What a mess

There is a field I mow every year. It is a nice job all flat, and no rocks. This year I drove up to the field. It looked like a bombed out war scene. Kids have dug a lot of holes, and made ramps. I think the ramps were for toy remote cars to race around. Houses were right next to the field. I am sure parents would see what was going on, but didn't seam to care. The owner is going to need someone with a tractor to level out the mess. I see this all the time. Kids seam to think they own the property next to their house. I am doing a job next week. The owner has to pick up a truck load of trash, and run squatters out first. Just another day in the neighborhood. Stan

I don't know what to do with a neighbor who thinks he owns my land. I threatened him that I was gonna burn him out when he was growing dope on my land,now when I went up there the other day he's been mowing the end of a hay field with his lawn mower. A path down toward where he was growing the stuff before as a matter of fact.

"Kids have dug a lot of holes"
And yet, if you wanted them to do chores, they wouldn't do any manual labor. Same way with the taggers who hit the train cars. If you wanted them to volunteer their work to paint a church or a shelter, they wouldn't do it.

Line fence and then the law involved. IF there is drugs involved the law usually acts quickly at they get to keep things. Just regular crime forget them doing much if anything.

If nothing works on the growing drugs then some Round Up usually cures the problem.

They got busted for it. Him and another neighbor who was growing it with him. Helicopter,state police,the whole works. Of course those two big men hid behind his wife's skirt and got her to plead guilty to growing it so they didn't "get in trouble". Useless trailer trash.

I did not see the word drugs, I saw kids dug holes.

I saw no respect for somebody else's land and the fact that even after the drug incident,the low life is mowing my field like he owns it. Another one did that,then threw a girly fit when I plowed it up and planted corn. Came unglued because I plowed up "his lawn". I had to call a surveyor to straighten that mess out. First they mow it,then that start piling things there,then there are old cars parked there. It's a slippery slope.

Is the lot fenced and posted "No Trespassing"? I can see both side of that story. The land owner wants to hold the ground until it appreciates enough in value to build houses on it. The kids see it as a neglected vacant lot that isn't being used for anything. The alterations didn't happen overnight, probably took many months. Now the land owner has an attractive hazard on his hands that cost him a little more money. Bottom line it's more business for you.

BTO rents a field that butts up against me. Plants right up to the property line. His equipment is too big to make the turn without entering mine. Asked him not to for several years running. He ignored me

I put up a fence, he had a school girl hissy-fit, claims he is losing almost an acre of field due to my fence.

I see an entitled brat not willing to see the value of anothers property,because it is just back "lawn"

Kids playing outdoors? Building ramps? Get em back indoors texting on their phones! LOL

My place of employment owns a couple old gravel pits where we dump wood chips, stones removed from road projects, dirt pulled off berms and ditching jobs, etc. The nearby trailers all have kids that never seem to be in school but always seem to be out riding dirt bikes. Unfortunately for them, whoever parceled out the lot their trailers reside on, didn't provide enought land for a motocross track, and taxpayer dollars don't allow them to purchase land for that reason yet either. However, the local road department owns a ready made motocross track right in their backyard! It is completely fenced except for one small spot where the large gravel spoil piles don't allow for easy fencing. So they ride up and over the piles and use all the banks for their riding skills practice. Last time we were there hauling road widening spoils, our loader dug a big divet in front of all of their most well used ramps, and pushed a bank up along the bottom of them. Will it keep them out? No, but it may help discourage them. The sheriff's department watches it for us, but the way it's laid out, you couldn't see anything anyway. That's probably why people always sneak onto to hunt it in fall.

All these kids ever do is turn the knob on the television. When they grow up they won't be good for anything but squeezing orange juice.

Taken from a Jack Benny monologue.

You maybe right, but I don't think they should be destroying other peoples property. Stan

You would need to see the damage to believe what I saw. It was like 20 kids spent a few days digging holes and making jumps. Then dragging in trash to make it worse. Stan

So, you can see both sides of the issue. Please tell me what is any reasonable side for the kids? They trespass and destroy!

Oh good grief, kids being kids. Read down a few items, about doing random acts of kindness. How about helping them, do a little landscaping with them, explain how you'll all have to properly restore things after they finish playing, just set a good example of adult-hood helping kids. Do all the landscaping in one area, out of the way. THen restore things, show them how to properly do things. You might really enjoy it.

Plus there is the legal part. They get hurt on your land and you could be facing lawsuits.

37Chief, call the owner, tell him he needs to see it. That you cannot mow it the way it is. Then tell him he owes you for going there to do the job but could not because of the trash. Then go find another lot to mow. Its the owners property and responsibility. If you can't mow it move on to other projects. The kids see it as an opportunity to build ramps and jumps for their cars on an empty unused lot. They don't even think they are hurting anything or body.(kid mentality) We used to do that when I was a kid, dug holes put branches over the top for our hide outs. We would refill at the end of the summer. No one mowed or did anything with that property. WAS IT TREASPASSING YES. We did not have cell phones or video games or computers to play with. Life was so boring we dug holes. lol gobble

I don't think it's up to me to repair their mess. I don't move dirt. I don't carry insurance for pushing dirt. I brake enough water lines just mowing. It will take a good size tractor with a blade. I am heading out to do my act of kindness by repairing some ones house trailer. Stan

If there are houses right next to the property it will probably eventually be sold for development. Other than causing you pain when you mow, I don't see any harm done. Why would the owner pay to have the field leveled if it is just empty?

If I owned it I would not like the liability, but other than that I sure wouldn't care that kids were outside doing something.

Kids, shucks, how about grown men?
A little background- I live on a lake shore, some neighbors are full timers, others are weekenders.
When I moved here 15 years ago the grass across the road was 4-5 feet tall. When I mowed my yard I would also mow across from my yard, then started going a bit further each cutting. Now i am cutting across from 11 lots. The owner of that land has his entrance from next road over, doesn't come by here often. The cabin owners remarked how nice it looks now, less habitat for mosquitos etc. They show appreciation by filling my gas can, dropping off some cash, even a plate of home made snacks around Christmas time. Guy who owns that propeerty even bought one of those pull behind finish mowers & pulls it with his ATV to keep the other half mile looking decent.
Fast forward:
Guy at end of the line , a full timer, leaves piles of gravel & deep ruts in the grass when he plows his snow. Told him in spring that I would mow around the gravel piles so he could reclaim the gravel & put back on his driveway, I wouldn't scatter it around. Guy next to him, a weekender, pumped snow melt & rain water from around his garage couple weeks ago. Culvert under road wasn't running fast enough, so he put the hose on middle of road. Now have gravel that he washed off the road piled in the grass.
Told one yesterday that when they clean up their mess, I'll mow that area again. Otherwise they can take care of it.

Willie

I suspect that the kids playing on the vacant lot bothers Chief much much more than it bothers the land owner.

On this forum it's common knowledge that if someone builds a house next to a farm, they should not complain when farm smells, dust, noise, escaped livestock, hoards of Japanese Beatles, chemical drift, ground water contamination, etc. make it onto their property, because right or wrong that is just a fact of life in farm country. Likewise, if you own property next to a residential neighborhood, you shouldn't complain when kids, pets, adults, vehicles, trash, fireworks, cans, tires, junk, etc. make it onto your property because right or wrong that is just a fact of life of having property next to a residential neighborhood. If you don't want any of that you need to put up a good fence or a locked building.

Odds are the vacant lot will eventually become another subdivision, so the last thing the land owner wants to do is spend money on a fence that he will eventually have to pay more money to have removed, and that might increase his property taxes while the fence is in place. Likewise he's not interested in making any police calls (that costs the local government $500+ a call) just to complain that some kids are on his vacant lot, he might as well complain that there is a weed or a bird in it. Some of the kid's fathers probably built most of the RC car track for them anyway. The owner is likely content to only have to mow the lot once or twice a year, as required by law, and ignore it the rest of the year because he pays "a guy with a tractor" to take care of the mowing. Thus it becomes Chief's problem.

The best thing chief can do is inform the owner, increase his bill to cover he extra work to mow around the RC track and factor that into next year's work schedule. It's extra money in his pocket.

Smooth it down and spread load of chicken litter.

If what you say is true I'd say you live next to some pretty smart men and pretty stupid women.

No,they're all stupid. I think he's trying to commit suicide by farmer.