Thread:Teub/@comment-26544836-20160815150333/@comment-32738051-20160818140659

I couldn't help but notice this thread today and hope you and Teub don't mind me jumping in.

What a shame about these two neighbors. There are worse things in life. They could have my neighbors, from Brazil I think, who like to ramp up the music every Friday and Saturday for several hours so loud that it can be heard outside the subdivision and inside every neighboring home. The inconsiderate jerks.

But property improvements are often contentious and I can see how this thing in Beverly Farms got started but it's really ridiculous they couldn't resolve it before now. The feud reminds me a little of the movie The House of Sand and Fog, a very sad movie that was about a property ownership feud...the Beverly Farms feud just hasn't ended in any deaths directly caused by it yet.

Deirdre knows I'm from Massachusetts and I still have family there and visit every Christmas. I don't know either party in the feud, nor had I heard of Beverly Farms before (I don't run in those circles either), but there are a couple of mentions in the article that I am familiar with. Like the original estate, Edgewater, was once the property of the Ames family, who, it's fair to say, built the town of Easton where I grew up. The high school I attended was named after Oliver Ames, who was Governor of Mass. at one point. You two have probably heard of one of my fellow alumni, Jim Craig, who was the goalie for the U.S. hockey team that beat Russia in the historic 1980 Olympics game. It was probably one of Oliver's grandchildren who owned Edgewater but I can't be sure. Another Ames, a U.S. senator, was involved in the infamous Credit Mobilier railroad scandal in 1872, an event you may have learned about in school. And the family's shovel company, mentioned in the article, is now the Ames brand, part of Ames True Temper...I'm sure you both have heard of them. The other familiar mention in the article was Wile's involvement as a volunteer pilot with Flying Santa, which, with only the war years as exceptions, is a really cool non-profit that has been delivering Christmas care packages to lighthouses up and down the New England coast since 1929. My dad shared their story with me a long time ago and I think he knew one of the pilots, but I don't think it was Wile.

Anyway, I thought you two might find some of this interesting. It's amazing how so much in life interconnects in various ways, isn't it?