To the editor:
On August 26, I received a letter from my “Anonymous Neighbors” about the constant noise level that has been coming from my house all summer long. I have lived in my house since 1995 and I know almost all of my neighbors and get along quite nicely … with the possible exception of the “Anonymous” ones.
To provide some background, I first met “Anonymous Neighbor” no. 1 on the last day of school this year. My 13-year-old daughter was having a few of her friends over for an end-of-the-year gathering. If my memory serves, I think there were seven or eight kids who were hanging out on my back deck and in our pool house. They were doing what most girls their age do — gossiping, laughing, listening to music, dancing …. basically being kids. Anonymous Neighbor no. 1, came to my front door at 6:20 p.m. (that’s right, p.m. — as in during the local evening news) to complain about the extremely loud music coming from our pool house.
I apologized to no. 1 and told him that I would have the girls turn the music down. I proceeded to go out to the pool house and it wasn’t until I was 15 or 20 feet away from it that I could actually hear the music. Just the same and in the spirit of trying to be a respectful neighbor, I asked my daughter to turn the music down, which she did. End of story right? Nope.
At 7:10 p.m. (yes that’s right, still p.m. as in the first or second puzzle into The Wheel of Fortune), I had the good fortune of meeting “Anonymous Neighbor” no. 2 who was quite upset that I was allowing my daughter to “infringe on his ear space.” I tried to explain to him that it was the last day of school and that they were just being kids and celebrating the end of the school year. He made some off-handed comment about my lack of parenting skills and went on his way. Obviously, no. 2 knows nothing about raising kids or the sounds they make when they are “being kids.” All the while, I certainly appreciated his interest in my children’s well being and my lack of parenting skills.
Although I told no. 2 that the kids were being picked up at 10 p.m., we still had a visit from the Caribou Police Department at 9:30 p.m. The Officer pulled into our driveway and told me that after he got out of his cruiser, he actually waited outside for a bit to see how loud it actually was. According to the officer, he didn’t think the girls were being loud at all. He said that he could tell that there were people in the pool house but heard no music or loud talking.
Fast forward to Aug. 28 when we received our “Anonymous Neighbor” letter. My wife and I find it very interesting that we have been “infringing” our neighbor’s ear space all summer long. Here’s the thing, since this summer has been absolutely miserable weather-wise, we have spent very little time on our deck or in our pool, or even outside for that matter. In addition, I have spent more time away from my house in Caribou than at my house in Caribou this summer. They also stated that multiple neighbors have complained (Did I mention that no. 1 and no. 2 live in the same apartment? That’s OK … we can still classify them as “multiple” if they want).
Maybe they are hearing noise from “Thursdays on New Sweden” ? I wonder if they called Caribou PD during those Thursdays on New Sweden, trying pin that on us as well? Well, you can probably guess what happened on Monday evening … yup, the local PD made another visit to 738 “aka Animal House” Main Street. When he arrived at 8:10 p.m., he caught us red handed, cooking s’mores on our back deck — my wife, myself, and my daughter. Luckily, we had just removed the disco ball from our back deck moments before Caribou’s finest arrived.
As I type this letter tonight, I am fresh off another visit from the Caribou PD. It seems that my “Anonymous Neighbor” called dispatch to inform them of a big and extremely loud party that was going on at my house this evening. The offenders this time? Three 14-year-old girls and two 14-year-old boys, whooping it up on my back deck again. To be fair, it was 8:15 p.m. tonight.
Let me clue you in — the sounds you are hearing are the sounds of life. Kids playing, laughing, and having a good time. Adults enjoying each other’s company and spending precious time with friends, relatives, and yes, neighbors. I will never be disrespectful of you or any of my neighbors because that is the kind of person I am. However, you are now infringing on my right to enjoy my property, which I bought, which I maintain, and which I pay taxes on every year. You moved into an apartment building that abuts my property line, which is a choice that you made. My pool house, my deck, my pool, and most certainly my children were here before you decided to move in next door to our “Animal House” and, given your obvious sensitivity to the sounds of life, you still opted to move in. By the way, we have lived in this house for 18 years and not once had a noise complaint from any of our neighbors — named or otherwise.
To Chief Gahagan and the entire Caribou Police Department, my apologies for you having to waste your time, energy, and most importantly taxpayer resources responding to the recent “noise complaints” from my “Anonymous Neighbors.”
A word of advice for no. 1 and no. 2, which is something that I learned long ago — If you go through life choosing to be bitter and angry, chances are that you are probably going to bitter and angry. I am sorry that you have chosen to be bitter and angry. More importantly, I am sorry that you made the decision to move next door to a house where the inhabitants choose not to be bitter or angry.
Shawn Manter
Caribou
