HOUSTON – Police officers say they are getting more frequent calls from neighbors arguing with each other, and the calls are coming in from every corner of the city.
Many of the disputes end up inside the Harris County Civil Courthouse, bogging down the system.
That's what is happening to the Olivo family. They said their neighbor across the street filed a temporary restraining order against them. The neighbor said the Olivos are involved with drugs and illegally park their cars on the street. However, Ryan Olivo said it's not true and it's all because his neighbor can't understand his tattoos.
“If he would just come talk to me for five minutes,” Olivo said.
His neighbor wouldn't talk to KHOU 11 News either.
Last month, in another fued between two neighbors in the Heights, Bernard Alcaraz said his neighbor used a chainsaw to cut down fence posts they had put up the day before. The neighbor disputed the property line, even though a certified survey shows the Alcarazes are right.
“She don't want to hear nothing,” Alcaraz said.
He said he plans to hire a lawyer.
Perhaps the most bizarre case I've come across in my 18 years of covering news involved Sugar Land residents Joe Sabille and Charles Van Wormer.
For months Sabille complained that Van Wormer's sprinklers were soaking his driveway.
The feud led to surveillance cameras which captured Sabille beating his neighbor with a shovel. He was convicted of misdemeanor assault.
The two ended up suing each other and settled out of court.
Then there was the case involving the confederate flag.
“You know what's neat about it? That flag pisses you off and it's going to fly until it falls down,” the neighbor said during the dispute.
The dispute was over the grass and the property line.
After the story aired on KHOU 11 News the neighbor flying the flag apologized and took it down.
In Connecticut, police said Philip James Conran had a long-lasting feud with his neighbor, so he posted a fake Craigslist ad to harass her. It read "bored soccer mom looking to fulfill orgy fantasy with strangers.”
Conran's ad invited men to his neighbor’s house and there were knocks at her door.
Conran went to jail.
While police did not discuss what Conran and his neighbor were fighting about, most disputes in Houston involve loud noise, dogs, or property lines.
One place you can turn to for help and advice is The Dispute Resolution Center of Harris County.
It is a non-profit sponsored by the Houston Bar Association and funded by the county.
The DRC mediates disputes that include neighbors, families, car mechanics, landlords and tenants, just to name a few. Of course both parties have to agree to mediation and that's easier said than done.
