Crazy Neighbors

Tabby Ann

Tabby Ann

Member
Location
Southern Indiana
Is there a penalty for making fake calls to 811 like there is to 911? We have an old boy in our neighborhood who is about 50 years old and 300 pounds who has roamed about the neighborhood for years creating chaos and work and expense for unsuspecting residents. Most older residents tell him to get off and stay off their property but some new residents become victims. He has a house in the neighborhood and the police have told him he should stay in it but he can’t seem to do that. A new resident recently moved into a house with a beautiful brick and wrought iron fence around the residence. The old boy told the new resident the fence was encroaching on his property and would need to be removed. The new owner paid for an expensive survey that showed his fence was not encroaching. Another way the old boy creates work for people is to call 811 and tell them he is building a 6 foot privacy fence around his house and needs all the underground utilities marked on his property and the neighboring properties. But of course no 6 foot fence ever gets built. He has been using this privacy fence ruse for over 5 years and I don’t know why the utility companies or anyone else keeps falling for it. Where do these calls to 811 go? Don’t they keep a record of callers or do any follow up on them?
 

Does anyone have any information on where those 811 calls go that cause all the utility companies such as water, sewer, gas and electricity to come out and mark their underground lines by spray painting a line on your grass? What government agency is in charge of these 811 calls and is there a penalty for continued abuse of this service and infringement on other people's property?
 
811 is for call before you dig.

Wouldn't it be easier to have a nice chat with any new neighbors before they went to the expense of what you are posting about? The "old" neighbors are aware of what is happening but for some reason like you don't want to warn new people moving in. The warning doesn't have to be slanderous just explain what has happened in the past & let them decide.

Not likely 811 operators are aware of call that are placed over a period of time. Operators plural since I suspect their are more than one to take calls.

As for weight I don't know how that makes any difference in what this person does.
 
Tabby Ann said:
Is there a penalty for making fake calls to 811 like there is to 911? We have an old boy in our neighborhood who is about 50 years old and 300 pounds who has roamed about the neighborhood for years creating chaos and work and expense for unsuspecting residents. Most older residents tell him to get off and stay off their property but some new residents become victims. He has a house in the neighborhood and the police have told him he should stay in it but he can’t seem to do that. A new resident recently moved into a house with a beautiful brick and wrought iron fence around the residence. The old boy told the new resident the fence was encroaching on his property and would need to be removed. The new owner paid for an expensive survey that showed his fence was not encroaching. Another way the old boy creates work for people is to call 811 and tell them he is building a 6 foot privacy fence around his house and needs all the underground utilities marked on his property and the neighboring properties. But of course no 6 foot fence ever gets built. He has been using this privacy fence ruse for over 5 years and I don’t know why the utility companies or anyone else keeps falling for it. Where do these calls to 811 go? Don’t they keep a record of callers or do any follow up on them?
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Is this man mentally challenged, autistic or has other issues? Is he living on his own? I think it's degrading to call him an old boy, I feel troubled about him. I think when you call 811, they come out and mark your lines without much thought, it's a matter of safety. If they thought he called before and didn't come out, then there was a serious problem as a result, they would be liable.

How do you know he makes so many of these calls? Do you have some small talk with him at times? If he's friendly and not threatening or destructive, I'd just either leave him alone or try and befriend him. As far as the cops telling him to stay in in house, I think that's overreach in the least, nobody should be told to stay in their house and not go out.
 
win231 said:
I think the "Old Boy" has mental issues - maybe a form of Autism. His weight is one clue. Another is that he enjoys constantly stirring up trouble. I've known a couple of people like that. They have no control over it.
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If being overweight and calling the utilities before digging means mental illness they'd better put a locked gate at the end of my street because we're all in trouble. This kind of thing happens all the time here because we're all retired and bored.

We have a widow across the street who has men out doing various yard projects for her every few weeks -- all since her husband died a few years ago -- we just think she misses having a man to boss around. The man next door calls the police about once a month because he thinks someone stole something. Another old (96) woman across the street comes over and yells at me from time to time because she thinks my cat scratched her car or ate her tomato plants. The poor old cat died 5 years ago, but I'm glad the woman is still active.

One nice thing is the emergency departments stay reminded of where we are. Someone set his shrubs on fire with a cigarette last month and the fire department was here in one minute.
 
Where I live we have the Daughters of Discord. Two old maids living with their mother. They report to me about neighbors who murdered their kids, some new guy who's going to murder them, and them wanting to murder their long-time next door neighbors. They have run out of people in town who will listen, so they call me every couple weeks. These girls are the definition of crazy. They spend their lives watching what everyone else is doing. The county already knows who they are and I'm pretty sure they're harmless, but I've made my boundaries clear anyway.
 
"Daughters of Discord" Hilarious, Judycat.

One of my favorite TV shows is ID channel's "Fear they Neighbor." Disputes usually start over things like property lines or dog doodle and end up with somebody shooting someone. The British version is "Nightmare Neighbours from Hell." Also entertaining but they usually just end up pushing over the next door wheelie bins.
 
SeaBreeze said:
Is this man mentally challenged, autistic or has other issues? Is he living on his own? I think it's degrading to call him an old boy, I feel troubled about him. I think when you call 811, they come out and mark your lines without much thought, it's a matter of safety. If they thought he called before and didn't come out, then there was a serious problem as a result, they would be liable.

How do you know he makes so many of these calls? Do you have some small talk with him at times? If he's friendly and not threatening or destructive, I'd just either leave him alone or try and befriend him. As far as the cops telling him to stay in in house, I think that's overreach in the least, nobody should be told to stay in their house and not go out.
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I agree, telling someone to stay inside is a human rights issue and should not be done except, you know, Covid 😂. As for 811, call away. Lots of people call, then change their mind. You need to call before you even dig a hole for a bush. It’s their job, they don’t mind doing it.
 
Yes, a southern thing ..😀

iu
 
Della said:
If being overweight and calling the utilities before digging means mental illness they'd better put a locked gate at the end of my street because we're all in trouble. This kind of thing happens all the time here because we're all retired and bored.

We have a widow across the street who has men out doing various yard projects for her every few weeks -- all since her husband died a few years ago -- we just think she misses having a man to boss around. The man next door calls the police about once a month because he thinks someone stole something. Another old (96) woman across the street comes over and yells at me from time to time because she thinks my cat scratched her car or ate her tomato plants. The poor old cat died 5 years ago, but I'm glad the woman is still active.

One nice thing is the emergency departments stay reminded of where we are. Someone set his shrubs on fire with a cigarette last month and the fire department was here in one minute.
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That sounds more like dementia than Autism. Big difference.
My mom was like that in her later years - calling police, accusing everyone of stealing from her, etc. She was also a nut in her younger years.
 
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SeaBreeze said:
How do you know he makes so many of these calls? Do you have some small talk with him at times?
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I know because he requests the utility companies to mark the lines on his property and adjoining properties and when they are out in my yard spray painting a line on my grass they tell me it was him that called. This has been going on five years and he has constructed nothing on his property. They are fake calls. If you define lies and irrational speech as small talk, yes I've had small talk with him at times like most of my neighbors have. At one point he cursed a neighbor lady out and called her foul names because on her daily walk with her toddler it stepped into his yard. A man next door intervened and told the old boy to quit calling the lady vulgar names.
 


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