Trouble on the Hill

The feud between John Kenney and his neighbors, Mel and Elizabeth Grimes, had reached a boiling point.  Now, there had been a physical altercation. Kenney went to the hospital after the camera strap tussle. Hospital records indicate he suffered a cervical strain, a concussion and a contusion to his forehead. He was given a soft cervical collar for comfort. He went to church the next day. Parishioners said they noticed a visible difference.

Kim Williams: He showed up with a neck brace and a cane.  And his-- gait was definitely different.  About how he was able to walk.  He was more hesitant in his speech, even.  And I think quite traumatized by the whole incident.

Christine Williams: We were concerned, and asked what happened. He said, "Well, Elizabeth reached into my car, and grabbed my camera, which had a strap on it, and pulled it-- against my neck, and hit-- you know, pulled me into the car.  And, you know, assaulted-- assaulted me."

Church friends urged him to go back to the hospital. In addition to the concussion, he was now also diagnosed with signs of post traumatic stress disorder. The Grimes had their own story of what happened.  Elizabeth said it was Kenney who lunged at her from inside his car, causing her to trip and become entangled with his camera strap. Each side took out a restraining order on the other.

Two days later -- much to Kenney's surprise and humiliation -- Elizabeth showed up at his weekly men's bible class at the church, and aired - for everyone to hear - the dirty laundry. Asked Kenney's fellow churchmen to pray for them. Kenney was mortified. And Elizabeth's son saw his mother change.

Tom Ellington-Wills: I remember, growing up, my mom was always like, "Have faith in people.  Trust people.  Love people.  People are good.  You know, the world is great."

And now, what did she say?

Tom Ellington-Wills: "Don't trust people, son.  People are mean.  People are out to get you."  You know, just-- it-- it was a whole different outlook on life.

John Kenney was also a changed man. Soon after the church incident, his daughters went to spend the summer with him. He asked them not to talk to the grimes but he wouldn't say why. They asked about his neck brace.   He said he fell in his garden.

Keith Morrison: So, what was he like, then?

Segolene Kenney: He was not talkative.  He was--

Keith Morrison: Not his usual funny, happy, self?

Segolene Kenney: No.  No.  No.  He was-- tired, even I-- I would say exhausted. He was anxious. Yeah, he was scared.

Meanwhile, her father's nemesis, Mel Grimes, had his own reasons to be afraid, quite apart from the dispute with John Kenney. Suddenly, the marathon runner encountered serious heart trouble.

Tom Ellington-Wills: It kinda just hit him like a freight train one day.  He would walk up the staircase in the house and just like, his heartbeat just became real irregular.

Operations followed.  He stopped running. His doctors told him, avoid stress. Instead, the neighbors escalated their feud.  They went public at a meeting of the Monterey County planning commission. Dueling statements.  Mel Grimes went first.

Mel Grimes: The one thing that I do regret more than anything else is the trauma that it has caused my wife over the last two years to go through this. She's had periods of time where she's simply vomited, cried, couldn't sleep.

John Kenney: None of us and none of you either would tolerate a neighbor building something or trashing something or doing anything which damaged the value of your own property and the enjoyment of your own property.

Wars between countries or neighbors have their own escalating grammar and such was the case here, through one issue after another as it got worse and worse and worse. And the old engineer Mr. Kenney would look out of his window there across the hillside and see what he considered to be the dogpatch development of his neighbor, the lawyer, Mr. Grimes. And the grimes for their part looked back at Kenney's house and saw an inflexible and angry old man. But conflicts like this eventually have to settle on something concrete, something tangible and so the war between the neighbors focused on one little piece of ground right there just at the edge of the pavement. A piece of land no bigger than a surfboard really. And that was the stage for the battle to come.

John Kenney, remember, tried to grow a garden on that patch of dirt - as a way to block use of it to get to their carport. And that didn't work. So now he turned to lawyers.

The best and cheapest option, Kenney's attorneys advised, was to place a rock, a very large rock on that little strip in front of the carport. Kenney prepared.  He hired a security consultant, the Monterey County sheriff agreed to stand by when the rock was put in place. Then, a pause. 

In October 2006, a family emergency sent Kenney back to France. He spent the holidays there with his wife and daughters.

Keith Morrison: What was he like that-- at that time?

Segolene Kenney: The same he was in Carmel.

Keith Morrison: He-- he was nervous, anxious, not very happy?

Segolene Kenney: Not nervous.  Scared of something.

Keith Morrison: Scared?

Segolene Kenney: Yeah.  He didn't want to go back.

The grimes were away too, that season.

Tom Ellington-Wills: They were out of town, exactly.  They were in Hawaii. 

So, for once, peace on that troubled hillside. And then, January, 2007.  Kenny, back from France.  The grimes back from hawaii. The climax.

Elizabeth Grimes:  Get off -- He's got a gun.

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