The Mailbox

Oh, if I only had a picture....

The Medunas moved to Morrill County, the very end of December, 2006. All neighbors gave them a fighting chance to be good neighbors. (without fighting) They were invited to brandings, and whatever neighborhood 'thing' we had. Although we're all so busy with our cattle and kids, there usually isn't too much else that goes on out here.

When Jason was building his grand entrance; the 'old school' rough-cut lumber what-ever-you-want-to-call-it 'foyer' onto 3-Strikes Ranch - we might drive by and notice him 'creating', so we'd stop to say 'hi'. I stopped one day while checking cows (he has to go thru our pasture to get to his entrance - and this was when he first moved here). He talked about having a hassle with the post office. At the present time, he had to get his mail over by Grover's.

Road lesson 101: There is a county road that goes from Alliance, NE - south to Broadwater, NE. We call it the 'Broadwater Road'. When you go from Alliance to our house, you travel on it about 7 miles south of Alliance, that is where Grover lives. Then you drive east; 4 1/2 miles to our house, 3 to Justin's, or about 2 1/2 to the former 3 Strikes. Our mailboxes are by our homes, but 'his' is over by Grovers. Has been for years. So I was actually contacting the post office guy, seeing if we couldn't get the mailbox moved to his turn-off. My point was to the post office, 'our mailboxes are at our house, and at Gilroy's; to the mail person has to come this way anyway, why not let his box be at his house?'

The road going to the left, takes you to our place and to Gilroys (which is the main road). The road you see in the center of the picture, is the turn-off that leads to the former 3 Strikes. (Now it's, 'You're Out').... The little 'Y' in the grass to the left, is where Jason wanted (and did) put his mailbox - which is on our property....but why would that be different that filming on our land and leading people to believe it was his????

Jason put the mailbox at the turn, these are our tracks going back and forth to feed birds.

When Jason and I were discussing the mailbox, I told him I didn't think that would work because when the road grader comes down the road, he is going to wipe it out. Also, when we have cattle in that pasture, they will knock it down - and we don't want any extra stuff (OK, "JUNK") in our pastures. I mentioned to Jason that he could enlarge his entrance-way so the mail person could go onto his property, deliver the mail, then turn around and drive out. It had to be accessible to them from their auto, or they do not have to deliver.

Well, one day while putting out salt and mineral in the pasture, I noticed he had already put up his 'mailbox' on our land. This is what I wish I had a picture of. I called Don on our radio.....it went something like this:

Vic, "Don, Jason has the mailbox put up where the turn is to his place." Don, "It's on our land?" Vic, "Yes, but I don't think it's going to last long, he doesn't have it staked down at all, he's got a bunch of rocks around the bottom of it to hold it up, I guess." Don, "Well, I hate to say this, but you're going to have to go tell him he's going to have to move it. It can't be there..." Vic, "You should see it, he has an old oil lamp hanging off of it, and a bunch of big, faded plastic flowers hanging on it! Wait....you don't have to worry about it, the wind just blew it over."

So that was the mailbox. Now, on August 5th of this year, Jason and Anissa Meduna take me to court to say I'm HARASSING them! They have many points they are trying to nab me with, which I'll get to later, but one of the points was the mailbox!

Courtroom: Mudna, (questioning me - oh yes, he had no lawyer, he represented himself), "What about the mailbox?..." I started to answer. My lawyer objects. I think the judge wanted to hear what I'd have to say..... The judge asks Mudna, 'What does this have to do with harassment?' Mudna, 'Intimidation, your Honor'. Judge, 'Alright, you may answer the question.' So I looked at Mudna and said, 'You must not remember this Jason, but I called the Post Office, trying to get them to move your mailbox closer to your house.' Then I looked at the Judge, and said, 'You see, your Honor, when they moved in, their mailbox is over by Thompson's at the Broadwater Road. That is what we call the main road. He has to travel about 3 miles to get his mail. I called the post office trying to have them move his mailbox closer to his house, onto his property so they don't have to go clear over there to get it. All of our mailboxes are by our houses.' The judge looked at Mudna and said, 'I guess that takes care of the mailbox.'

Mudna tried to speak, but the judge cut him off and said, 'I said, that takes care of the mailbox. Do you have any further questions?'

So there you have it, but not a picture of it. Darn it anyway.