I Let My Easement Road Wash Out After One Storm — HOA Karen Realized It Was Her Only Way Home — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00She stood at the edge of a 12-T hole in
2. 0:02the road, screaming that I had destroyed
3. 0:04it. My phone was already recording. What
4. 0:07she didn't know was that in a few days,
5. 0:10she would say something into that same
6. 0:11phone she could never take back. And
7. 0:14this entire disaster, she had been
8. 0:16warned about it for 11 months. My name
9. 0:20is Ben Howerin. My family has farmed
10. 0:22this land for four generations. running
11. 0:25through it is old Milbrook Road.7
12. 0:28miles of private asphalt that I own
13. 0:30every inch. And back in 1958, my
14. 0:34grandfather signed a paper that would
15. 0:36one day cause all of this. 3 years ago,
16. 0:39a development called Cedar Hollow
17. 0:41Estates went up behind my farm, 60
18. 0:44homes, and it's HOA president, Lenora
19. 0:46Hartzfield, started acting like my road
20. 0:49belonged to her. She find my tractor for
21. 0:52mud. She emailed me about my fence
22. 0:54color. I never even lived in her HOA.
23. 0:58Here's what the deed says. Cedar Hollow
24. 1:01has an easement, a legal right to drive
25. 1:03on my road, but the same paper says the
26. 1:06easement holder pays for maintenance.
27. 1:08Not me. I never charge him a scent to
28. 1:11use it. All I asked was that they keep
29. 1:12it safe. In March, I noticed a road
30. 1:16sinking near the creek cover. A hairline
31. 1:18crack, then a dip. I measured it,
32. 1:21photographed it, and brought it to the
33. 1:23HOA board meeting. Lenora laughed. It's
34. 1:26your private road, Ben. Your problem.
35. 1:30Half the room looked at the floor. So, I
36. 1:32did it the right way. I got a quote from
37. 1:34Moreno Covert. $14,200
38. 1:38to replace the pipe. I sent it by
39. 1:41certified mail with photos. 9 days
40. 1:43later, it came back unopened. Stamperuse
41. 1:46in Lenora's handwriting. Then the truck
42. 1:49started 5:00 a.m. every morning. Giant
43. 1:52dump truck stamped Hartsfield Earthworks
44. 1:55hauling heavy fuel to a new phase 2 site
45. 1:58behind the neighborhood right over my
46. 2:00road right over that weak covert. And
47. 2:02Lenora's husband owned the company. I
48. 2:05posted weight limit signs. Nobody cared.
49. 2:08My attorney Pria Menon told me one
50. 2:11thing, document everything. So I mounted
51. 2:14trail cameras at both ends of the road
52. 2:16and near the creek. I didn't know it
53. 2:18yet, but those cameras would catch the
54. 2:20one thing that mattered most. In
55. 2:23October, the forecast showed 6 in of
56. 2:26rain in one night. I sent Lenora a final
57. 2:28written notice. The covert may fail.
58. 2:31Please repair it or close the road. She
59. 2:34replied in under a minute. Don't
60. 2:37threaten me, Ben. The road will be fine.
61. 2:40It wasn't. At 2 a.m., the storm hit. I
62. 2:44went out with a flashlight and found the
63. 2:46creek roaring. Backing up against a
64. 2:48covert like a dam. The pipe wasn't
65. 2:50draining. Something was blocking it. I
66. 2:53set out flares and orange cones on both
67. 2:55sides. And I called County Dispatch to
68. 2:57report the road. Then my phone rang that
69. 3:00Whitlock 78 from Cedar Hollow, her
70. 3:04husband's oxygen machine, had died with
71. 3:06the power out. An ambulance was coming
72. 3:09and the road was the only way in. I
73. 3:12stood in the rain, waving my flashlight,
74. 3:15guiding them across inch by inch. The
75. 3:17ambulance made it out safely at 3:40. At
76. 3:2140:05, I heard a sound I'll never
77. 3:23forget. A deep groaning crack. The
78. 3:26asphalt folded like paper. The cover
79. 3:28gave way and 40 ft of road dropped into
80. 3:31the creek. If that ambulance had come 5
81. 3:34minutes later, I don't want to think
82. 3:36about it. At 9:00 a.m., Lenora's black
83. 3:38SUV skidded up to the edge. She had
84. 3:41spent the night in the city and couldn't
85. 3:42get home. She jumped out in her purple
86. 3:45blazer, screaming, "You destroyed it.
87. 3:48Fix my road now." I just held up my
88. 3:51phone and said, "Keep talking. I'm
89. 3:53recording." She called the sheriff,
90. 3:56shouting about criminal mischief. Deputy
91. 3:59Sam Eaton arrived and listened to both
92. 4:01of us. I handed him the deed, the quote,
93. 4:05the refused envelope, and my photos. He
94. 4:08read them slowly. Then he looked at
95. 4:10Lenora and said, "Ma'am, this sounds
96. 4:13like a civil matter, and it's not
97. 4:14looking good for you." The next morning,
98. 4:17county engineer Ray Aonquo came out. He
99. 4:20climbed down the broken covert, pulled
100. 4:22out his flashlight, and went quiet.
101. 4:24"Ben," he said, "this pipe wasn't just
102. 4:27old. Someone packed the inlet with
103. 4:30filled dirt and broken concrete. Hard on
104. 4:33purpose, or by carelessness." I opened
105. 4:36the trail camera footage on my laptop.
106. 4:39There it was, a Hartsfield Earthworks
107. 4:41truck backing up to the creek at
108. 4:43midnight, three weeks before the storm.
109. 4:46A heavy set man in a white hard hat
110. 4:48dumping load after load into the covert
111. 4:51inlet. And then he turned toward the
112. 4:53camera. It was Gordon Hartzfield. By
113. 4:56afternoon, 60 families were stranded.
114. 4:59Kids couldn't reach school. Workers
115. 5:01couldn't reach their jobs. The HOA
116. 5:03called an emergency meeting. I stood up
117. 5:06in the clubhouse and said, "Lenora, Ben
118. 5:09warned us for 11 months. Where's our
119. 5:11road money?" The room went dead silent.
120. 5:14That night, someone knocked on my porch
121. 5:16door. It was Neil Brandt, the HOA
122. 5:19treasurer, shaking, holding a folder.
123. 5:22Ben, I can't sleep. The reserve study in
124. 5:252022 said the covert needed replacement.
125. 5:28We had $212,000
126. 5:30in reserve. It's gone. Lenora moved it
127. 5:33into a loan to Hartsfield Earthworks.
128. 5:36Two days later, I was served. Lenora's
129. 5:39lawyer filed a lawsuit claiming I had
130. 5:41obstructed the easement and caused the
131. 5:43collapse. She was trying to put the
132. 5:45whole disaster on me. I called Priya.
133. 5:48She laughed once and said, "Ben, she
134. 5:51just sued the one man with all the
135. 5:53evidence." On day five at sunset, Lenora
136. 5:56showed up at my gate on foot, mud on her
137. 5:58heels. Her SUV was stuck on the wrong
138. 6:01side of the wash out, and the only way
139. 6:03to Cedar Hollow now was across my farm
140. 6:05lane. "Name your price," she snapped.
141. 6:08Then she lost her temper and said it. I
142. 6:11told Gordon to dump that fill. That pipe
143. 6:14was supposed to fail slowly, so you'd
144. 6:16have to pay. My phone was recording. I
145. 6:19could have locked my gate. I could have
146. 6:21made her beg, but 60 families didn't
147. 6:24cause this. So I told her, "My lane is
148. 6:27open to every resin of Cedar Hollow, 10
149. 6:30miles an hour, no Hartsfield trucks, and
150. 6:33you can cross it like everyone else."
151. 6:35She stared at me. She'd expected a
152. 6:38fight. The next morning, Dot's neighbors
153. 6:40drove through my lane in a slow line,
154. 6:43waving, some stopping to say thank you.
155. 6:45Lenora stood by her SUV at the wash out,
156. 6:48watching them go. For the first time in
157. 6:503 years, nobody was looking at her, and
158. 6:53she finally understood her only way home
159. 6:55had been my road all along. The hearing
160. 6:58was 10 days later. Judge Alan Puit took
161. 7:01a seat. Prius stood with a binder as
162. 7:03thick as a phone book. Lenora's lawyer
163. 7:06opened with the same story. Ben Howerin
164. 7:08was a hostile landowner who blocked
165. 7:10repairs. I just sat there calm because I
166. 7:14had paper, video, and sound. Pria laid
167. 7:17it out piece by piece. the 1958 deed,
168. 7:21the certified letter marked refused, the
169. 7:24text message, don't threaten me, the
170. 7:262022 reserve study, and the trail camera
171. 7:30footage of those dump trucks at
172. 7:31midnight. I watched Lenora's lawyer stop
173. 7:34writing. Then he slowly put down his
174. 7:36pen. Then Priya called Gordon Hartsfield
175. 7:39to the stand. He sweated through his
176. 7:41shirt. Mister Hartsfield, is that you on
177. 7:45camera dumping Phil into the covert? He
178. 7:47looked at his wife, then at the judge.
179. 7:50My wife told me to, he whispered. Lenora
180. 7:53jumped up shouting and the baiff had to
181. 7:55calm her. Priya played one more exhibit.
182. 7:58My phone. Lenora's voice filled the
183. 8:01courtroom. I told Gordon to dump that
184. 8:03fill. That pipe was supposed to fail
185. 8:05slowly so you'd have a pay. Nobody
186. 8:08moved. Lenora covered her face. For the
187. 8:12first time, the woman who never stopped
188. 8:14talking said nothing at all. Judge Puit
189. 8:17took off his glasses. The easement
190. 8:19holders responsible for maintenance and
191. 8:22this board ignored written warnings for
192. 8:2411 months. The HOA will pay the full
193. 8:26cost of rebuilding this road, $186,000.
194. 8:31Mrs. Hartzfield is removed from office,
195. 8:34effective immediately. The gavl came
196. 8:36down once. It didn't stop there. The
197. 8:39judge referred the missing reserve funds
198. 8:42to the state attorney general.
199. 8:43Investigators carried out boxes from the
200. 8:45HOA office that same week. Gordon's
201. 8:48contract was voided and Lenora and her
202. 8:51husband were charged with
203. 8:52misappropriation of funds. Neil Brandt
204. 8:55was elected the new HOA president. 3
205. 8:57months later, a crew poured a new covert
206. 9:00and a brand new road. Neil and I signed
207. 9:02a fair easement agreement with clear
208. 9:05cost sharing and no more secrets. That
209. 9:07cut the ribbon, still holding her
210. 9:09husband's hand. and neighbors who once
211. 9:12avoided my eyes brought pies to my
212. 9:14porch. I never wanted a fight. I only
213. 9:17wanted a safe road and the truth on
214. 9:19paper. Lenora learned the hard way that
215. 9:22you can't ignore warnings, hide the
216. 9:23money, and then blame the one man who
217. 9:25kept the receipts. If you enjoyed this
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