TRENTON — Workers installing a fence about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the 4000 block of Devonshire bailed on the job for the day after being harassed by the owner of a house.
The resident of an adjacent house had hired them to construct the fence between the two properties in the hopes of ending an ongoing property dispute when the owner of the other house, a Southgate resident, began to harass the workers to the point where they told the resident they were going to stop work because they feared for their safety. The Southgate man had been working on a privacy fence that lies on the lot line between the two properties when he began to bother the workers, the complainant told police.
The resident told police he and his wife have obtained permits to get the work done, hired licensed surveyors and involved the City Engineer’s Office, but that the Southgate man, whose ex-wife lives in the adjoining house, is angry because the chain link fence being installed on the lot line locks in an area between the fences and makes it difficult to maintain. The Southgate man helps his ex-wife with maintenance on the property, the resident said.
Wednesday’s visit by police was the second since May, the couple who paid for the fence said, adding that they want to pursue charges against the Southgate man for trespassing.