Monday, June 22, 2009

Turn Down The Music

I've had bad neighbors. Neighbors who stomped across their floor--my ceiling--at all hours of the night; played loud music early, early, in the morning,. Parked in my space. But I think the Harrison family of Vancouver, British Columbia, are the worst neighbors EVER!
Sorry. Joan Crawford moment.
The Harrisons played annoyingly loud music at all hours.
The Harrions summoned the cops with false accusations.
The Harrisons tried to instigate fist fights.
The Harrisons hurled slurs.
The Harrisons let the air out of their neighbor's car tires.
The Harrisons threatened to kill their neighbor's cat.
And more.
That was just what happened between June 2006 and October 2008.
Vancouver Justice Doug Halfyard was appalled and scolded Patricia and Alexander Harrison for tormenting their neighbors, who live in the same upscale four-unit complex, and ordered them to pay their neighbors $15,000.00--about $13,000 US.
The neighbors first went to court against the Harrisons in October 2007, and the harassment intensified over the next year.
Oh yeah, in case you didn't get it, the neighbors are gay.
Rod Boggs and Bill Hart, in their 50s and together for 30 years, paid $1 million in May 2006 for a three-floor suite in Brighouse Manor; the Harrisons have lived there for more than 20 years. Boggs and Hart say that from the moment they arrived, the Harrisons launched a campaign to get rid of them because “gays weren’t welcome at Brighouse.”
The Harrisons, of course, denied it all.
But the judge wrote: “I have concluded that Mr. Harrison was not a credible witness. I have grave concerns about his honesty, and I would not accept his testimony on the disputed points, unless I was satisfied that his evidence was confirmed by other independent and reliable evidence.”
And he didn't think too highly of the missus, either: “I would be reluctant to accept her testimony on any important fact in dispute, without confirmatory evidence.” He went on to quote Mrs. Harrison as saying to Boggs and Hart, “You two have ruined this place. It is disgusting. And so are you. I have so much on you....You are going to be very sorry. And I am sending it all to MacDonald Realty [Hart’s employer].”
Hart testified he responded in kind calling her “a bitch,” a “liar” and “disgusting,” but that he never called her "fat"....... to her face.
Justice Halfyard said it was clear the two men were seriously upset and deeply offended by what he described as malicious and intolerable conduct, but did not award greater damages because “to a limited extent” the men had provoked the Harrisons.
Apparently, before the conflict descended to threats of pet murder and vandalism, Boggs and Hart instigated the removal of the Harrisons’ basketball hoop, their trampoline, and the glass sound barrier, flower pots and furniture from the front veranda. The Harrisons were forced to reduce the size of their back deck, to stop burning wood in their fireplace and to provide adult supervision for their children in the pool.
Boggs and Hart were, maybe, a little too pissy and prissy for the neighbors, but seriously, threatening to kill an animal because you have to remove a basketball hoop? And these are the adults.
Or so they say.

2 comments:

  1. There's a lot to be said for being prissy...rules exist for a reason. If we all let our little brats run wild on their trampolines and in the pool and if everyone built tacky glass partitions, what kind of world would we be living in? Still...was it worth it? If those 2 are as prissy as I'm guessing they are, the answer is...YES. :)

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  2. Anonymous7:50 PM

    I've had the "stomp on the floor" types but they tended be decent folks, just a little heavy footed.

    The best was the next door neighbor who'd beat the shit out of his girlfriend on a regular basis. You'd call the police, they'd come and take a report but the girl would be back two days later.

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