Between A Rock And A Hard Place

An Afghan Vet Needed Simple Help And Found None

 

A 30-year old Afghan veteran recently moved into Oakland, New Jersey. Two years earlier he had lived in Western North Carolina, struggling to find a full time job while rooming in a storage area above a weekly newspaper. He paid for his rent by delivering the pub's issues once a week to its subscribers located in the mountains.

Days, Nights, & Years - On TuneCore

While living there he volunteered at a youth ministry that cooked food and provided a place for locals that was drug free and where they could feel safe. He also was self-taught on guitar and played around at open sessions in local clubs for entertainment, his having none at his rental.

Years earlier he had volunteered to serve in the Marines, graduating from Parris Island where not many other American males chose to attend.

He was later assigned to serve in Afghanistan, making friends with the Afghan Freedom Fighters and being taught some of their language. He also attended a small Bible study formed by an Army officer that assisted the Marines in communications.

A few of his bros, most kicked out of the service later, where upset with his being friends with the freedom fighters, calling him names and stealing property out of his tent. When back in the states, he found himself beat up by the same tight group, his face pushed into a toilet breaking his nose. If interested, you can read the rest of his story here.

While in North Carolina, getting counseling by the state from his beatings in the Marines, he was diagnosed with PTSD. Since moving to New Jersey, Wound Warrior has provided him with a crisis counselor he can talk with at any time.

With his new home in Oakland, living with his girlfriend, everything had settled down. He achieved a full year of employment at a national chain, stocking shelves at night. He also recently obtained a second job where he could work from 3 to 10 P.M. This allowed him to sleep before going back to his night job, where the shift had changed to start from 10 P.M. to 4 A.M. When at 10 P.M., he and his girlfriend were able to share a single automobile.

While the new hours required by his main employment forced him to invest in another car, one car no longer an option, the hours unexpectedly allowed him the window to earn extra dollars in a second job.

That caused a problem living at his current residence in Oakland, the landlord not happy the veteran was parking an extra car. This attitude seemed strange for a landlord that was renting to two separate families in Northern New Jersey where a car is necessary for working adults trying to survive in a slow economy, the rental property not serviced by municipal transportation.

To solve the parking problem, he had moved a rock so it wouldn't damage the underside of his car if accidentally run over when trying to back into the small available area at the side of the road. He also cut off a few branches of a forsythia bush, hoping they wouldn't scratch his car as he tried to get off the road as far as possible. As you can see from the photos below, he and his girlfriend were forced to park their cars in a row on the front property of where they rented.

A neighbor then complained to the landlord that the veteran had moved a rock, which the neighbor claimed defined his property line. As anyone knows, a moveable rock would not be accepted by New Jersey as proof of a property line.

The landlord then told the veteran to park his car across the street. However the Oakland police said he could not park across the street. Since their two cars had their wheels barely on the road, unable to park in the driveway provided to another tenant, the veteran was told by the landlord he could no longer park in the front of the property. He would therefore have to park across the street. By having to do this, he was forced to call the police every night that the car would be there so he wouldn't get a ticket.

The landlord, upset her neighbor was angry over the moving of a rock, suddenly challenged the veteran to inspect his rental apartment within 24 hours, telling him she wished she had never rented the apartment.

The veteran went to the police to try get a form he could fill out with the state to protect his renter's rights. Up to this point there had been no previous problems with the landlord until the rock was moved.

But the police had already had a call from the landlord, and would not cooperate, the veteran feeling he was being discriminated against over the moving of a rock (see photos below.) He then went to the town's mayor to ask for help in getting the correct form, but was refused, the mayor busy with other work.

We talked with the veteran and advised him to return the rock to its place and try to get the landlord settled down. The last thing he needed was to have the city of Oakland, NJ, come down on him, believing a tax paying landowner had more civil rights than a renter.

The veteran now has to call the police every evening to advise them his two tires might be sitting on the edge of the road up to 3 a.m. Again, with his working two jobs and not allowing the pressure to bother his PTSD, we think he's handling himself very well. His simple goal was to only be able to park his car near where he lives so he can get to his jobs without enduring expensive tickets from police while he slept at night.

That's where this was as of April 6th, 2014. You judge for yourself by the photos below, a small American city all bent out of shape . . . over a rock.

 

Where stone was located (photoshopped.)

 

Stone move so car would not be damaged, parking

 

Where stone was moved to

 

Other renter's driveway at rental property

Veteran's front parking (note the non-lawn)

 

Veteran's front parking (from across street)

 

Look how rock neighbor (landowner) parks

 

Even another landowner's tires are on road

 

 

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