La Croix family wants police help to end feud with neighours

Two neighbours at LaCroix are locked in a feud that has resulted in one house being searched by the police and another allegedly being littered by different types of waste material, including dog faeces.

But both parties in the dispute, Seithroy and Geva Edwards and their neighbor, Earl Bullock, are blaming each other for the disturbances and threats.

On Wednesday, Geva, a retired graduate teacher with more than 37 years of experience, said she spends most of her time at home and, from 2007, she has been having “serious issues” with Bullock including death threats.

She said she has made several reports to the Mesopotamia Police Station, but Bullock has never been charged.

Bullock told SEARCHLIGHT that about two weeks ago, he was told by the police that they received a report that he had threatened Geva five times in one day, but, on the day in question, he never saw Geva and certainly had not spoken to her.

“As I am sitting here under this roof if I’m lying about that let God strike me down,” Bullock said from his home in LaCroix on Wednesday.

Geva said reports had been made to the police on about seven occasions, contending that she is not a person who likes to go to the police.

“But I have no other choice, he has been throwing over garbage. Dog faeces were thrown on the roof behind the house. He brought a tire and put it there and he announced that he is breeding mosquitoes for us. He has a hose that is damage and spouting water,” said Geva who added that when her husband spoke to Bullock about the hose, threats to kill were issued.

Geva said also that they built a wall that served to block out Bullock, but they ended up in a dispute as Bullock painted the wall on his side in brown without their permission.

The Edwards say their property is supposed to be separated from Bullock’s property by a four-foot road, but Bullock has taken up the road and made it part of his property, hence the reason why their wall is so close to his home.

Geva said that they wrote to the Commissioner of Police in 2012 for assistance as she alleges that Bullock is always threatening to wipe out their family and bury her husband in his own back yard.
In one instance, Bullock’s home was searched by police looking for an unlicensed firearm, but none was found and Geva said threats were issued after the police left.

She said that in 2012, they reported to the police that Bullock had threatened to burn down their home.

“I don’t know if warning is enough, but the matter has never been taken to court,” she said.

After the 2012 report, the police met on more than one occasion with both parties and Geva said despite these meetings, threats are still being issued.

Seithroy said that his wife’s anxiety has increased and she is worried since the Thursday January, 30 shooting death of nurse, Arianna Taylor-Israel.

Bullock said both families have been neighbours for over 20 years and he thinks the dispute started when he spoke to Edwards about his dog defecating in his yard.

“I talk about the dog several times, and nothing happen, so he carried his wall higher, but mine stayed the same but the dog was still coming in,” said Bullock who added that he closed up the space in the wall and plastered the section on his side as it was making his yard look untidy. He said his neighbors objected to him plastering and painting his side of the wall.

He noted also that the hose, which he has had about 40 years, had a small hole, but he did not realize it was damaged.

Bullock said he apologized for this, but the apology was not accepted he felt, because there was an earlier incident where one of his young sons was accused of throwing plum seeds onto the Edwards’ property.

But Bullock said he wants the dispute and the stress under which he is living to end.

He said he is prepared to not interact at all with the Edwards or interact peacefully with them.

But the Edwards are adamant that the alleged threats will not stop, and they want the police to intervene.