rachael simpson wrote:
Pennyaline wrote:
zxcvbob wrote:
In this case, the "neighbor" is Olmsted County, MN. The person
living in the house (rented from the county) is not a problem. The
county itself is sending people out to spray.

The county is most likely immune from any civil lawsuits, small
claims or otherwise. I have to go after the applicator, or find a
criminal statute violated by the county.

I'll bet they're not immune. It used to be a given, but governments
big and small have been made to answer for their presumptive behaviors
lately. If they contracted with Chemlawn, they are responsible for
what Chemlawn does. F'rinstance, Comcast has a right of way through
the back of my property. Two years ago, they had to do excavations on
that right of way to do line upgrading. Comcast hired an outside
company to do the excavation and lay the line. When the work was done,
everybody pulled up and left and the back of my property was a
freakin' mess! They were just gone without a word, and when the yard
remained unchanged days later it seemed evident that they had no
intention of clearing up. There were tire tracks all over my yard from
their digging equipment, my back fence was pushed over, and huge clods
of dirt and sod were everywhere. They hadn't backfilled properly and
the trench line was a heaving lumpy mess. When I called Comcast about
it a few days later, they told me it wasn't their problem since the
"other company" did the work. I reminded them that the "other company"
was acting in Comcast's interest and under Comcast's direction and as
a result it was as if Comcast had done the work itself and was
responsible for cleaning it up. But to be on the safe side, I backed
it up with a letter from an attorney. The "other company" was out
there the next day leveling off the backfill, cleaning up the mess,
and lining the fence back up nice and straight.



BTW, it got interesting a couple of years ago when the house was
vacant one winter, and I called the sheriff and told him if I was
supposed to keep *my* sidewalk cleared, he needed to come out and
shovel *his*. (There was a huge snowstorm and the sidewalk went
unshoveled for a couple of days, in violation of a local ordinance.)
They sent someone out a couple of hours later.

As they should.


Here's one for you:

we own some land outside of a town near here. 20+ acres of pasture
land, currently occupied by 9 horses and 5 cows. NC DOT recently
decided that they want to take our pasture and run a *new* ditch thru
it. The overflow from an area pond runs thru the pasture in a little
stream and now they want to re-route it. We have been informed by local
government, that they are taking a little over 5 acres for this project,
right down the middle of the pasture, digging a trench, and lining it
with landscaping rocks. Do you know what effect that the rocks will
have on the horses feet?!? The way they want to fix it will almost
eliminate any water flow thru the pasture, thus having a bad effect on
the cows. For those who aren't ranchers on the group, the water is vital
to the cows in other ways than for drinking. Cows don't sweat, so they
stand in the water to cool themselves. The township and the county have
already approved this project. So how can we fight this one? Oh, and
during this process, we are *required* to remove all animals from the
pasture, so as the machinery won't scare them and make them *wild*. They
*assure* us that we will be paid for the acreage they take, as soon as
the project is complete. Like we had it for sale before hand or
something............Everything I've tried to do to prevent this, has
turned into dead-ends. Frustrating! UGH!


Where's their environmental impact study? Who knows what endangered
species of microscopic amphibians might be harmed if they reroute the
water? (basically, find all kinds of federal bullshit paperwork that
they are lacking, and sic the bureaucrats on them. The feds should be
able to tie it up for 10 years, although you might have trouble getting
their cooperation under the current administration. But if your lawyer
can find a sympathetic judge...

(I'm serious about the Environmental Impact Study)

They say they will pay *after* the project is finished? That doesn't
smell right.

I don't know where you live in, but there may be state water-rights laws
that give you some leverage.

Or you and a few buddies could just deny them access to the land, with a
Garands and a few cases of Greek or Korean surplus ammunition if you're
into that last stand sort of thing.

Bob