The Pryhills: Living in WHOLLY Matrimony

Love your neighbor

I spent the weekend at 'Rents. When I got home after dinner on Saturday night, I heard my cell beeping with voice mail. It was one of those scary messages you don't want to receive: "Honey, call me AS SOON as you get this message. Bye." I always think the worst. My heart drops when I get those, but I thought I heard a smile in her voice, so I was calmed. I called her back immediately and she gives me the big "Guess what?" I don't want to play games, just tell me what's so important. "The redneck neighbors caught their house on fire!" What?

They finally did it! Visit my Fire House gallery and take a trip through a burned out house with The Pryhills.

Your better judgment tells you to stay out of damaged structures, but unless a fire has happened to you, most of us have never been inside a burned structure. Just like the kind biker lady that took us on the tour of an abandoned town near Chernobyl, I take you where I had absolutely no business being.

First a little history before you run off to the gallery. I moved in 2 years ago, and was warned by my next door neighbors that the folks living behind me were nightmare neighbors. From the description she gave, they sounded like that tacky redneck in Georgia whose neighbor created a website about him and his exploits. In fact, I seem to recall a fire on a deck on that site too. (It's a shame that Carlos took that page down, he leaves us with this message. BUT ALAS, someone has it mirrored here. Be sure to click the links for pictures.)

Anyway, we live in a nice middle-class neighborhood. The houses are not huge, but adequate. The yards are well groomed and the residents are responsible...well almost all of them. These folks have let a 125K house fall into shambles. As you can see, it would be a cute little house if they maintained it. (Yes, it looked pretty crappy before the fire.) The yard is overgrown and they use it as their personal landfill. They have a metal shed that backs up against my back fence that is in poor condition and has holes in the sheetmetal. They have deposited trash such as a bike, yard tools (God knows they don't use them), tires, beer cans and at one point a hot water heater and parts of a couple dirt bikes. Last summer I had to call the city on them twice to get them to mow their high grass and once to remove the hot water heater and tires because they were a breeding ground for mosquitos. I let the shrubbery in the back grow up as much as possible to block the view, but it does nothing to drown out the loud music and expletives shouted around that house. They have loud parties in the middle of the weekday and yell the F-bomb like it's going out of style. The police know when they get a call from my neighborhood, it's probably about the redneck neighbors. I am sure they were not surprised when they got the 911 call on Saturday.

According to neighbors, the 19 year old son was grilling on charcoal on the back patio when somehow the wood deck caught fire and it spread to the house. The whole fire lasted not much more than 15 minutes, but has probably totaled the house. Had the son been using the gas grill with the ceramic tile underneath, perhaps he would not be homeless today.

I hope they have insurance, as I don't wish them misfortune. I just wish they'd take their insurance money and go live in someone else's backyard. I did a little research to try to learn more about them and to see what kind of legal responsibility they have to fix/demolish the dwelling. By comparing real estate records and mug shots off the Char/Meck Sheriff's website, I have concluded these are not good neighbors. The father was arrested in September on petty larceny. The son was arrested 3 times in 2003 - twice for minor marijuana possession, and a third time for breaking into a coin/currency machine. Looks like that one was a joint Father/Son operation (oh, the bonding!). No felonies, but certainly not the norm for residents of my neighborhood. I would link to the photos (there's a mullet involved), as you would see for yourself what unsavory characters they are, but that would reveal their names and out of privacy concerns and my own safety, I will not post them. I doubt they have internet access, so the chances of them stumbling across my little blog are low, but better safe than sorry. I wanted to determine if the house was mortgaged, since that would mean they most likely had insurance. Although if things are so bleak you have to break into a change machine, that's a good indicator that you might not have homeowner's insurance. Matching up names with the real estate records, I found that the house is not in either tenant's names, but the owner's last name did match theirs. I'm guessing the grandfather owns the house. I have no clue what is next for the tenants, but I wish them well...somewhere else!

So what's next for the house? Do they just let the structure sit there and decay further, while becoming a breeding ground for insects? If they don't have the money to pay to get it fixed, what will happen and how long do I have to look at this eyesore over my back fence? I'm not even sure if the house is completely destroyed or if it can be repaired. The attic is pretty bad, the smoke damage and smell are awful, and I don't know if those things can ever be fixed. I am sure it varies city to city, but if anyone has any knowledge about this kind of thing, let me know. I want action, and I want this property restored to the community standard.

*It's unfortunate that I have to do this, but I feel I must post a disclaimer before I am accused of being indifferent or insensitive. This story concerns the misfortune of my neighbor of whom I am not too fond, yet I would not wish this upon anyone. This story has nothing to do with disregard for the welfare of my fellow man. Those that really know me understand that I have a fascination with the structures that man has been empowered to create. I am also fascinated by destruction and decay; hence my entirely secular fascination with Heritage USA/PTL. I do not advocate or wish for the decline of anything or anyone, although this may be a case of "What goes around..."

Posted by Ace Pryhill | TrackBack