Think You Have Bad Neighbors

[austin552]

Neighbors: Man Lives in Car, Uses Yard as Toilet

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292839,00.html

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Steve Graham might not be in the doghouse over a dispute with his wife, but as far as his neighbors are concerned, he's not far from it. For the past seven years, Graham, 55, has been living in his car parked in the backyard of a house he and his wife, La Donna Graham, own.

Graham said the two have "been having troubles" since 1999 and that he's been out of the house since about 2000. His wife still lives in the home.

"She's not going to support me not having a job and bumming around," Graham said. "I'm trying my best to get a job and get up out of this rut."

But his neighbors, who say Graham plays loud music, often spouts obsenity-laced tirades and uses his yard as a toilet, aren't amused. They have asked the city to prohibit such living arrangements.

"You can't enjoy your backyard," said Linda Sanders, whose backyard is across the alley from Graham's property.

Sanders and her family are among more than a dozen neighbors who presented the Pittsburg City Commission with a petition in July asking it to prohibit people from living in their cars on private property within city limits.
Kenny and Cathy Waring live in property adjoining Graham's, near a park and across the street from Lakeside Elementary School.

"Every day he's out there. He never goes into the house," Kenny Waring said. "He sleeps out there, he eats out there, he watches TV, he plays guitar. ... Everything that you do in your house, he does out there."

Graham acknowledged that he watches TV, listens to music and sometimes sleeps in his blue, 1989 Buick Century. The car is parked on a concrete slab, mostly covered by a large, blue tarp that is secured with bricks and cinder blocks.

An extension cord from the house to the car provides power for a 13-inch TV, an oscillating fan and a radio.

"I get better reception there than I do in there," he said, pointing at the house. "I listen to Rush (Limbaugh) every day, just about."

The Warings said they tried at first to get along with Graham, but by the second year, they were calling the police on a regular basis. At first, they were the only neighbors upset by Graham's living arrangement, but now they say more neighbors with children are moving into the area.

The neighbors say one of their biggest complaints is that Graham may be using his yard for a toilet.

Sanders said when her son-in-law was back from Iraq in mid-June, Graham began to burn trash and other debris across the alley.

"I walked out there, and (the smell) was terrible," she said. "Then Ronnie came out the back door and said, 'It smells just like back in Baghdad.' He said he'd been on detail where they have to burn excrement and said that was exactly what it smells like."

Graham denied that he used the yard for a toilet.

"No, I go elsewhere," he said. "I don't expose myself to people."

[onewhippedpuppy]

Wow, makes me proud to be from KS.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Brought to you by the same state that brought you "intelligent design". Makes sense.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Brought to you by the same state that brought you "intelligent design". Makes sense.

Nice tangent, thanks. As soon as somebody can prove to me that the THEORY of evolution is fact, then I will be happy to have it presented as the only lesson on creation in public schools. But, as long as the science around it is as flexible as global warming, ALL theories of creation should be presented.

[72doug2,2S]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Brought to you by the same state that brought you "intelligent design". Makes sense.

What kind of drugs are you taking?

[Kevin Taylor]

Sounds like he's enjoying his backyard. He's going to need an
air conditioner though the the rest of this week.

K.T.
1983 911 SC
1978 911 SC
1973 911 "E" 2.4 MFI
1965 Devin "D" / 1967 912 Power Plant

[azasadny]

We have neighbors like that living across the street from us. I fully expect to come home one day and find crime scene tape all over and the cops taking reports from the neighbors after someone in the house shoots the rest of the mouth-breathers. They're not breaking any laws, they just remind me of the people portrayed on "My Name is Earl". We try to ignore them since they are across the street and i just feel sorry for the neighbors living on each side of their ramshackle "house".

[tabs]

My kind of fking guy....andif it weren't for Mother....

[TheMentat]

my favorite part:

Originally Posted by austin552

"I listen to Rush (Limbaugh) every day, just about."

you go brutha!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

That makes sense too, doesn't it?

Truth is more hilarious than fiction sometimes. . .

[Joeaksa]

Excuse me but has anyone thought of what its like living in a car anywhere in Kansas during the winters? What in the world does he do for heat and when its snowing he is not out in a lawn chair enjoying the weather.

He needs to work things out with the wife, sell the house and take half and go live somewhere else.

[john70t]

Sounds like hubby has lost all his focus in life, and is going out of his way to try to shame his wife-which isn't working. Sad.

I met some people who have property up north in the boonedocks. They parked an RV and use it for extended periods in the summer. Because it isn't a "permanent structure" it isn't subject to taxation.

The neighbors should have to get a court order for soil samples to prove contamination, and excessive noise levels.

In response, hubby could complain about lawn fertilizer comtamination, noise pollution from lawn mowers/cars, and children shouting.....and then complain about the neighbors obvious home design choices.......Imagine that: mixing colonial with victorian and greek revivalist. Enough to give someone permanently brain-damaging migraines.

Tall fences make good neighbors.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Excuse me but has anyone thought of what its like living in a car anywhere in Kansas during the winters? What in the world does he do for heat and when its snowing he is not out in a lawn chair enjoying the weather.

He needs to work things out with the wife, sell the house and take half and go live somewhere else.

C'mon Joe, it's obvious. He just gasses up the Buick and stays in!

Considering the heat index is probably 110+ for at least the next week, winter probably is the least of his worries.

[Kevin Taylor]

He's probably a BBQ champ by now.

K.T.
1983 911 SC
1978 911 SC
1973 911 "E" 2.4 MFI
1965 Devin "D" / 1967 912 Power Plant

[RoninLB]

i bet his wife doesn't understand him.. or maybe she does ?

[bpoteat]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Nice tangent, thanks. As soon as somebody can prove to me that the THEORY of evolution is fact, then I will be happy to have it presented as the only lesson on creation in public schools. But, as long as the science around it is as flexible as global warming, ALL theories of creation should be presented.

Evolution is taught as exactly that, a scientific theory. A theory in the scientific process is a lot different than the word theory your uncle walter uses to describe his belief in aliens from the planet trafalmadore running the white house. That 'theory' is a conjecture or opinion - not a scientific theory. Intelligent design is just a speculation and doesn't meet the minimum criteria to be seen as a scientific theory (which you can google yourself), whereas Evolution does.

If you want to teach non-scientific opinions such as intelligent design in a classroom, that's fine - but then it's not science. Or you could learn some science yourself and post a formal theory of intelligent design to make it official, but as it stands right now, the theory of evolution is the ONLY explanation of creation that meets the criteria of a scientific theory.

[Mule]

The first time I hear about an atheist championing intelligent design, I'll start to consider it.

[tabs]

U havn't met a BAD NEIGHBOR until U have lived next door to me...the last little old lady who lived next door called me a "crazy old B@stard."

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by tabs

U havn't met a BAD NEIGHBOR until U have lived next door to me...the last little old lady who lived next door called me a "crazy old B@stard."

Hey, you're not that old...

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by tabs

U havn't met a BAD NEIGHBOR until U have lived next door to me...the last little old lady who lived next door called me a "crazy old B@stard."

And what part of this do you disagree with ?