PRELIMINARY HEARING

EYE SITE

It was mid morning on Sept. 7 ,1994 that we showed up near the 
required time at the Local Magistrate's office. Our neighbor and his 
son and his wife had arrived before us. We felt it was prudent to wait 
outside while they sat in the lobby. While we were outside, Officer 
Williams came out to talk. He wasn't in a friendly mood. While we were 
all outside, a sports car pulled up and a man got out. Williams 
asked if we knew who it was and we said no. He commenced to identity 
him as Philip Lauer. Williams had this demeanor like we were supposed to 
be quivering. Anyway, WIlliams had gone inside. He had come 
out and stated that a plea to Harassment was being proposed. we 
discussed it and decided against it. There was something to the ritual 
of a hearing that would document the history of us being abused and 
something Karmic about crossing the bridge to sanity based on 
establishing boundaries. We went inside and sat across the lobby 
opposing our neighbor and his entourage. What was interesting is that 
Lenny's daughter-and-law asked him " how was your small aircraft ride". 
She asked in a tone to bring our attention to the question. It spooked 
us a bit since recently there was a small aircraft sort of barn 
storming our house and property. This could have been him.

GNASHING OF TEETH

KEEP OUT

We felt terrible about Anna. She was caught in the cross fire of 
Lenny's mission. We just wanted Peaceful ,Quiet, Enjoyment. I believe 
that our neighbor was involved in the phone threat she received. Enough 
was enough. Our compassion for him was interpreted as a weakness. We 
kept records of the harassment. The Police apparently had talked to him 
and he denied any involvement. I called the Police and said we had it 
with his behavior. I believe they were playing a game, they didn't want 
to get involved. They stalled and I told the dispatcher that if someone 
didn't come to our home within a reasonable amount of time, I was going 
to call the State Police. There is an opinion that the State Police are 
objective in enforcing the Law. Many believe that the Lower Saucon 
Township Police are subjective in their enforcement of the law. When we 
called them to report an event years earlier , when our security light 
was shot out, they stopped at our neighbor's home first, the patrolman 
then came to our house and said he wasn't home. As we were standing on the 
drive with the Patrolman, our neighbor squeals out of his drive and 
goes off. So it wasn't a surprise that the Police were stalling.

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR.

Zinnias and Butterfly
Years ago, I had dinner with a female friend—Robin Flores. She came to our
home, and we went to town in our car.  She was amazed by how many people waved to me as we passed. It was summer, people were out. She had been under the
impression that everyone hated us. I never said they did. I am a
friendly person, always have been, and wave to people. Maybe they may
hate me but they have never made any overt expressions of it. There was
a group of retired men who hung out down the road. I always waved to
them and they would wave back. On occasion, as I would pass, Lenny was
there with them. You could sense that he was poisoning any positive
opinion they had of me. However, I believe they knew what a trouble maker he was
and they seemed to wave a tad more vigorously when he was there with
them. Sort of a passive aggressive way of putting him down. You could
sense by their body language, that he was forcing himself on them.

ROAD RAGE?????

ROAD RAGE

This was all becoming time consuming. Lenny was retired and had free
time to invest being a presence. We ignored him. He would regularly try
to engage us in a confrontation similar to what we believe his son is
doing now. We did our best to ignore him but he
couldn't seem to let go. We would regularly find fruit on our drive...
oranges, plums and peaches. They could have been easily been rolled
down
the drive from his property. It occurred regularly. He was being a
bully.  If we had company he would come out and randomly discharge his guns. On one of the visits a friend Hillary Jay and her husband Bruce Benjamin made, they
witnessed the gun fire while we were having a casual lunch on our front
porch. It really spooked them.  When my sister Colleen Rogal and her
daughter Maria visited, he did the same thing while we ate outside. It is creepy being the object of someone's obsession. His main purpose was to harass us enough o give up the right of way and put in our own road.  We believe his inability to be rational was fueled by our rejection of his affections.

ART HEALS

The Pond

Along with the walking meditation, I began to read. Leor had suggested
many books that all seem to strike a chord. Like the phrase, "when you
are ready to learn, the teachers will appear". I read many of Joseph
Campbell's Works from "Origin of the Myth" to "The Hero with a Thousand
Faces" etc.. I was living a morality tale, a passion play of sorts.
Where
understanding what personal power was and how to use it.  I learned if
you want to know what scares other people, pay attention to what they
use to try to scare you.

PATH FINDER

The Path

There was a lingering embarrassment that we both had for having paid 
our neighbor for anything. But I learned a lot about lawyers and how 
they operate. We were very aware of how we were being perceived. Those 
big bad city boys were kicking sand in the eyes of this innocent, naive 
country boy. That was so far from the truth. But since when does Truth 
have anything to do with Man's Laws.

A WASTE ?????

Our mailbox on  the ground next to Road

We were so bewildered by all these events. Like deer caught in the
headlights of an oncoming car on a busy road. This was all during the
period when the Rt 78 bypass was being built...Route 78 has a
Hellertown exit. You could drive to NYC in as little as over an hour.
There seemed to be this mantra of "the outsiders are coming, the
outsiders are coming". It was a real education and a bit spooky to
see how ready the Natives were to demonize the Outsiders. The
Outsiders, us included, were portrayed as unscrupulous and shifty.

" YOUR SON"?????

copy of front and back of  Lower Saucon Township Police calling card ,1992

We were punch drunk. Bewildered beyond anything we had expected. We
were feeling more and more like strangers in a strange land. This
whole experience was beyond belief. We were sued by the dead, sued for
something that doesn't exist. Had our mailbox taken down to harass us.
People were distancing themselves from us. This is when we started to
discover how friendly "gay friendly" was. Most of the gay people we
knew were so filled with spite that fostering any empathy was an alien
concept. The New York thing versus the Country Gay only fostered
animosity. The defensives were challenging. Dealing with chips on their
shoulders was an obstacle. We were working professionals dealing with
the obsession of a retired, directionless  spurned lost soul whose
delusions
were only fueled by our settlement. Giving the dog a bone wasn't what
he wanted.  If
he could not play a positive role in our lives, he would
play a negative one. That way he could maintain some interface.

GAS LIGHTING ?

We had received a reply from Common Ground, the mediation service, and
the woman said that our neighbor refused to go.This past Summer of 2010 we contacted a mediation service and requested that our neighbor's son, Jesse, who inherited the property and moved into the house, to discuss his motive for his harassing behavior and he also refused to talk. On Sunday April 4, 1989, there was
a message left on out tape machine by an obviously coached kid saying
"I want to order a Pizza-pussy, pussy, pussy, pussy". You could hear
adults laughing in the background and they hung up. Little did we know
that this was a taunt for what was to happen.

Mail or Male Call?

The ink wasn't even dry on the check that was used to pay our 
nemses when we received a letter. Little Lenny sent us a letter 
certified registered mail dated Feb. 28, 1989. 
The letter was kind of sad. It had a few typos and was written in quasi 
legalese. The letter used words like "heretofore" and "aforementioned". 
The letter even had initials "dar" like he has a secretary. We suspect 
it was written by his daughter in law "Debbie" who I had been told 
"writes just like a Lawyer" by Ron at the Mobile gas station. The 
letter starts 
out with the phrase "due to the ever increasing deterioration of our 
relationship as neighbors". Which is queer since we had NO relationship 
with him at all, no civil interaction for years. So how could something 
that 
doesn't exist, deteriorate?

DRAIN SYSTEM?????

Drain System?

The above is a photo of how well the drain system works. In the first
year of our home ownership, Lenny was pressuring us to write the
township, threatening to sue them because they didn't maintain the
swells on Alpine Drive. Because of their alleged lack of maintenance,
the clog swells forced surface water down the shared drive thus
creating a nuisance. What a crock of shit! We kept running the scenario
he created in our heads and it made absolutely no sense. It wasn't even
rational. He didn't like when we told him that if he felt it was a
problem, to write them. We did come out on a weekend in the near future
to discover mud all over out concrete porch. We believe he put it
there to prove his point. A fews years later, when the  township
manager, James McCann, had visited our home, he mentioned that our
neighbor was a miserable asshole. He also had asked what our neighbor
had against us.
I bit my lip again. I should have told him what we believed, that he
was a spurned lover and he wants revenge. Apparently he had made many
calls complaining about us. We joked to ourselves that we would not be
surprised if we were charged with stealing a decorating idea.

Law Suit

       ©1989 Jerry Kott-Law Suit

The only communication between the neighbor since our blow out was our
response to him refusing a delivery by the gas company being made to
our home. A delivery that is automatic, we are never aware when they
will show up. We had a Lawyer rattle off a letter. I moved into the
house
in March 1986. Things were quiet, no interaction between neighbors. His
wife died that spring and we sent a card and made a donation in her
behalf to the American Cancer Society.  I had run into Lenny at Carson
Hardware and personally offered my condolences and he snapped at me-
"did you move in". No "thank you" at all, just a sharp reaction of a
plotting
mind.

STORMY WEATHER ?

  © 2010 jerry kott-Storm Clouds

We had lots of chores to do on weekends when we came out from NYC. We
Purchased a gas powered push mower. We would take turns cutting the
Grass—lots of grass to cut. Being house poor was a challenge. We had to
buy a car, we were starting from scratch. Had to get shovels, rakes all
garden supplies, we managed. It was a wonderful time. I remember
spending hours on my knees looking out the windows at night. I would
just stare at the stars. We had two mattresses on the floor, a
refrigerator and a picnic table in the kitchen. I remember how
fascinated we were when a flock of honking geese would fly over. Even
seeing a deer in our yard was a new experience. During this time we had
our visitor, little Lenny the neighbor who we believe wanted to share
more than a road with us.

Strong Fences Make Good Neighbors

The Road

It was Spring 1983 when we bought our Home. We were both excited and
apprehensive. The Bank had lent us the money, them being the biggest
skeptics. We had put everything we had as a down payment. I was Ill at
the time, walking Pneumonia. The added pressure of being House Poor had
to be dealt with.  We were like babes in a toy-land. It was
indeed an adventure. We had come out on weekends from Manhattan to work
on the house. It was in move in condition but our plans were not
working  so adjustments were made to our lives. We are both
Pennsylvania Boys and always thought it was pretty and had an
interesting terrain. Little did we know that all that glitters is not
Gold. We were beginning to witness the ugly under belly of what would
become a Saga and quite the education.

Str8jacquet

Double Rainbow

This blog is a documentation/Arte Reportage of a 27 year experience of Hate and
Harassment in the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania. It is a journey of
struggle with a System meant to thwart Justice for LGBT people in a
Straight Reality. Events included will describe experiences that I
believe were meant to roadblock  Justice and fairness by Attorneys, Law Enforcement
and the District Attorney's Office. Recollections of the depth of
Homophobia projected by those having troubled lives.
Recollections will
be shared about Neighbors who I believe were using Gun Fire to Harass
and Intimidate.  Recollection of a Specific neighbor who was the
catalysis for the madness we experienced, his obsession for getting
even. Recollections of how our Mailbox was taken down to
harass us and the farce surrounding a solution. Recollections of
friends and family indifference, who I believed turned
their heads. Otherwise it will document events and encourage opinion.
It also functions as a Healing and Education forum for those who were
abused by the System and a Lesson on how to turn Lemons into Lemonade.

 Truth does keep your free and Heals.