Fear Thy Neighbor

[Annber03]

So. Tonight's episode. 

Jeb was...A LOT. Holy hell, dude needs a hobby and fast. "There's no privacy" - well, yeah, not whenyou're filming every single thing your neighbors are doing, there isn't. 

And his obession with the property lines. These people have been here way longer than you. Everything backs up their take on where the property lines are. Let it go. He probably would've had a better shot at winning that argument if he'd commented on any possible safety hazards regarding any of the stuff in his neighbor's yard. If there was indeed stuff there posing some kind of health/safety hazard, fine, by all means, take care of that. 

But if a junk car is sitting on the yard and there's no issues with it? Just leave it alone. Also, as someone who's worn stuff from Goodwill and lived in a trailer park as a kid and stil lives in a place that i know he'd look down his nose at, kindly fuck off. 

Yeah. Suffice to say I do not buy his version of events regarding the pick ax attack. They're lucky nobody wound up dead. 

That being said, however, I totally get his neighbors' irritation with him and their frustrations boiling over...but alos, given he was so obnoxious and so prone to filming everything, and given they knew that he would only film the parts of the confrontations that made them look bad...I dunno that I would've kept antagonizing him as much as they did. Mind, we've seen what happens on this show when people do try to ignore the threats and call in police or other mediators to resolve things - that never really seems to work, either. So...

I will say, though, honestly, if I came home and saw someone had proudly spray painted a sign with the words "Hillbilly Holler" in the midst of a fight, I probably would've burst out laughing. 'Cause really, if that doesnt just symbolize how utterly ridiculous this fighting got. But Jeb clearly doesn't seem the sort who has much of a sense of humor, so...

[lu1535]

As soon as I saw Jeb in a suit and tie I knew he was going to be the asshole. I hope he hasn't moved near me! 😬

[JudyObscure]

I thought sure the surveyor was going to prove Jeb right. He had just bought the property so you'd think he had a clear idea of his boundaries, and the Hills only "proof" was "My granddaddy used to own all this," which means nothing after he starts selling off lots. Neither is, "I know it's my property because I've been piling my trash on it for years."

I wonder if some realtor exaggerated the property lines to Jeb, and is actually the person who started all the trouble.

Jeb should have had the surveyor out painting property lines before he even bought his lot -- then he might have had time to notice that the neighbors were junk hoarders.

Why buy a place in the mountains with scenic views if there's going to be rusty car bodies in the way?  Also, if you hate "hillbillys" why decide to retire in the midst of them?

So I was feeling sorry for Jeb until he started in on Cadence and that's just inexcusable.  Shame a child about his clothes? What a jerk!

The Hills were a bit over the top. I doubt if Jeb caused the man's heart attack or that she really needed to carry that big gun. 

 

 

 

[ButterQueen]

Jeb was such an ass.  Why buy a house and hate your neighbors when you obviously saw how they lived before you bought the house?  He was so aggressive and obnoxious.  No one could even stand on his property.  I hated that he wasn’t tried for attempted murder.  He just kept flaming the fire.  I was shocked his obnoxious self had a girlfriend.

[mmecorday]

Jeb was such a douche, his last name should have been Massengill instead of his "hillbilly" neighbors. 

[Cobb Salad]

5 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

I wonder if some realtor exaggerated the property lines to Jeb, and is actually the person who started all the trouble.

Jeb should have had the surveyor out painting property lines before he even bought his lot -- then he might have had time to notice that the neighbors were junk hoarders.

Why buy a place in the mountains with scenic views if there's going to be rusty car bodies in the way?  Also, if you hate "hillbillys" why decide to retire in the midst of them?

About how the property was initially presented to Jed I wouldn’t doubt it that a realtor overstated the property.  Then maybe it agreed with what Jed found online who knows.  He’s lucky he’s not sitting in jail right now.

If I saw that mess of a car junk yard next to a house I was considering buying I’d walk away.  Unfortunately you’re not going to get people who have lived where they are for years and years to clean up their mess because you told them to. 

Before last night’s episode I was thinking of making up a “Fear Thy Neighbor” bingo card … several of the things I’d put on it didn’t happen last night which IMO was unusual for this show - no one was shot, no one died as a result of the shooting, and no one called the police over and over again.

 

[mmecorday]

Quote

Before last night’s episode I was thinking of making up a “Fear Thy Neighbor” bingo card … several of the things I’d put on it didn’t happen last night which IMO was unusual for this show - no one was shot, no one died as a result of the shooting, and no one called the police over and over again.

 

No cookout, either. 

[Red Bridey]

15 hours ago, mmecorday said:

No cookout, either. 

There was a cookout...nope, sorry, I remember it was in the episode that followed. Must have been a repeat but I hadn't seen it before. NM.

[mmecorday]

My neighbor invited me to his Fourth of July cookout next week. I respectfully declined. 

[Annber03]

Tonight's episode just reminded me why I am SO VERY glad that I do not live somewhere with a HOA. It seems like every time I hear about those things, they're always causing some kind of drama and are always set up because someone thinks someone's lawn isn't up to their personal fancy standards or they don't like the color of their house or something silly like that. Like, get over yourself. 

Thankfully, at least, this was another episode where nobody died, though Belinda came pretty close, it sounds like. I do think there should've been a stronger sentence for the shooting, 'cause alongside the obvious thing of how it's wrong to solve your problems with a neighbor by shooting them, when you get in a shootout in a public area, you're not just putting the specific person/people you're targeting at risk, you're putting everyone in the area at risk. What would've happened if somebody who had no connection to any of this stupid beef was driving through the neighborhood or walking down the sidewalk and got shot? Innocent people's lives shouldn't be put at risk because a bunch of supposed adults can't grow up and solve their probllems like mature human beings. 

Regarding Belinda, though...I mean, I imagine the mailers probably shaped some of the neighborhood opinion against her, but when a good deal of your neighborhood is upset with you about invoices and fines and whatnot, you might want to consider that maybe, just maybe, you might be in the wrong here, or going about things wrong. 

I did let out a dark chuckle at her comment at one point about how the police did nothing to stop any of the fighting on the street. I was just sitting here like, "Allow me to show you virtually every single episode of this show...". It's as common a theme of this program as fights over property lines and shootings and court cases. 

[Shrek]

10 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Tonight's episode just reminded me why I am SO VERY glad that I do not live somewhere with a HOA. It seems like every time I hear about those things, they're always causing some kind of drama and are always set up because someone thinks someone's lawn isn't up to their personal fancy standards or they don't like the color of their house or something silly like that. Like, get over yourself. 

 

Well nobody is going to complain about all the good HOAs out there that actually do good work & don't get power mad. Most of the stories you hear & see are usually because someone either got power mad or they had a vendetta against one particular person & then got power mad when others came to the defense of the one being hounded.

I lived in one for a few years & never heard a peep out of them. In a lot of places now it's hard to buy a new house without a HOA.

[lu1535]

I was president for an HOA back in the 80s. It was a nine member board and we couldn't agree on anything. I don't know how we got anything done! Needless to say, we haven't lived in an HOA neighborhood since.

Most HOAs wouldn't have allowed that tacky cabana thing in the front yard. Don't these people have backyards? I guess since he was president and she was manager, they could do what they wanted.

[Cobb Salad]

I live in a condo so a HOA is a necessity.  It’s been mostly okay, except for one of the recent elections where one of the members running for re-election went ballot harvesting then turned all of them in after the deadline.  He happened to be a long term homeowner & board member who was renting his unit out - during the meeting after the ballots were tallied and he lost his seat he expressed some of his views like he was entitled to the seat. (As in “I have to show new board members things” whatever that meant) He lost through arbitration and later sold his unit.  

Anyway about last night’s episode Belinda was a real piece of work. I think the show mentioned it only once, but each time the neighbors told her they weren’t paying the fees, I wonder if in real life they were reminding her about how they were already paying the town for these services.  

So this episode checked off some boxes for my bingo card (police calls, gunfire) but the barbecue was replaced by a group walk around the neighborhood.  I don’t remember the other woman’s name but she really should have been more careful when talking about other peoples houses - I know she apologized but that kind of thing can get awkward quickly. 

[Notabug]

12 minutes ago, lu1535 said:

I was president for an HOA back in the 80s. It was a nine member board and we couldn't agree on anything. I don't know how we got anything done! Needless to say, we haven't lived in an HOA neighborhood since.

Most HOAs wouldn't have allowed that tacky cabana thing in the front yard. Don't these people have backyards? I guess since he was president and she was manager, they could do what they wanted.

The HOA people were quite a handful.  Belinda's dramatics in her talking heads were so over the top.  The whole situation was ridiculous.  It's too bad her neighbor accidentally told her what she really thought of her lawn decor (said 'decor' was absolutely awful, IMO); but to then decide that she was never going to try to get along with them was a ridiculous response.  

I am also not clear on how it is she and her husband were able to re-start the HOA and make him president with virtually no one else in the neighborhood being aware of it.  It seemed like the city already had an organization to cover HOA type duties. I wonder if they weren't violating those regulations in regards to their front yard and that's why they started the HOA.  It was also quite shady that Belinda's firm ended up handling all the money for the HOA and makes me wonder who the other members of the board were.  Seems like Belinda and her husband's main goal was to gain control of the HOA to make sure it favored their goals.  The fact that she's facing trial for embezzling money from a client makes me think she and her husband were shady as heck in all of this and probably made sure that the HOA would be run by themselves and their supporters by excluding everyone else from the voting on reinstating it.

[JudyObscure]

Oh that Belinda! So unintentionally funny throughout the story. Her house was decorated!  That  Sherita Haggerty woman had probably never seen decorating.

Nope Belinda, I expect Sherita hadn't seen decorating like that.  My neighborhood doesn't have an HOA but we have enough sense to put up the play houses and party cabanas in the back yard.

Belinda was so surprised that people don't want to pay her money every month for no particular reason. Bragging about how clever she was trapping that truck with her car and then outraged that her car got nicked.  Finally saying she can't understand why anyone would shoot her for smiling.  I can understand it!  I was hating that self-satisfied smirk enough to shoot her through the whole show.

 

 

 

[Annber03]

4 hours ago, Notabug said:

I am also not clear on how it is she and her husband were able to re-start the HOA and make him president with virtually no one else in the neighborhood being aware of it. 

This is the part my mom kept getting stuck on, too, while we were watching. She kept being like, "...okay, how can they possibly enforce this if it seems nobody voted for it? Shouldn't someone have looked into that to see if it was even legit in the first place?"

2 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Oh that Belinda! So unintentionally funny throughout the story. Her house was decorated!  That  Sherita Haggerty woman had probably never seen decorating.

Nope Belinda, I expect Sherita hadn't seen decorating like that. 

It really was ridiculous how quickly things blew up like this. Okay, so someone made a faux pas with the new neighbor where they unknowingly mocked their new home. Just give a civil nod to each other if you pass in the street, don't go to each other's homes or events, and move on. 

Quote

Finally saying she can't understand why anyone would shoot her for smiling. 

My mom, at that part: "...yeah, that's not why he wanted to shoot you." Nothing justifies someone solving their problems with a gun, but yeah, she clearly didn't seem to get why people were so upset with her in general. 

I also got a laugh out of the part where she talked about how her neighbor shouted that he'd send her to hell, and then we cut to the guy in the reenactment saying that very thing. Apparently we needed the reenactment to confirm the very thing we'd just heard her say :p. 

[Tdoc72]

I agree with what everyone said about the HOA episode. The whole time, I’m wondering why no one saw a lawyer and asked if any of this was legal. I know they cost money but I assumed that maybe the guy with the electrical business/shooter might have had one for business reasons he could have asked. 
I mean, I own my house. I don’t think my neighbor could just say I’m in an HOA and asked me for money monthly. Wouldn’t you have to know that or agree to it when you buy your house?

This show always makes me happy that I have a wave & smile relationship w/my one neighbor and we mind our business. The other side is woods (for now; they start building 72 apartments in the fall. That’s gonna suck.) 

[Cobb Salad]

1 hour ago, Tdoc72 said:

I agree with what everyone said about the HOA episode. The whole time, I’m wondering why no one saw a lawyer and asked if any of this was legal. I know they cost money but I assumed that maybe the guy with the electrical business/shooter might have had one for business reasons he could have asked. 
I mean, I own my house. I don’t think my neighbor could just say I’m in an HOA and asked me for money monthly. Wouldn’t you have to know that or agree to it when you buy your house?

I was wondering about them getting a lawyer involved to clarify the legality of what was going on plus possibly sending Belinda and her husband a letter explaining they have no legal grounds to be restarting the HOA.  

Any information about an HOA should be included in the real estate listing when the property is on the market for sale.  Plus when you buy the home you’re likely paying your first months maintenance with the closing costs and possibly money toward the cash reserves (at least that’s what happened when I was closing on my property).  So yeah by the time you’re settled in your new home you know you’re either in or not in an HOA. 

[Annber03]

Way too much animal abuse and death in tonight's episode :/. 

Ugh. What an awful story the whole way around. I sympathized with the irritation over the fireworks going off constantly, 'cause yeah, that is obnoxious and people not being responsible with them does put others in the area at risk. And if you know veterans live in the area, try and be courteous of them, too. 

And why KC didn't immediately put a fence up right from the start, I don't know. Maybe if he had, their respective pets would still be alive. Though given the antagonism between both men, I'm not so sure even a fence would've stopped them.

But yeah, I fully agree that there was no reason Wilson should've had any guns, given his history of PTSD. Neither should KC, for that matter. If they're willing to shoot animals, it's not exactly a leap to imagine them shooting a human, either, and I think both men walking around all cock of the walk with their guns, they were basically just daring each other to try something, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy at that point. 

To say nothing of the risks posed to the children - thank god neither of them were out and about the day of the shooting. But yeah, there was a definite pattern in Wilson's shootings, and he shot KC point blank in the head, when he was already down and wounded. Even if he wanted to claim self-defense initially, by that point, that argument goes right out the window. He's a veteran. He knows where to target someone to take them out once and for all. 

Thank goodness for that property surveyor, who was able to provide good witness testimony. I feel bad for that poor guy - here he's just trying to figure out a property line, has no dog in this fight whatsoever, and he winds up being witness to a shootout. He's lucky he wasn't hurt or killed, either. 

Also, that patch of land that Wilson kept getitng all upset about because it was a cemetery for veterans - that seemed an odd spot for that kind of cemetery, and pretty barren for a place that would be honoring soldiers. I'm curious about the backstory on that plot of land, and why these people are buried there, and how the houses came to be right near it. 

[Cobb Salad]

During this episode I was again reminded of the saying “fences make good neighbors”.  Maybe it’s because of the area I grew up in (a typical suburban neighborhood in a densely populated part of the state) but anyone letting their dog roam around the neighborhood freely all the time (esp pit bulls) is asking for trouble whether it’s related to the dog’s safety or the ire of the neighbors.  Cats are different but I wouldn’t want one roaming around all the time for their safety as well.  

That cemetery near the houses was a bit odd.  At the very least put some fencing around it.  I thought there were laws or regulations around as far as how/where people can be buried.  There’s this old cemetery about a mile from me that doesn’t seem to be that active anymore - a housing development was built nearby in the 90s and there’s a fence separating the properties. 

I really question the wisdom of the Sheriff who gave Wilson carte blanche to act as he thought he should against his neighbor.  Then who knows if things would be different the Sheriff or other law enforcement came out to talk to Wilson instead.  My guess would be no.  People with PTSD should not be gun owners.  

Edited July 11 by Cobb Salad

[mmecorday]

I started to watch, but when I saw that one of the neighbors had a fluffy orange tabby, I had to turn it off. I had a hunch something bad was going to happen to that cat. I just lost my orange tabby in May. 

[JudyObscure]

Good choice, mmecorday.  It was very sad.  And unfair!  Elsa was there first!

The good:  I liked the acting this time, particularly the man who played KC.

The bad:  Everything else. Silly bunch of eijits.

Don't make a fuss when new young people move in and throw a big loud party.  It's been our experience that they do that to celebrate and  show off their new property to all their friends, but after one or two parties they realize that it's too much work for too little thanks and they don't do it anymore.

Don't buy a Pit Bull when you have a bunch of little dash-about kids.  That running is what sparks their prey instinct.  If you must have the one breed most likely to kill your kids or neighbors, don't "train it to protect my property."  You don't own anything more valuable than human life.

Don't shoot your neighbor's dog unless it's going for your throat. Come on!  

Don't ever shoot your neighbor's cat.  Come on-er!

Believe surveyors. Just because you've been parking on your neighbor's land for years doesn't make it yours.

If you have PTSD you should not own a gun.  If your neighbor has PTSD try not to antagonize him. Why not just let the old guy have that driveway?

 

I laughed in the beginning when one narrator seemed to give a shout out to @Cobb Salad saying the two families didn't have a cookout, but then they had one with other people so I think that goes in her bingo card.

[Cobb Salad]

2 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Don't make a fuss when new young people move in and throw a big loud party.  It's been our experience that they do that to celebrate and  show off their new property to all their friends, but after one or two parties they realize that it's too much work for too little thanks and they don't do it anymore.

100% right.  Had an upstairs neighbor who held a noisy birthday party about a month after moving in - I figured it wasn’t going to be going too late (it ended around 11pm, this was even on a Saturday night) so I didn’t complain.  I decided to give her a pass, if it turned into a regular thing I’d complain.  Never happened again.  This neighbor turned out to be a pain in the a$$ for other reasons (she’s gone now) but wait until it’s a trend before complaining. 

[Annber03]

10 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

During this episode I was again reminded of the saying “fences make good neighbors”.  Maybe it’s because of the area I grew up in (a typical suburban neighborhood in a densely populated part of the state) but anyone letting their dog roam around the neighborhood freely all the time (esp pit bulls) is asking for trouble whether it’s related to the dog’s safety or the ire of the neighbors.  Cats are different but I wouldn’t want one roaming around all the time for their safety as well.  

Seriously, I do not get people who just let their pets roam around willy nilly like that. I know they don't think their pets are a threat, and for the most part htey're probably not...but other people aren't always going to know how to respond to your pet the way you do, and pets get spooked by all sorts of things, so if they perceive anything or anyone as a threat, even if it's not actually a threat...they're gonna attack. That's what they do. 

Plus, not letting your pets just run around wild protects them as much as it does anyone else. Keep your pets in your yard and there's much less chance they'll get injured or killed. 

(When they were talking about how the cat was left in the yard afterward, in the hopes Wilson would leave them alone, I was like, "...are you new?" He's already pissed off enough, that's sure as hell not going to do anything except make him even angrier.)
 

Quote

 

I really question the wisdom of the Sheriff who gave Wilson carte blanche to act as he thought he should against his neighbor.  Then who knows if things would be different the Sheriff or other law enforcement came out to talk to Wilson instead.  My guess would be no.  People with PTSD should not be gun owners.  

 

I know we've talked about it a lot with this show, but seriously, it really is insane how the police are just so hands off much of the time in these disputes, and they don't do anything until after the fact. Your job is to protect the public, guys. That means trying to prevent these situations from becoming deadly shootouts in the first place, and part of that means not encouraging people you know full well are armed to "take matters into their own hands". 

Just...what are taxpayers paying the police for if they're just going to sit by and be like, "Sort it out yourselves." 

9 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Believe surveyors. Just because you've been parking on your neighbor's land for years doesn't make it yours.

If you have PTSD you should not own a gun.  If your neighbor has PTSD try not to antagonize him. Why not just let the old guy have that driveway?

For real, these people in all these shows know someone has a gun and they STILL think the best response is to continue to push their buttons and antagonize them every chance they get, and then they're SHOCKED when it ends in violence. What the hell were you expecting,, people? 

I liked the one guy who was like, "All of this over a property that neither of them even get to enjoy anymore." And damn if that doesn't just sum it all up. 

[Tdoc72]

As soon as the show started and they introduced the older couple as Billy and wife (forgot her name) and their cat, Elsa, I thought, “Well, that cat’s a goner.”   

[JudyObscure]

I hope we get to see the cat actor who played Elsa again, such a beautiful orange cat.  Which reminds me, I don't think the dog was a real Pit Bull, just playing one on TV.  Maybe a mix or a Cane Corso?  I think we've seen him before.

[Annber03]

I really think we need to reintroduce people to the actual definition of "self-defense", because holy shit, have people broadened the definition to a ridiculous extreme. If you come outside and start engaging someone you claim is a threat to you/your family in an antagonistic way, if you completely unload your gun on them, and keep shooting them after they're down and cleary visibly unable to get up, and if you crawl over a freaking fence to do that besides? That is not self-defense. 

I like, too, how Alex unloading his gun is supposedly self-defense, but Raul swinging at him with the hose to get him to back the hell off is him being threatening. What, did he not have the right to try and defend himself? 

Also, if he thought Raul had a weapon on him (whcih it doesn't seem like he did, and which would also prove Alex's "self-defense" claim to be total BS...then...why go out there and rile him up in the first place? He kept going on and on about how he was so worried that Raul was  a threat and yet he kept actively trying to push his buttons. 

And again, another shooting that took place in public, in a neighborhood where anyone who had no involvement in this stupid little beef could've been walking by and gotten shot or otherwise hurt, so yeah, that makes me even less sympathetic to his claims. Alex should consider himself lucky noen of Raul's family came out and got caught in the shooting. 

"I don't think Alex got a fair trial." Lady, you need to open your eyes. None of this would've happened if Alex had just stayed in his home that morning and kept his mouth shut. I get it's hard to wrap your head around someone you lvoe and who you'd known to be a good guy doing something like this, but... The fact people were so shocked, including some of Raul's family members, tells me that there was likely some kind of deeper issues going on with Alex that nobody noticed until it was too late. 

[Cobb Salad]

I would love to hear the rationale behind the statement “I don’t think Alex got a fair trial” because from the way the story was presented I don’t think there was any doubt he’d go to prison for what he did.  I get that he was the caretaker for his family and they miss him but I also wonder if there’s something else that wasn’t explained in last night's story.

Oh, and that laptop that Alex had laying around in his “man cave”, I thought at the time maybe it’s not a good idea to leave it there since it could grow legs - which is what happened.  I doubt Raul was the one who took it, why would he have taken it then leave it out in the open in his garage?  If something is that important to you put it somewhere safe.  

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, Cobb Salad said:

I get that he was the caretaker for his family and they miss him but I also wonder if there’s something else that wasn’t explained in last night's story.

And now his family is left to struggle with that, all because he just had to play tough guy. Hope it was worth it, bud. 

[lu1535]

This past week, a storm blew thru and part of a neighbor's tree fell in our yard while a part of our tree fell in the our other neighbor's yard. Meanwhile both fences need replacing. So far, the clean up and discussions about new fencing has been going amicably but I almost hear the narrator lady saying "this is where the good will goes bad." 😬😆

I watch too much TV.

[Cobb Salad]

Hope all continues to go well with the cleanup, @lu1535!

[lu1535]

Thanks @Cobb Salad! 😃

[Red Bridey]

I snorted at Alex's friend who said he was the sweetest, nicest guy. Um, NO. A guy who constantly antagonizes his neighbor for no reason is NOT a sweet guy. A guy who unloads a clip into his neighbor for no reason is NOT a sweet guy. A guy who jumps a fence to chase his neighbor into his own garage while shooting him to death is NOT a sweet guy. A guy who runs away and then says it was "self defense" is NOT a sweet guy. Female friend: he got a fair trial. He is an evil, bad man who got what he deserved. Actually, no, he should have gotten life without parole.

[Annber03]

Hoo, boy, I was completely sympathetic to Gary and Mary Anne's whole problem with Cutter, 'cause dude was...a LOT...

...but that ending. What an utterly boneheaded move on both their parts. It amazes me how people don't stop to think about how jailhouse phone calls are recorded, and conversations like this are a big reason why. I'm glad the one neighbor who was interviewed already clocked the story as suspicious simply based off how many shots Gary fired at Cutter. Like I said last week, if you're able to shoot someone THAT many times without interruption, it ceases to be called self-defense. 

Mary Anne being in on it was really surprising, given she'd been spending so much of the episode (at least, in the reenactments) pleading with Gary to just leave Cutter be and not do anything stupid. But my mom found it odd that Gary immediately gave her the gun to dispose of it and she took it into the house without any regard for the fact that her fingerprints would be all over it, so...that would've been a further tip off that something wasn't right about this story. 

Honestly, though, I'm not surprised that Gary did that in the end, both because it was clear that Cutter was getting to him on a serious level and also because, I'm sorry, but anyone who owns THAT many guns, and THAT many varieties of guns...yeah. It really doesn't surprise me when I hear about people like that going off half-cocked and shooting someone (or multiple people, in the case of mass shootings). I get rural people own guns, I live in Iowa (though not in a rural area), so I'm very well aware of that fact...but there's owning a gun and then owning an entire arsenal. Nobody needs the latter, I don't care who they are. 

But yeah, Cutter was definitely a jerk, too, with his temper tantrums anytime he wasn't getting his way. Like, when the judge and the entire neighborhood are all aligned against your stance on the property and building stuff there, at some point you might want to just learn to back off and cut your losses, or find a more reasonable compromise/solution. Also loved how he kept calling these people white trash...if that's how you feel about the people here, then why even build here? What exactly did he expect would happen? 

(I also had to laugh at the neighbor talking about how Cutter was saying all these nasty things to her, all while describing his comments as "filthy-ass language" XD.)

Honestly, the people I felt most bad for in this story weren't even on screen during the reenactments - I just kept thinking about all the construction workers and people driving the trucks and whatnot who were just out there trying to do the job they were hired to do and having to deal with Cutter and Gary's stupid feud all the while. Cutter keeps griping about the effect this is having on him financially, but what about the jobs and time and money of the people working for him? They're just as affected by all this nonsense, if not more so. 

The neighbors talking about initially meeting Cutter also had me thinking about all the moments on this show when we hear people talking about how their neighbors seemed nice and friendly at first and all that. I can't help wondering much of the time if that's really true or if the neighbors saying that are just...not that great a judge of character :p. 'Cause some of the people on these shows, their issues seemed pretty apparent even before they moved into/began interacting with their neighbors. 

[Cobb Salad]

That guy Cutter - what a piece of work.  About the plans for those new houses, I don’t remember what they said the lot size was but it seemed like in the end it could have ruined the character of the neighborhood.  With all the access he needed to get to the property in the end would he have had another access road built or would he have expected to have residents use the road that ran by Gary and Mary Ann’s house.  We’ll never know.  Given Cutter was a developer he was probably going to sell his home once this development was done.

Here we see a jerk who thinks he can push a bunch of people around.  Makes you wonder what he did with regard to other properties he developed.  Certainly he always billed as a “benefit to everyone” while he makes the big bucks.  I’ve learned through my life that people who may appear to be sweet and maybe a bit of a pushover can fight back pretty well if it goes too far.  This guy likely didn’t think he was going to get shot.

If I were in their position I wouldn’t have put up with his bullying either (who would?) but 11 shots and claim self defense?  Gary deserved what he got. 

[JudyObscure]

Fifteen years ago we bought this house, new at the time, a big house on a quarter acre lot, at the end of a dead end street.  With just  ten houses on the whole street,  it couldn't have been quieter. 

This summer a builder has extended the street into a big field next to us and plans to build 52 houses.  All summer it's been bulldozers and gravel trucks passing out house and soon all those little, tiny, crowded together houses will be filled and the traffic will stream past us all day and night.

Our dog is frightened to go for a walk.

We hate it, but it never once occurred to any of us to go yell at the builder, stand in front of his trucks, or complain about the noise and the destroyed trees.  We have no rights or control over what he paid for.

Cutter was a jerk, but Gary and Maryann  were living in a dream world if they thought a builder would stop a project worth millions just because they didn't like it.

Gary with his arsenal of guns and his orders to his wife to go stand in front of an angry man's truck?  I have no sympathy for him.

I liked Maryann's friend!

 

 

[Annber03]

Oh, gee, look at that, another episode in which a guy claims he was "in danger/under threat",even though he's the one with the gun, he's the one who did the shooting  (and shot the person who was a supposed "threat" multiple times, well past the point where it was clear that, if he had been posing a threat, he certainly wasn't posing one anymore) and the person who was supposedly a threat is dead, and was never a legitimate threat of any sort to the shooter to begin with. 

Gosh. Who could've seen that one coming.

(And then he's going on about how Janelle could've had a knife on her - obviously she didn't, but even if she did? The video shows she was nowhere near him and wasn't coming at him in any kind of confrontational manner, so again, still not in any kind of immediate danger.)

Even if we hadn't gotten the bit early on in the episode where Michael was mocking the kind of music Janelle liked, let's just say absolutely none of the revealations about his past surprised me. Not a single one. It was clear from the start his antagonistic feelings towards Janelle were racially motivated. Thank goodness for his security camera footage - I LOVE it when that sort of thing backfires on creeps like him. The audio recording of his wife talking about how the investigators got the passwords for the cameras from where they were posted on the fridge cracked me up. Brilliant move, genius :D. 

I also appreciate Michael's son testifying as he did. That couldn't have been easy for him, but I'm glad he did it. Janelle throwing bottles at Michael's car was a dumb move on her part ,for sure, but honestly, given how incredibly antagonistic he was and how much he was driving her nuts...I can sympathize on that level, anyway. 

Anywho, yeah, I'm glad Michael got the sentence he deserved. 

[libgirl2]

7 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Oh, gee, look at that, another episode in which a guy claims he was "in danger/under threat",even though he's the one with the gun, he's the one who did the shooting  (and shot the person who was a supposed "threat" multiple times, well past the point where it was clear that, if he had been posing a threat, he certainly wasn't posing one anymore) and the person who was supposedly a threat is dead, and was never a legitimate threat of any sort to the shooter to begin with. 

Gosh. Who could've seen that one coming.

(And then he's going on about how Janelle could've had a knife on her - obviously she didn't, but even if she did? The video shows she was nowhere near him and wasn't coming at him in any kind of confrontational manner, so again, still not in any kind of immediate danger.)

Even if we hadn't gotten the bit early on in the episode where Michael was mocking the kind of music Janelle liked, let's just say absolutely none of the revealations about his past surprised me. Not a single one. It was clear from the start his antagonistic feelings towards Janelle were racially motivated. Thank goodness for his security camera footage - I LOVE it when that sort of thing backfires on creeps like him. The audio recording of his wife talking about how the investigators got the passwords for the cameras from where they were posted on the fridge cracked me up. Brilliant move, genius :D. 

I also appreciate Michael's son testifying as he did. That couldn't have been easy for him, but I'm glad he did it. Janelle throwing bottles at Michael's car was a dumb move on her part ,for sure, but honestly, given how incredibly antagonistic he was and how much he was driving her nuts...I can sympathize on that level, anyway. 

Anywho, yeah, I'm glad Michael got the sentence he deserved. 

Oh, yea, the racism was written on the wall from the start. I'm glad his s--- is rotting in jail. And it was very brace of his son to testify. 

As for the bottles, he is lucky she didn't hire someone to put a bullet in him. 

[Cobb Salad]

Inmates don’t look too kindly on former cops who are incarcerated…very glad this racist a** is serving life.  Not surprised about the reveal about his past, it was obvious from the start he’s a racist.  It’s funny that the surveillance camera that HE installed is what did him in.  

He was probably the one who smeared the ranch dressing on his car windshield.  

What I don’t get is how a seemingly sweet woman could be married to this jerk.  

[libgirl2]

51 minutes ago, Cobb Salad said:

Inmates don’t look too kindly on former cops who are incarcerated…very glad this racist a** is serving life.  Not surprised about the reveal about his past, it was obvious from the start he’s a racist.  It’s funny that the surveillance camera that HE installed is what did him in.  

He was probably the one who smeared the ranch dressing on his car windshield.  

What I don’t get is how a seemingly sweet woman could be married to this jerk.  

First thing I thought of when he was found guilty. As for his wife, I bet he was abusive at home and she was scared. It would make more sense as to why his son testified. 

[JudyObscure]

On 7/31/2024 at 11:13 PM, Annber03 said:

I also appreciate Michael's son testifying as he did. That couldn't have been easy for him, but I'm glad he did it

I was kind of mad at the prosecution for asking the boy to do it.  Surely that camera footage of the man chasing after his victim was enough to get life imprisonment for Michael.  Why make a little boy feel guilty and worried about  testifying against his own father?

[libgirl2]

31 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

I was kind of mad at the prosecution for asking the boy to do it.  Surely that camera footage of the man chasing after his victim was enough to get life imprisonment for Michael.  Why make a little boy feel guilty and worried about  testifying against his own father?

I thought he volunteered. And I can't imagine they can make him do it. 

[Cobb Salad]

New episodes starting October 23. 

[Annber03]

On 10/3/2024 at 8:41 PM, Cobb Salad said:

New episodes starting October 23. 

And damn, did things kick off on a truly horrifying note tonight! This episode about Gabriel...holy shit. What an absolute nightmare of a person. You can clearly see and hear the trauma in everyone who was interviewed, or the disgust from those who worked the case. 

And I share in that disgust, because the RMCP's response to everything, both before the shooting and during/after, was beyond appalling. They knew this guy was dangerous. They literally had alerts warning officers to exercise extreme caution when dealing with him.

And yet they still looked the other way while he committed so many of his crimes, and were happy to use him as an informant to help with other crimes. I'm sure the poor children who now don't have parents really appreciate knowing that they can't trust their police department because they spent so long indulging a criminal and did nothing to stop him until it was far, far too late. 

And then their sorry ass attempt to "warn" the public about his shooting spree. On Twitter. Alongside the obvious reasons why that's an absolutely shitty way to respond to a mass shooting...they DO know that not everyone uses Twitter, right? Suppose there were people in that area who didn't have accounts on there? Or what about people like the woman who was killed while merely going for a walk and thus wouldn't have been able to get the alert in time even if she did have Twitter? Guess they were just SOL, huh? 

I am glad that there was that report strongly condemning the RMCP for their complete lack of any sort of response to all of this. If I were the citizens of that area, I'd sue the absolute hell out of that police department. At the very least, I hope everyone who dropped the ball lost their jobs. If not, they should've. Just incredibly unbelievable and horrifying and shameful. 

And to think, this guy was a dentist. That's...chilling. 

Poor Leon. My heart aches for him and for all the families who lost loved ones to this psycho. I'm glad Gabriel's wife made it out alive*.

*(The fact that Gabriel was into two women named Lisa... Given his penchant for hitting on any woman that just happened to be in his vicinity, I suppose that was one way to avoid risking saying the wrong name.)

Edited October 24 by Annber03

[Cobb Salad]

11 hours ago, Annber03 said:

And then their sorry ass attempt to "warn" the public about his shooting spree. On Twitter. Alongside the obvious reasons why that's an absolutely shitty way to respond to a mass shooting...they DO know that not everyone uses Twitter, right? Suppose there were people in that area who didn't have accounts on there? Or what about people like the woman who was killed while merely going for a walk and thus wouldn't have been able to get the alert in time even if she did have Twitter? Guess they were just SOL, huh? 

Yeah, the part about using social media.  That’s right not everyone uses Twitter or Facebook, etc. (I don’t)   Pretty lazy of the RCMP.

The mention of Gabriel trying to buy up lots of the properties in his neighborhood didn’t sound like a good thing.  Then he wanted to low ball the guy who was actually willing to sell to him, what a jerk.  

It was chilling that some random woman who was out for a walk was killed as part of his murder spree.  Since it took place in a safe neighborhood that’s the last place you’d think you’d be going for a walk and putting your life in danger.  
 

[badhaggis]

20 hours ago, Annber03 said:

And damn, did things kick off on a truly horrifying note tonight! This episode about Gabriel...holy shit. What an absolute nightmare of a person. You can clearly see and hear the trauma in everyone who was interviewed, or the disgust from those who worked the case. 

And I share in that disgust, because the RMCP's response to everything, both before the shooting and during/after, was beyond appalling. They knew this guy was dangerous. They literally had alerts warning officers to exercise extreme caution when dealing with him.

And yet they still looked the other way while he committed so many of his crimes, and were happy to use him as an informant to help with other crimes. I'm sure the poor children who now don't have parents really appreciate knowing that they can't trust their police department because they spent so long indulging a criminal and did nothing to stop him until it was far, far too late. 

And then their sorry ass attempt to "warn" the public about his shooting spree. On Twitter. Alongside the obvious reasons why that's an absolutely shitty way to respond to a mass shooting...they DO know that not everyone uses Twitter, right? Suppose there were people in that area who didn't have accounts on there? Or what about people like the woman who was killed while merely going for a walk and thus wouldn't have been able to get the alert in time even if she did have Twitter? Guess they were just SOL, huh? 

I am glad that there was that report strongly condemning the RMCP for their complete lack of any sort of response to all of this. If I were the citizens of that area, I'd sue the absolute hell out of that police department. At the very least, I hope everyone who dropped the ball lost their jobs. If not, they should've. Just incredibly unbelievable and horrifying and shameful. 

And to think, this guy was a dentist. That's...chilling. 

Poor Leon. My heart aches for him and for all the families who lost loved ones to this psycho. I'm glad Gabriel's wife made it out alive*.

*(The fact that Gabriel was into two women named Lisa... Given his penchant for hitting on any woman that just happened to be in his vicinity, I suppose that was one way to avoid risking saying the wrong name.)

This was horrific. Those poor people were hunted. What a failure for the RCMP. This man was enabled all along the way.

I don't remember hearing anything about this before. Although with COVID I am sure I was distracted. 

[JudyObscure]

Just shocking.  How evil can any one person be to murder people in cold blood for tiny little offences -- or nothing at all. 

Why was he so sure everything was over for him?  He had enough money to go somewhere else, assume a new name, and make life horrible for another group of people.

[libgirl2]

Just finished this and it was horrific. All those people killed by this criminal. I am just speechless.  

[libgirl2]

10 hours ago, JudyObscure said:

Just shocking.  How evil can any one person be to murder people in cold blood for tiny little offences -- or nothing at all. 

Why was he so sure everything was over for him?  He had enough money to go somewhere else, assume a new name, and make life horrible for another group of people.

He could have gone far away but he didn't want to. His little kingdom was compromised and he couldn't deal with it. 

[Cobb Salad]

7 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

He could have gone far away but he didn't want to. His little kingdom was compromised and he couldn't deal with it. 

Yes, plus who knows how long it took him to build his kingdom.  Perhaps he didn’t want to do all that hard work again or would he be able to embed himself somewhere different with people who could help him.  Thankfully he didn’t flee to the US.