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This guy sounds like someone to be left alone. You don't want to know if he owns a gun.
If it were me, I wouldn't care if he owned an AK-47! I'd tell him to park his damn vehicle somewhere else. It's a PUBLIC STREET, you have the right to park wherever you want! And if he kept harassing me, yes I'd get the police involved.
If it were me, I wouldn't care if he owned an AK-47! I'd tell him to park his damn vehicle somewhere else. It's a PUBLIC STREET, you have the right to park wherever you want! And if he kept harassing me, yes I'd get the police involved.
I think WorldKlas nailed it. That behaviour sounds like someone suffering from Alzheimers and getting paranoid and territorial about his environment. He probably really does believe that the street is, as you say metaphorically, his ship, and he is the captain. It's really hard to reason with someone with dementia when they get agitated, (and possibly violent) and they can get agitated over the oddest things.
It might be time to have a little chat with his wife/ family about his behavior and welfare if his behavior is getting too bizarre. The wife might not be able to cope with him very well and maybe doesn't know what to do. So if it seems he's getting out of hand then perhaps mental health services in your community could be alerted to do a welfare check on him (and her) to see if he is deteriorating and if they need help.
He’s a headcase; make no conversations with him and don’t engage in any arguments. He may be mentally ill. My mother, as she aged and started the long, sad trip down the deadend street called Alheimers Road, became angry and unreasonable. Some of the behaviors you describe in your neighbor are much like my mother’s behavior. Her neighbors were generallykind enough to tolerate her. But a few called police. It was finally the police who insisted she have 24/7 care and eventually we moved her away from her home. In the early stages of dementia, this kind of territorial thinking along with controntational behavior is not that uncommon. You just don’t know what’s going on with him. But its not normal so keep your distance. If he demands you clear your parking preference because its “his space†just tell him you believe its not his space and if he can show you some documents proving it is his space that you will happily revisit this issue. Smile and move on with your day.
I think you've tagged this correctly. A guy forcing people to cross the street and not walk in front of his house, seems unhinged to me. Being a former military man, he would know how to use weapons. He could shift into his next stage of anger and start shooting. This could be one of those cases where many people saw the signs, but no one did anything, until it was too late.
I live in a small city. We have trees that have brick borders around them with mulch on the sidewalk. In my neighborhood people plant flowers around the trees in the little bordered area to spruce things up. These trees are not on anyone's property-- they are on city property-- so technically we shouldn't do anything to them but it makes the place look nice. None of us have front yards. Its usually very pretty.
One of my neighbors down the street is a older retired Naval Officer who seems to believe that the street is his ship and he is the captain. The other day as I was running an errand I noticed him angrily confronting a woman who was walking her dog because he was sniffing the flowers in one of these bordered areas in front of this guy's house. The dog did not appear to be doing anything but sniffing and the man accused her of having her dog poo "on his property". The woman said her dog was not pooping, that he was well trained and that this was not his property but city property, and the man threatened her with a lawsuit, yelling about "people who don't have pride of ownership like I do" and how his wife planted those flowers. The whole thing was absurd as the woman has a right to walk her dog AND this guy doesn't own the property he was complaining about.
He has demanded that we move our car from in front of our house (street parking) because he wanted to park his huge SUV in his space (again, street parking, metered. This is not HIS space. He has a space behind his house, but likes to park in front of ours) and interfered with a city yard sale because he didn't want people walking by his house. He actually threatened people if they didn't cross the street instead of passing his door. Its really gotten to be a problem.
Any ideas on how to deal with someone like this? He definitely has anger issues and is never polite but always confrontational and a hair shy of threatening when he approaches.
Thinking about his past profession he's used to being in charge of everyone else. His personality may have set him up for such a profession and it was reinforced along the way. He barked, others jumped. He was king of his floating castle and could ensure everything was in perfect order. Now all that is gone and I would suspect he now feels everything is out of control, he's vulnerable, forgotten, frustrated, and, as others said, may be losing grip on himself. He may be unable to admit he is bored or frightened and there's no relief valve except to abuse others in order to stay on top of some imaginary anthill.
As long as others knuckle under to his bullying. Next time he barks out orders for something he has no authority over, tell him to go pound sand. That will either remind him of his place - or "give him apoplexy."
OP....If you feel he is overstepping neighborly bounds regarding parking, then call and have a police officer talk to him or all of you and discuss parking laws.
Otherwise I think your dislike of him will always color any observable or personal interactions with him. You have no idea what the situation really was between the dog walker and your neighbor, unless you go ask them.
I have a neighbor that has been throwing little silver bags of dog poop under my pine tree, in my front yard. You can bet when I see the culprit that I will be saying something. And my only diagnosis is pissed off.
Last edited by JanND; 04-18-2018 at 06:24 AM..
Reason: edit
Does your neighborhood have an HOA? Maybe contact them and complain about him.
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