Etc.

After all, I was here first

Rhett Davis says he respects the fact that his neighbors in a new Hooper, Utah, subdivision "spent a lot on their homes." It bothers him, though, that they did so knowing full well that he's a farmer, yet they complain about the flies that buzz around his horses and cows and the dust that's kicked up when he cuts and bales hay for the livestock to eat. But since he's not the sort who wishes to be on bad terms, Davis offered to put up a conventional fence. He'd pay half the cost if the neighbors covered the rest. Ah, but that would block their view, so they turned him down. Exasperated, he decided the only way to deal with the issue was an unconventional fence, which he'd erect at his own expense.

He happens to have three battered old cars, and one day he took a backhoe and dug holes deep enough to push them into, nose down. They remain on end in a row, tail lights high in the air – and directly in the line of sight between his property and the subdivision. "I'm an easygoing guy," he told reporters, while admitting the way he has chosen to make his point "is kind of in-your-face" even though it wasn't done for spite. He just wants recognition of the fact that Hooper – for all its new houses – is still a farming community. And that since he has lived on the land since he was 7, he can do as he likes with it. So far, the neighbors have given him "only dumbfounded looks." But they haven't aired their opinions in the news media. As for how long the cars will remain in place, Davis isn't telling, although he says, "I thought about putting Christmas lights on them."