.

Mark4510 · Oct 20, 2004

Taylor,
In hindsight I should have done that when I caught people but I kept thinking it would be the last one. We have a pasture down near there that we are rehabilitating so I need to be careful how far I go. Plus, this is California where the criminals and deviants are a protected class and the good hardworking honest folk are guilty of something......as soon as our courts and legislature can determine what that new crime should be.

I think the general input here is to try to track the trash down and put in a gate. The one that WraughtenHarv built seems strong enough but way beyond my skills. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I will have to go back through some of the gate threads on TBN and see what sort of solar electronic opener/gate combinations would work.
Mark

Ken_CT · Oct 20, 2004

RobertN, if you had pulled them out, a lawyer would probably contact you to sue for the damage you did to the "poor child's" car. After all, it couldn't be their kids fault /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif.

RobertN · Oct 20, 2004

Stop by the CHP office in Placerville. They should be able to help. They are nice folks in there. They have brought CHP cars out to our Cub Scout Pinewood Derby(the last few years, we have given the CHP and Sheriff pinewood car kits, so they could compete at the derby with "patrol cars", and help judge cars).

No, we do not have the best roads in some area's. I used to have and haul horses. Even with a good trailer, you still have to take it real easy to keep the poor critters from being jostled too much.

RobertN · Oct 20, 2004

That is another reason for passing them up. Years ago, my Dad helped a guy who was badly stuck. Dad pulled him out with our Jeep and a chain, but the guys bumper got messed up bad. My dad left it up to him on where to connect, and to stay out of the mud. that was in the 70's, before things went too nuts. The guy was not happy, but he hooked it up, and he was un-stuck...

Most folks have cell phones anyways; they can call a tow truck themselves. If not, I will let them call on my cell phone.

Jim_Fisher · Oct 20, 2004

Bird,

( That's a bit surprising. I know a fellow who got to go clean up a mess that he dumped and pay a fine when identifying paperwork was found in the garbage he had dumped. )

I'm surprised, too.

We had a similar situation back in the sixties. Dad called the state police. He and the trooper that handled the call went through the trash and found some junk mail that had been thrown away. The trooper said that he'd take care of it and he did. The trash was cleaned up and no more was dumped.

BigDave · Oct 21, 2004

We don't get much household trash or party left-overs since I made the local teens aware that they weren't welcome, but we still get big ticket items: a sofa, a tiller, a push mower, things that the private trash services won't take. I end up taking the stuff to dump & paying the $4 myself.

Now not be stereotyped, but I also drive one of those German cars out in the country; that is when I'm not in my truck. The only time I ever thought about giving a truck pulling a horse trailer the finger is when I was on my bicycle. He didn't even think about stopping at the stop sign. Giving him the finger would have been an afterthought anyway, basically because my heart was in my throat as I slammed on my brakes to avoid the 35ft moving road block in front of me. Some skidding & an unplanned right turn meant I lived to tell the tale.

Gary_in_Indiana · Oct 21, 2004

"I sifted through all the "stuff' and found a persons name and address." 

This sounds an awful lot like Officer Obie from 'Alice's Restaurant' by Arlo Guthrie. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

For those of you who actually get (remember?) the reference, here's a Tribute to Officer Obie.

bczoom · Oct 21, 2004

Mark4510,

Sorry to hear about your issues.
We've had similar issues in our area in the past.
For the trash, sifting to find its origin and notifying the police has worked i nour area.
For speeders and the like, we've found a couple things that work.
Have the police put up some vascar lines. Unfortunately, this only works for a couple months before they realize there's never been a cruiser watching.

The big one that has helped us is camcorders. If a violator is seeing their activities are being recorded, they'll amend their ways. We've given films to the local law enforcers and they've used to give warnings for traffic violations (they said they would have a hard time giving a citation using these).