The Rare Bird Review

There's a feud going on in Connecticut between a person of particularly good taste and a total heathen......

WETHERSFIELD -- Sick of staring at the plastic pink flamingos on his next-door neighbor's lawn, Charles Dow (total heathen) erected an 8-foot fence.

His 25-year-old neighbor, Robert Alekson, retaliated by propping up the four flamingos on 9-foot poles, so that the birds could be seen over the fence.

"I guess good fences don't make good neighbors," said Dow, 46.

As neighbor disputes go, the one between Alekson and Dow on Meadow View Drive has dragged on for so long it resembles a geo-political conflict. But through the efforts of a Hartford mediator, neighborhood peace may be dawning and, as a result, the flamingos have taken flight.

Since March of 2003, Dow has filed 15 complaints against Alekson with the police department claiming cars were parked on the wrong side of the street, or parked near a fire hydrant or parked 12 inches from the curb. He claims Alekson throws loud and late-night parties and his party-goers urinate on the lawn. He's even reported Alekson to the building department because Alekson parks his pickup truck with commercial lettering in the driveway, a fine punishable by $88 a day.

Alekson said he won't discuss details of the dispute because he's afraid Dow will sue him.

"I don't know, but as soon as I moved in the cops started coming. I can't comment. I don't want to get sued," said Alekson, a Central Connecticut State University graduate who works as a full-time welder in Meriden.

Alekson said he purchased the property at 43 Meadow View Drive in 2004 for $250,000 from his grandparents when they went to live with relatives. He shares the expenses with one roommate.

On Oct. 29, Dow, who lives at 35 Meadow View Drive, called the police, the town manager and the mayor at home in the middle of the night to complain that people were urinating on the lawn at Alekson's Halloween party. Police made no arrests and found that no town ordinances were violated, according to the police report.

Exasperated town officials called in a mediator from the Hartford Area Mediation Program last week to facilitate a peaceful coexistence between the men.

The neighbors met face to face last Thursday, and a truce appears imminent.

"We did make some progress. I just want to give it a chance. I want to give this a shot," Dow said.

One of the concessions reached is that Dow will not make Alekson cover the lettering on his pickup truck, if Alekson takes down the pink flamingos.

Alekson took down the flamingos on Saturday.

"I want to work things out," Alekson said.

Town Manager Bonnie Therrien said Dow's constant complaints were a drain on town services and resources. The only way to resolve the dispute was to get the men talking, she said.

"At least they are communicating," Therrien said. "These two have never, ever talked to each other."