Dam* shark. Too bad he got bail.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Well if the guy was trespassing, and considering the constant mischief, I wouldn't count on this guy being convicted.
Typical lawyer, at least some of them. Move in and ream the neighbors.
Too bad the neighbor was killed, though I would have probably reacted to the shyster the same way.
Hope the bloodsucker is convicted and gets the max.
Another neighbor, Oliver Perry Brooks, was less accommodating. He never paid, despite a 1991 state Supreme Court ruling siding with Mr. Ames. He also periodically cut or removed portions of the fence, fueling a bitter feud that ended with Mr. Ames' arrest in the April shooting death of Mr. Brooks, 74.
What's John Ames FReeper screen name?
Sounds to me like the wrong guy died. Ames was asking for a shootin from the day he moved in. Another rich guy coming in and pushing his weight around. Who ever heard of anyone being charged for the grass a couple of heifers ate? It looks like if Ames couldnt beat you in court he had no qualms at shooting you. 5 shots is a lot of shootin in self defense. hen a guy had a stick against you. If Ames beats this case I would urge his neighbors to not carry a stick to the next gunfight.Come armed ,come ready.
Sounds like "Good Neighbor" Brooks thought himself above the law and picked at the situation until he got what he was asking for.
Just one of the reasons why I bought a home with no "common boundaries" with others.
My property is 15 acres shaped in a triangle. Two sides are county roads, the third side is a fairly large stream that serves as a property line.
Ames sounds like he needs to be shot.
"He spent two nights in jail before being freed on $100,000 bond, secured by his mother's house in Virginia Beach."
He doesn't appear very wealthy if his mother has to put up her home to secure his bail. On the other hand he could just be a spoiled momma's boy.
He's a lawyer. Hang him.
Hey look! Lots of folks "proudly posting without reading the article." Is it contagious?
Regardless of who is in the right regarding the fence and the cattle, it doesn't take six shots to stop a 74 year old man armed with a stick.
One of the cardinal rules here is that you don't mess with your neighbors. You leave them alone -- even when they are doing something you don't like.
This is different than California, where I used to live. There, you do mess with your neighbors. Not here.
If the guy wanted a fence, he should have just built it himself. I don't care what the state law says. That is how things work. You might (very politely) discuss the idea with your neighbors, but that would be the end of it.
People get pretty pissed off when you intrude on their turf. You don't do it.
Everyone's a loser here, it seems. Too bad there were no calmer heads to prevail here.
Sounds like hand carved coffins, only he didn't do a good job of covering up.
In the arid West, there is open range. Folks who want to keep cattle off their property have to fence their property at their own expense. Works better for huge properties than this eastern law meant for farms of about 40 acres in areas of greater precipitation.
One element that has not been fully developed here is the "certified disease free" issue. Bovine trichomonosis is spread through sexual contact. http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/ah/pdfs/Trich_in_ca_b9.pdf
The disease was rapidly spreading between herds through "rent-a-bulls." In California, you cannot sell a bull or use it for breeding without testing. If it is found to have the disease, it is ususally slaughtered.
Having a non-certified bull in with your herd increases the risk of disease and spreading to calves. It could wipe out the market value of your whole herd.
This does not justify the shooting, by any means, but it probably contributed to the rancher's ire.
Just one other thought, how does a 17th century law, that predates the United States, get held up in court?
First, Kill all the GD Lawyers. Otherwise they will kill you and in a Court of Law, convince God that you died a natural death.
Ames should be turned over to the terrorists to have his head amputated with a dull rusty knife.
I could applaude that, like the Democrats applaud the beheading of innocent people.
What's the difference between a lawyer and pond scum?