On Wednesday, trash day, I noticed a suit prowling around next door that looked suspiciously like the toady that has been trailing the neighbor along the guard rail. Well, who wears a suit these days? A lawyer.
My theory being I want to know who I am up against, I decided to take out some more trash. When we made eye contact, I called out, Attorney or Contractor? He said attorney and actually introduced himself! Blue Springs attorney, gymnastics dad and just a friend of the neighbor. He made a comment about what great people the neighbor's are, and I said, 'Well, that depends on how hard they screw us.'
He was a little stunned at this point. So I just went ahead and told him that there had been multiple deaths on the curve (helpfully pointing out the dents in the guard rail), that we had 40 years of access, and we felt that the neighbors needed to collaborate with an easement deal. While he is still being lawyerly, he is smiling like I just turned him down for a date, not knowing what to say next. I said, nice to meet you and walked away.
Then, I went to Jackson County Public Works to discuss the guardrail in light of our neighbor's claim that his is cutting off the joint drive. The county is well aware of our curve due to its toll of multiple injuries and deaths. Randy Diehl was my first target. I asked at the front desk, she called, and out he popped. Nice. No need to explain much, he knew right away. He asked me to wait. He walked down the hall to talk to someone in an office. I eavesdropped on the conversation for a while, then decided I might want to be a part of it as it is my driveway. I walked down the hall, poked my head in the door and asked if I could join them. They were a little surprised but said yes.
The alternative to the situation being a lawsuit, they were quite accommodating. The man in the office was the chief engineer for the county. He and I drew out a map of the curve. He said they would modify the guard rail by removing a section where we would need a new driveway to enter the road. Sadly, they are going to replace a section where the gravel drive enters the road. I hate to lose the access, but honestly it is exactly where people start to go off the road.
Mike is angry about it. He feels that we are being harmed by the county and the neighbors. Technically he is right, but I prefer to think of it as a positive step in a bad situation. Legal pursuits are going to be expensive. I don't want to spend an extra dime on that jackass next door. The county doesn't think there is any way to make him give us an easement. This set-up is generally what the family attorney advised a few months ago - spend your money on the drive not the situation. Now the county is out of the way and we can do that.
Today we have a special meeting with the neighbors, a follow up to our meeting last week. They have "good news about the use of our existing opening on to Milton Thompson." The first thing I am going to do is ask them to move the red trailer, then I am going to ask how they want to handle the pond (because secretly I think they should pay for the whole thing), and then they can say whatever they want on the drive. I'm done. Mike might have a couple things to say to them, which might be kind of entertaining.
While I was in downtown Independence for all this county business, I saw this statue of Andrew Jackson (namesake of Jackson County) which was gifted by Harry Truman. The president remembered for the Indian Removal Act and subsequent Trail of Tears is memorialized by the only guy to ok atomic bombing of whole cities! Maybe Bush is right and history will make him into a hero.
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