Neighborly Fences

Living near the Mountain…
My house is thirty seven feet from the west side of Mount Pleasant. The back yard fence is on the Union Township/City line. On the surface you would think that circumstance would not be note worthy. And perhaps it is not, but the attitude between some City people and township people are interesting.
Hi my name is Phil and I am a township resident. However I lived in the City limits for eight years before moving to the township.
Of course I had read in the newspaper for years about the tension between the Township and City leaders. It was not until my neighbors’ dogs barked too much that I had a chance to meet the neighbor and experience the “them and us” attitude first hand.
The firs time I met the neighbor to politely express my disapproval of the vocal quality of his dear pets, he was quite taken aback. “I have lived in this house over twenty years. Where your house is used to be a corn field and we did not have any trouble until you people moved in!” You people!
I have only lived in this nine year old house one month. Maybe the previous owners of the house left because of his dogs that were barking, barking, barking when ever both the neighbor’s dogs and the home owner were each in their own back yards.
My explanation that I recently moved into the house did not seem to matter to him. When we did not come to an agreement about the acceptability of the dog that was barking, barking, barking in his back yard, my “friendly” city neighbor said, “You just call your township people and I will contact my City people and have them work something out.” Little did he know I know people on both sides of the fence?
My spouse contacted City hall for me. My first expectation was that the City people would be unable to help, because we live in the Township. Surprise! The City code enforcement person was understanding and contacted our City neighbor about the nuisance, pursuant to the City Code. In a less than a month, a tall privacy fence was built along the fence line. The dogs don’t see us. The dogs don’t bark. I don’t talk to my neighbor anymore.