Mailbox down for the 4th time in 5 years, this time third year in a row

[HereSince1628]

Strange how it's always timed with the neighbor's harvest operations.

As always there is no note to say what happened or an offer to pay for the damage, just tracks over the former location of the mailbox and post.

I'm way beyond 'accidents' happen. The same accidents don't happen again and again. And I'm unable to see the comedy of it.

This time I called the sheriff about hit and run property damage, that I 'suspect' was part of the neighbor's harvesting and trucking activity last night...piles of spilled beans and huge tracks from high floatation tires.

The deputy can sort it out, make citations, etc. so I can go to court with a claim.

All the shit about how good and honest country folks are is a myth. They're pretty much just like everyone else...with many of them looking to make a clean get-away.

[JoeyT]

1. Cut off about ten feet of telephone pole,

bury seven feet, then stick the mailbox on top. You'll know who keeps doing it because the next time they do it they won't make it far.

[HereSince1628]

2. Yes, or one of those dragon's teeth used as a tank barrier.

This time I'm thi nking things that don't actually require digging as late last fall a buried 300 amp electrical service went in a few feet from where the post had been.

That and the buried telephone line make it a job that will requires a call to diggers hotline.

[fasttense]

3. Sounds like they ran over it with their harvest equipment

They should offer to pay you.

Here we have semi-monthly roving bands of teenage boys who go and knock down mail boxes with baseball bats from their cars for sport. Huge stretches of roads have mailboxes broken and torn off. The Sheriff does nothing.

So, we put up a steal mailbox on posts deep set in concrete. We haven't had a problem in 4 months. One guy said he was going to electrify his mailbox.

Country folk are not anymore honest than the rest of humanity. We had a problem with a man's calf getting out and eating our garden. He did nothing about it until on the third incident, we threatened to shoot the calf and charge him with the cost of the lost produce. Then suddenly he fixed his fence.

[HereSince1628]

4. Yes, the tracks are obvious...there really are few other vehicles with 3 ft wide tires

with ~3 inch tall treads. Unfortunately those tires don't impress a vehicle id number or a company logo into the earth. There are 3 or 4 operators working the township.

I'd put up something more sturdy, like a concrete planter, but I'm concerned about liability if anyone died or was seriously injured in a car accident that hits it.

Mostly I'm disgusted and disappointed about the character of it...a hit-and-run property damage and the neighbor's unwillingness to tell me what contractor was doing the harvest.

The deputy sheriff promised to visit the neighbor, hopefully such a visit will jog memories and willingness to cooperate.

[Kaleva]

5. But in the country, the assholes per square mile density is much less then in the city

[haikugal]

6. We solved our problem..

by mounting the mailboxes on a telephone pole we happened to have…put some reflectors on it and so far so good.

[HereSince1628]

7. Here, as in many places, by law/ordinance the mailbox must be capable of break-away

because it is an obstacle in the 'right of way', and vehicles have a probability of hitting it...even on a dead-end lane.

I am in agreement with the thinking behind the law. Going the direction of creating something that would increase damage to vehicles and potentially raise the risk of injury in an accident isn't/wasn't really a proper answer.

Getting as much of the mailbox support out of the potential path seemed better. So, it now sits on a hinged arm about 3 feet further back the original position over a newly created graveled shoulder that I hope will provide the letter carrier a firm all weather place to pull over and service the mail.

I am hoping the "mailbox polo" that is being played soon ends. Moreover, although I know that it would be out of character for their yeoman tea-hadist libertarine cheat-where-you-can life-styles, I yet hope that the persons driving down the lane who after all may still collide with it will have the common courtesy of taking responsibility.

Now if I could just get the adjacent neighbors to socialize their dogs so they don't come running a couple hundred feet off their property to menace us when we walk to that mailbox.

[haikugal]

8. Correct….

Last edited Sat May 31, 2014, 01:16 PM - Edit history (1)

and I thought about that but the history is as follows….the original mailbox (over 30 years ago) was mounted on a small milk house building well back from the road. Drunks took out the building. We have replaced several over the years and my son just said "fuck it" this last time. They also took out a lamp post along with the mailbox…they didn't bother to take responsibility of course. We live along the road and our house is over 200 years old…both sides of the road are ours and we've had every kind of damage, some of which have ended in death for some drivers. We feel like targets sometimes …. nothing against drivers but they often drive too fast in general and too fast for conditions . We're on a curve. We have a lot of large trees now. I will not be removing my trees…I will, however, begin to ask for a speed reduction along with a noise ordinance because we have a new neighbor who likes to shoot canon and put off what sound like bombs which send my horse into a panic.

We also have a large Blue Heron nesting colony so I'll contact the State and follow through with getting some extra protection for them that may help with this horrid neighbor and his idiotic antics. I don't know them at all…they just bought the ground and built about a year ago and it's been pretty bad. I find myself wondering what's going on in their heads.

Good luck with your mailbox and I hope your latest effort works for you.

(on edit)
The purpose isn't to 'hurt' anyone. The only way to have them take responsibility is for them to not be able to drive away…that's how we caught the ones that demolished the milk house…they were lucky and in the spin their car went into they hit it with the trunk of the car not the front. They tried to drive off but the car was too damaged…

I've lived here a long time and have a lot of stories about what goes on here with cars going sideways, spinning around, driving off the road etc. These are local residents who know there is a curve here and it was constructed in the 60's in such a way that it banks improperly. There have been terrible, deadly accidents on our property and our neighbors property. My husband was going to work one morning and noticed a car sitting on the fence on part of our ground and stopped to get the license plate number. While he was walking around the vehicle he found the body of a young mother. Who knows when she crashed and if she could have been helped if someone had heard it. Just an example.

As our area is developed we have a lot more traffic which now includes semi's and they need to lower the speed limit through here because some people have become so entitled to the road that they can't be bothered slowing down for me when I cross the road to the barn. I'm not getting any faster but they sure are.