Shooter

While the gun shooter (I call him another not so nice name) from across us seemed to lessen his days somewhat about a week it's back in full force, pretty much daily again. I'm sure it was just a coincidence that the down time was shortly after dh talked to the deputy about it. I'm pretty sure if he had actually talked to the guy he would have let dh know he followed up on it. Wednesday dh put in 2 calls to 2 of our 3 county council members. He wasn't sure which one was for our area. He did talk for a bit to one lady, but I think it's the other guy who is for our specific area. He left him a message.

When he was trying to figure out who this shooter guy is, dh looked up the property records on our state's website, which gives name of who owns, etc. The guy's son and wife in CA owns it. It also shows what he is being taxed on....basically he's being taxed on land and a building that isn't considered a dwelling, yet he and his wife lives there. There are also pics and videos from the construction company that built this "live in shop" type home for them back in 2018. It's actually quite a nice one. Our county is shorthanded a state assessor, blah blah, but they had no problem getting to our house to assess the full value, but of course don't want to drive up a mile long steep dirt road, with a closed gate and no trespassing signs, and see what's what up there. So we get to pay $6,000 a year in property taxes, while he gets to skate by on like than $2000/yr (on 160 acres!) and gets to annoy the whole valley area below him with his constant shooting. While the council tells the citizens/taxpayers they want/need more our our money. How about you first go get what you are owed from the people you should be assessing and collecting from?

A common question is "have you tried talking to him?" DH even asked that of the dispatcher at the sheriff's office who lives on the property next to this guy! Thinking maybe she knows what kind of person he is and if he would be approachable. She and her husband have not tried to talk to him, though she said they find it very annoying, too, as her husband is also home all day. But, the main issue is dh (and no one else either) is going to go past a shut gate with no trespassing signs to drive up to his house and confront him! That's a job for the county officials/employees/sheriff.

So, dh gets back from getting his driver's license renewed yesterday morning and gets out of the car to open our gate and 2 loud shots. Here we go again, another day of it. He asked if there were more before that and I said I didn't know as I was in the shower. But right after that were 2 more 5 minutes later. Again, this will go on for 2-3 hours. DH wrote out a note to the guy and drove over to leave it at his gate, where his mailbox also is. Basically, just said we are a few neighbors who are concerned about the constant shooting and the disturbance it is causing and would like to discuss it with you and left his name and ph#. At least then he can tell the powers that be that he made an attempt to contact the guy. Not that dh is expecting any kind of change from the guy. He's obviously one of "those" that "I moved here so I can do what I want and no one can tell me what I can and can't do". 

okie dokie, - well the guy is totally an ass and exactly the sentence I just wrote, just as we knew he would be. His gate was open, so dh drove up there. Knew the guy was there, because you know...he had just been shooting! He pulled up and just tooted his horn to let them know he was there. The guy (he's in his late 70's) wouldn't even come out of the house(shop). Finally, his wife came out. Ya, what you do you want? DH told her who he was, that he saw the no trespassing signs and their gate was open, so he drove on up, but if they want him to leave, he will. She knew why he was there before he even said it was about the shooting. The next words out of her mouth were "we don't shoot every day". She said her husband isn't home. DH said that himself and a few others in this area are concerned about the constant noise from the shooting and not telling him he can't shoot, but wondering if he's willing to see where we are all coming from down below him listening to it. She said so what's acceptable? one day a week, 3 days a week? DH says I'm not telling you what and when, I'm just here to see if you are open to discussing the noise and see if maybe it can be mitigated some. Then finally, the guy came out of the house, just a total ass, of course. Told dh he can do whatever the hell he wants. DH was very calm and respectful and just said, yes, we all understand that and respect your rights, but we are also hoping you'll try to see where we are coming from. Then the guy turned and pointed at his shop/house and told dh if he wants to go to war, he has more than enough money, so just go get an attorney or call the sheriff. DH told him he doesn't care how much money he has, just hoping he'd be a good neighbor and maybe look into the ways there are to mitigate the sound. He says like what? DH said there's a gun range, 5 minutes down the road, with the sound barriers, you could use. Nope, I got 160 acres I can do what I want on it. You can use a suppressor (which would totally fix the problem). Nope, I can't afford those, they cost too much money (says the guy who just bragged he has lots of money). You can build noise reduction "cover with sides" and shoot a different direction or maybe move this shooting table (on his front patio) to the back side of your house and that would probably absorb most of the noise. Nope. DH says I'm sure you wear hearing protection. Well, of course. Well, we don't get to, while you are shooting, nor do we know when and how often it's coming. Then he told dh to get off his property and dh said sure, no problem and calmly got back in his car and putted down the hill.

Which of course, we knew this was going to be the mentality/personality of this guy. If he was any type of decent community member/neighbor he wouldn't be doing it in the first place. DH loves his guns as much as the next guy, but he's not out shooting them every day, being a nuisance to others. You also have to understand that while this guy has 160 acres, it's ALL steep hillside up on a mountain side, so all of it is basically the same distance from us. It's not like one corner of his 160 acres is way farther than another corner, like on flat land. That hillside is literally just over a half a mile from us. 3200 feet. He also made the comment that they had 35 acres in Colorado that they sold and moved here "but they didn't care if I shot there". sure they didn't.....

The guy could also hop on his quad or side by side or whatever he most likely has, continue on the dirt road that runs through his property, for seriously like 3 minutes and drive up over the ridge just above his house. He'd be on the other side, where there is NO ONE for miles and miles. The sound would carry that way and bother no one, except the wildlife, of course. But, no, he wants/deserves the convenience of doing it of his deck.

So, that's where that stands, which of course is exactly what was expected from this guy. More than likely now the guy will just ramp up what he has been doing. I told dh that could backfire on him. Obviously there are at least a few people, besides us, who are annoyed by his shooting, but just not willing to be the complainers, but if he amps it up, it just might be what makes them decide to also start complaining about it and looking for a solution.

Like dh says, hopefully he's not expecting all the neighbors he could give a crap less about to help him out during the next big forest fire.......(it was 2017 when that whole area around where he lives in was ablaze and had to be evacuated). These were pics I took in summer of 2017, looking straight across from us over where this guy now lives.

With a little bit of noise mitigation (info dh got from this big gun guy in our state) this guy could still shoot all he wants and we'd all barely hear it. DH did get a call back from the council member for our area. He also said the guy can do what he wants. So, dh told him well then I guess I'll be going to the county assessor to have my property taxes reduced. I now live next to 3 "gun ranges" and a cell tower in my view that all weren't there when I built my home. (one gun range is legit, but built after we did, the other "gun ranges" are this guy across from us and the one always shooting down river from us.  DH told him if the county can't to anything about it then we shouldn't have to pay the taxes we are paying on "prime" river property. Councilman did agree that the guy living in the neighborhood down river and shooting is totally breaking the law, as all those houses are too close to each other to be shooting and he will talk to the sheriff about it. Which of course means nothing as the sheriff has already been told about it, more than once.

Any bets on how much we'll be listening to today? I totally get that people should be able to do whatever they want on their own property. But, we also share the air space and he shouldn't be able to just do whatever he wants in regards to that.