Because the Crazy Cat Lady is friendly with those on the HOA Board, no one would enforce the "reasonable" number of pets rule. It got so bad that the President of our Homeowners Assn sent a five page letter to the Chief of Police (copy to Humane Society) accusing us and the others who complained (by name and address) of being terrorists, torturers and murderers of cats, etc. He even had other neighbors sign this letter (most of whom had never even met Ralph or me!).
Ralph and I were back in Oregon when this happened (I guess they thought we had our own cat mafia doing our dirty work) but the police went to EACH household named, read them their rights and then questioned them. Of course, we were all horrified that a person could put lies and accusations in writing and we were all guilty until proven innocent. Most of us went to attorneys for some kind of recourse. The attorneys concluded the HOA Board was dangerously over the edge of sanity and advised us to just forget about the whole incident. Any action could push this guy over the edge and into physical violence.
Because neither the police nor the Humane Society would (could) do anything to the "terrorists" because we had not done anything illegal, the Board and snotty neighbors began reporting violations of the bylaws on the cat haters. We were notified of "chattel" visible from the street. (We had rakes and shovels mounted neatly on the side of the house behind the fence ... but one inch was visible from the sidewalk, if you looked around the plumeria tree).
We had an outdoor shower installed in our backyard ... which is an inch or two visible from the front sidewalk, if you stop and try to find it, so we had to seek design review approval. Fortunately there are a few normal people on that committee!
The head of the HOA Board has a bare shower head visible from the street ....
Others had to move hose bibs, trash can storage, dig up and move landscaping items, etc. But ONLY those owners who disapproved of the cat mess in their own yard. If owners complained about muddy cat prints on their cars, it was suggested they buy and use car covers. We were also encouraged to get our own cat and join in the fun.
And yes. It gets worse.
Oh my god! That's all crazy. Sounds like the "normal" people need to start a campaign in the township to change the laws, and set limits on how many cats or dogs a person can keep in a residential area. I'm absolutely shocked they don't already have them.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely NOT the aloha spirit you hear about. Fortunately, the "normal" people have senses of humor so we share cat-sserole recipes and cat jokes and find appropriate cat greeting cards.
ReplyDeleteI am getting more active in getting some restrictions. But I was warned by the Humane Society to be anonymous!! Can you imagine? Please simply keep your pets in your own house or yard, unless they are on leashes. All the hue and cry about that's inhumane to keep a cat on a leash or indoors, are exactly the same for dogs or horses or whatever!
Stay tuned for part 3!
I had security cameras mounted on the house. The police need physical proof about WHO is doing the vandalizing. And since then, can you believe nary a leaf has been disturbed?
I would have never guessed people can't tell the difference between animal hoarding and normal pet ownership. Cats walking about freely wouldn't be such a issue if everyone was restricted to three. And talk about it being inhumane to keep them inside, it's not humane to allow them to fight and interbred with feral cats. I can't wait for this story to unfold.
ReplyDeleteI think EVERYONE knows CCL is hoarding. Her friends even know why. She thinks they are family.
ReplyDeleteEven if there were some sort of limit on pet ownership, pets should still not be allowed to roam about. I have spent hours and $$$$ working on landscaping, Oregon and Maui ... and it is just GROSS to have to smell or handle animal feces. Fact!