POOP PUMPING

Country living is great, but not always.  We built a house in 1977 adjacent to a farm.  Really like the location, but after a few years the farmer decided to supplement his income with a septic cleaning service. 

He started to pump York County septic tanks and dump poop on the field directly behind our back yard.  You could argue that it was his land and he should be able to do what he wants. 

However, there is a law that says when the poop is dumped, it needs to either be treated or tilled under.  He did neither, which caused a problem for his neighbor. That would be us.  Every time he would dump the poop it seemed the entire world's fly population would descend onto his field and the adjacent house in Dover, PA. (that would be our house)  It got so bad we practically didn't need window blinds, since the flies blocked the outside light.  And the smell?  It was worse than the parking lot at San Carlos. 

We contacted the Department of Environmental Resources and they came to our house  with cameras to record the farmer breaking the law. My wife gave them meals so they would stay long enough to record the farmer in action.  She was desperate to have this nightmare end.  A few weeks later, she was served a subpoena and ended up testifying in court . 

Turned out this guy was a turd (pun intended) and had a long history of breaking the law.  Because of this, the first judge wouldn't even hear the case.  Judge Cassimatis heard the case and leveled a fine against the farmer and told him the DER would begin to regularly monitor the field. The farmer eventually moved to another location about 4 miles away and continued to pump his poop.    

For us, no more flies, no more smell.  Life was good.