Personal Voice

Grant was excited to move his family to the country. His property was only ten acres, but he was happy to have some room to garden, raise a few animals, and have open space between houses. He and his wife had searched for the perfect home, and when they found the spot they purchased, they knew it was the right place.

The house wasn’t as big as their previous one, but it was comfortable. The property was a bit of a fixer-upper, but Grant could hardly wait to get it cleaned up and looking good. However, the first day he went out and started trimming some overgrown trees, the next-door neighbor showed up toting a gun.

“What are you doing on my property?” the man said.

“Your property?” Grant said in surprise. “The real estate agent said this was my land.”

“Well, he must have screwed up on the survey,” the man said. “Not only are these trees on my property, but it extends another hundred feet toward your house.”

Grant knew if that was right, he didn’t have the acreage the listing said. So, he immediately called the real estate agent. The agent assured him the size of the property was correct. He came and started to walk the line with Grant. They didn’t go too far before the gun-toting neighbor showed up and told them to get off of his property.

The real estate agent was furious. He said he would take care of it. The next day, the agent showed up with a survey crew. But, once again, as the survey crew started trying to mark the property lines, the gun-toting neighbor showed up and told them to get off of his property.

“But the lines don’t show this as your property,” the head surveyor said.

“But it is, and my gun says so, too,” the neighbor replied.

The surveyor talked to the real estate agent, and he told them to take a break and come back in the afternoon. They all met there in the afternoon and started to survey again.

The neighbor came as before. “I thought I told you to stay off of my property.”

But this time, the real estate agent was ready for him. The real estate agent told him they had the right to survey. As the neighbor threatened him with his gun, a sheriff’s deputy stepped up behind the neighbor, pulled his gun, and ordered the man to drop his weapon and lie on the ground. The man cursed but did as he was told. He was arrested and charged with threatening others with a weapon.

The survey was finished, and Grant not only owned the trees, but he also owned nearly eighty feet farther toward the neighbor than he thought. He hadn’t realized how big his property was. However, the minute the neighbor was released on bond, he moved the survey markers.

Grant asked the real estate agent what he should do. He said, “Good fences make good neighbors.” They decided to do another survey, and Grant had a fence company come at the same time. The deputy came and verified that the markers had been moved before they started so they would have evidence.

Once the survey was completed, the fence company put in steel posts cemented deep into the ground. The neighbor yelled at them, but with the deputy there, even that didn’t last long. When what had happened was reported to the judge, the judge felt the neighbor had violated his release and said he could pay for the surveys and fence or face jail time. The neighbor claimed he hadn’t moved the markers, but there was a video to the contrary. In fact, the neighbor himself had made it, posting to social media about “the horrible people who lived by him.”

Grant wondered if he would ever have a peaceful life there, but the minute things were settled, the neighbor moved, saying he wouldn’t live around such people. Grant found he wasn’t the only one relieved when the man left, and soon, a new family moved in next door.

Grant and his wife went to visit, and the man asked, “So, what are the people like here?”

“Good, now,” Grant said. “Really good.”