A routine part of daily life was watching my neighbor, Mr. Dayton, drive up and down the road. Sometimes he would stop, and share
parts of his life with my grandfather. Sometimes he would even stop and pull a younger version myself out of the ditch. No matter
transpired, you always found yourself saying, 'Wow, what a nice guy.' This was the fixture in our lives that was Mr. Dayton. He was
polite, honest, generous, and never bothered anyone. He was the type of neighbor you wanted to live by.
Mr. Dayton had two sons, and two pieces of property on our road. The first, his house plus
pasture land. The second, the wooded land that stood across the road from our property. The latter was used for timber, and gave our
home privacy. Privacy that was one of the most treasured assets of our home. It was a lifetime goal that if it ever came up for sale, we
would buy it. This would allow us to expand the farm, and secure our privacy in the place our family has called home since 1965.
The last time we heard from Mr. Dayton, he had responded to an inquiry made about a deer stand that had stood on his property for
years. His response was simply, "Take whatever of mine, you need", which was generous of him. Unfortunately, the deer stand was never
recovered, and this would be the last we ever heard from him. Afterward, Mr. Dayton would simply vanish from our lives.
Sometime ago, we spotted a man walking the property across the street. This was such an unusual sight, we asked him what was going on.
He informed me the property was for sale by Doug Matthews. Which was weird, because there were no signs stating the property was for
sale, and Doug didn't own the land. So, we needed to get ahold of Dayton, to find out what was going on. We did not want anything
happening to the privacy of our life in the country.
A few days later, we recieved a phone call from Dayton's next door neighbor. Who related a peculiar story about discovering a stranger
living in Dayton's house. The man said he was her new neighbour. He claimed Mr. Dayton allowed his family and him to stay there and
live out of a camper trailer while they renovated the house, before buying it. The stranger introduced himself as Doug Matthews,
someone who used to live down the road, and he claimed the reason for their occupancy was to be close to his mother whose health was
fading and life expectancy was dwindling.
What makes this story so unusual is neither one of us knew Dayton had moved. My neighbours live very close to Dayton's house and can see
it from their property, and still they had no idea anything had changed. There were no externally visible signs anything had changed
and this had occurred. The referenced trailer was not visible from the road or from her property. Neither one of us witnessed any
moving vans or change in the traffic on the road. It was as if he simply disappeared overnight, and considering the effort it would
take to accomplish such a feat, we believe the appearance of simply "vanishing" was intentional.
Furthermore, Dayton was the owner of a construction company in Texas, and the owner of two swimming pool contracting companies nearby.
He would have not had any difficulty getting someone out to the house to repair something. He might even get a son to do some of the
work. Lastly, Doug owned a house in a different part of the county, only a few minutes away. Regardless of his Mother's condition,
being an extra few miles away would have not made any difference. So, the story was not checking out.
Knowing Mr. Dayton still owned a house in town, we wrote him three letters over the course of a month trying to figure out what was
going on. We never once got a response from him, which was out of character. After all, we were on good terms, thought highly of him,
and never had any grievances. Admittedly, there is an odd feeling about it. Like, he never actually received them, and they went
somewhere other than to him.
Still trying to get some answers, we called another of Dayton's next door neighbors, who's family used to be real close to ours. We had
hoped he we could rely on him because of this, and just by chance he happened to also a realtor. When we called, he was so insistent he
didn't know anything, it was pretty obvious this wasn't the truth. For some reason, he was not telling us the truth. There were no
professional obligations preventing him from informing us. The only logical explanation was if someone had specifically asked him not
to. Apparently, regardless of having lived in front of it for decades and intent on acquiring it, the sale of Dayton's property was a
closed event and we were explicitly barred from entry. Our former friend appears to have been rewarded for obliging this request, as he
was used as the realtor for de-solving Dayton's real estate holdings. Doug, who was declared "manager in charge of the sale", must have
worked this one out.
It was not long after this someone claimed to have made an offer on the land in front of our farm. At that point, it was the last
thing we wanted or needed, but it was inevitable. From the beginning it was predetermined. By placing himself as "manager in charge of
the sale" of Dayton's property, Doug had the opportunity to prevent anyone else from making a fair offer on the land. Effectively
possessing the ability to rig the sale, and possessing complete autonomy on the land of another. Thus, single handedly choosing who
could make an offer, and which offer was best presented to the seller. This was something we do not believe Mr. Dayton would have had
anything to do with.
The person Doug had chosen to be our new nearest neighbour came preprogrammed with a head full of trash talk. Our family had actually
known him from birth, as my cousin babysat him in Talbottan, and his grandparents were friends with a distant cousin. We don't think he
ever caught on to this. Regardless, his attitude expressed entitlement for the land, that he could push us around, and he had
the same temper as his grandfather, Donny. When asked what his intentions were for the land, he responded by having a deputy come to
our house to inform us not to "look at, talk to, speak with, message him, or even look at the property ever again". We were not even
supposed to look in the direction of the property. The next day, he showed up with five of his buddies, and the next, music was blared
so loud it was heard over the bulldozers and inside both houses. It was obvious, he was going to do what he could to make life
difficult for us, and they have not stopped since.
Regardless of choosing to practically live in my front yard, and his passing, the hostility has
continued to be carried out by his wife, which is difficult to understand at this point. The origin of such exuberant and vehement
hostility is completely unknown and assuredly unfounded. It would only seem rational that if one despised who would become their future
neighbors this much, then they would simply choose to live somewhere else, and they have had more than a year to arrive at such a
conclusion. It makes one curious if they were not moving in for the very purpose of harassing and disturbing someone else.
This was the new neighbor Doug placed in front of our home, someone who expressed ungrounded and unreasonable hostility, and this began
before he had even finished clearing the land to begin building. After this point we would have no more privacy, and any concept of
solitude was undoubtedly obliterated. What we chosen and sacrificed for years to hold on to was gone.
He began clearing the land, even before the purchase was finalized, but not before carelessly laying out the property boundry lines. A
mistake, that resulted in property lines being redrawn, ensured our farm would be landlocked by residential housing, and it gave us two
new neighbors, him plus one. Then came the transformative denaturalization of the property, the deforestation of acres of land,
urbanisation of the property, and the massive earth moving project that tore up the hill with rock reinforced terraces.The entire
hillside was dug out and turned on top of itself to make way for what was claimed to be a small house. The landscape of our entire
neighborhood has been reshaped. All we can do is watch and stare as our the neighborhood of our home disappears into a facade of
construction and suburbanization.
Then someone took it too far, pulled some strings, made falsified allegations, and had a sheriff's deputy lean on us. Which resulted in
our home being raided by seven sheriff deputies, three of which didn't want to be there, and three were even there to make sure it
didn't get out of hand. The oldest deputy present was definitely the instigator in the affair. Who "didn't need no fucking warrant",
cursed us out, and called us a liar multiple times. He wasn't there to enforce the law, he was there for something else, and
probabilities are he was the one getting pressured to pull the raid. Three deputies in particular went above and beyond the
expectations of their duty. A Marine, a scouting buddy, and a pretty female deputy.
The allegations were fabricated and were clearly agitated by a cowardice third party, who one way or another played a role in everything
discussed here. This would be one in a series of events where he had hidden behind his buddies and influenced others in a biased and
partisan manner. What is not understood is why local law enforcement has not realised this themselves, and have allowed themselves to
be influenced by an obvious charlatan. If he really cared for them, he would not be asking for favours or special treatment, but would
be asking for treatment fairly and equally as is dictated by law.
Then Doug built a road through the middle of his neighbors property without their knowledge, understanding, or permission. He
manipulated them into it by legitimising small favors one at a time. It is a very common way people get coerced out of their possessions,
it also is very difficult to prove malicious intent with. He started by asking them if he could move a solitary piece of equipment across their
land, one direction, and one time. Since their land had been freshly timbered, and the logging company had already established a path
though their property they agreed, rather than asking why he couldn't use the road. Then he returned several weeks later, after neither
surveying the land nor giving it further consideration, and asked if he could clear a little pathway to get the equipment through. This
seemed reasonable, and rather than asking what is wrong with the path made by the loggers, they agreed. This is all the permission Doug
needed legally to begin building a private road through the middle of their land. A road he could use as much as he wished, could poach
from, and would allow him to move equipment and himself secretly between two properties as often as he wanted.
It was not until several months had passed, the victims of this con realised they had a full fledged dirt road through the middle of
their property. A road that had been used heavily and continuously. Where the road lies, it can be accessed at anytime completely
without their knowledge, and it is believed this was intentional. It allowed Doug the use of someone else's property without their
knowledge, permission, and without payment for that use. It is practically theft of private property. Since the road inaccessible by
the property owner and cannot be monitored, he has the ability to abuse it as he wants. Practically stealing a part of their property.
The existence of the road is well documented, and even has it's own video on youtube video.
It happened again, another visit from law enforcement, this time a name was clearly on it. Doug had managed to get a trespassing
warning issued without inquiry or supporting evidence, as it was printed up when the officer arrived. A feat once thought impossible,
if not illegal. It was completely bogus, and was his response to investigating the private road. No one from our family has has ever
intentionally been on any piece of property owned by Doug. This was a hypocritical accusation, since Doug was caught poaching on
someone else's land the previous year, even after the neighbor explicitly told him not to. Poaching is a more serious offence than
trespassing. It is trespassing with intent to steal natural resources. Fortunately for him, the neighbor let it go after chewing him out.
But, there was a secondary warrant issued by the new owner of the property across the street, which again was issued without inquiry or
supporting evidence. This was because he accused me of being on his land. A legally established access easement was used for the
purpose of which it was established, access. To check on property owned by someone else, also lying within that easement. Since Doug
"managed the sale" of the property, apparently he did not know there was an easement on it, and did not tell his buddy the new owner.
Regardless, he could have talked to us about it, but instead threatened with 'I will just call my buddy, Brad White about this.' The
fact both warnings were issued without inquiry or evidence is another expression of bias and favouritism on behalf of the sheriff
department. Who should have not forgotten how they raided of our home several months prior without a warrant on fabricated allegations.
Month's later, Doug wanted to talk. He wanted it to look like an apology, which it wasn't, it was a power trip. A means for him to
exert power over my family and me. An opportunity to tell us how we are going to live our lives. He claimed he was entitled to chose
who he wanted to live across the street, because he had thought he was a nice guy. Which failed to address what gave him the right to
make that decision for someone else's land? At that time it was made clear no one was ever trespassing on his land, to which he
responded with exasperation, "Dayton has been in the hospital[covid] all this time!" Doug, said it in hopes of bringing forth feelings
of embarrassment and foolishness, but maturity and growing up with learning disabilities has robbed me of this ability. I have
struggled too hard, too long, and way too many times to doubt my internal instincts and feelings. It opened up a whole new can of
worms, and raised more questions than answered.
The answers to many of these questions would be found in an attempt to answer why the letters written to Dayton had gone unanswered and
a little luck. After discovering Dayton had been placed in a nursing home, it started to become clearer what had transpired, but it
needed more clarity. So, an effort was made to locate his son Matt, hoping he would provide this clarity. But when he was found to be
living in the same house Dayton's letters were mailed to, the clarity sought for had arrived.
Mr. Dayton was a good man, he was fair, and he would have given us a fair chance to hang onto what we have known and loved my entire
life. His son matt, was someone we barely knew, and had only seen maybe two or three times in our entire life. Matt was the silent
partner in the affair. He passively sat and allowed all of it to transpire. He believed whatever Doug told him, and did
whatever Doug asked of him. He is someone who has absolutely no reason to bare ill feelings or look down upon us, other than the
apparent trash Doug told him. When the letters arrived addressed to his Father, he either gave them to Doug or ignored them. Regardless
of which, he didn't give us a chance to save our home, and threw away decades of mutual courtesy.
Since before the days of both Matt and my birth, we had good relations with Mr. Dayton. We respected him, thought well of him, and made an
effort not to bother him. We were good neighbors to him, and would have done anything for him. In return for this, we were lied to,
accused of trespassing, had our house raided, cursed out, and then cut off from the opportunity of saving the place we have called
home.
Five times mentioned here, six in total, we have experienced an unfounded and unreasonable hostility from strangers. Which, the only
common thread tying them together is Doug Matthews. Obviously, allegations and defamation concerning us are being made by Doug. This is
the only rational explanation for these occurrences. It has damaged our character in the eyes of others, and impacted our lives. I live
a good, moral, and clean life. There is nothing I have done that deserves so much vehement hatred. If anyone possesses knowledge of
what these allegations are, or their source, please enlighten us. So that we may put an end to this defamation, and begin to mend the
harm they have done.
Just by coincidence, the owners of several hundred acres that sit behind our home, a lush habitat of wilderness, just happened to
choose this time to sell their property as well. Coincidence perhaps, not likely, They were written and asked for first right of
refusal several years ago, and never responded. They asked twice the market value for the property, putting it out of reach for the
majority of us. It was sold within a month, at the ridiculous asking price.
The life of privacy living in the countryside our family chose to enjoy, the life we wanted to preserve for the next generation, is
gone. We no longer live in the rural countryside, but in a suburb of someone else's design, and there is no way of getting it back.
Proverbially speaking, it would be as if someone had drained "Walden's Pond", and built an apartment complex in it's place. The farm is
now landlocked, surrounded by an increasing number of residential houses, and there is no chance of expansion. The property across the
street will forever have houses on it, forever invading our space, and will never return as it was. It is this, that was taken from us.
Whether it was intentional or not, this is the mess Dayton has left us with. It is not a good way to leave your neighbors, and it is a
mess we don't deserve.
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