I’m done with Maryland and here’s why

 Al Ritter

This is NOT the Maryland of my youth or even three generations of my family who lived here before me. The increasing leftist political climate that surrounds me is sickening, and actually taking a toll on my physical health.

Baltimore City, Prince Georges County and Montgomery County have always been the Mecca for liberalism, but they only represent 3 of the 23 counties in Maryland, and yet their far leftist agenda bleeds like a disease to the other 20. Even though the other 20 aren’t declared “sanctuary cities” there is a silent code that the whole state is.

I live in my ancestral home of close to 90 years and the neighborhood was a close knit group of friends back in the day. Everyone was there for everyone else, but in the early 90’s the leftist elites started buying up properties in the area. What was once a thriving farm/rural area has now been replaced by upwardly mobile snobby elites.

My family sold a tract of 23 acres to a great family friend in the 80’s and he built a magnificent home, his property was meticulously groomed. It made our family so happy to see the massive improvement. Like all good things nothing lasts forever, he succumbed to cancer in the late 2010 era. His wife tried for a few years to maintain the property but as she aged it became too much and she sold the property in 2020.Sadly now the property has become a rundown version of what it used to be. If I have to be brutally honest it a Sh*thole property in a Sh*thole county that is rapidly circling the drain.

Just days before settlement the purchaser told her that he wouldn’t pay the agreed upon price and offered her $250K less, and if she didn’t like it she could sue him. Flustered she entered into negotiations to salvage the sale. The final agreement was $100K less than the original agreed price. When an associate later asked him why he did that he claimed, “Its nothing personal, just good business.”

His property line borders mine for over 1/8 mile and was separated by a cattle fence that was in disrepair. 

Three weeks into his purchase he and his family were seen on multiple occasions not only walking the property line but also onto my property. I had replaced my driveway due to flooding in the 2018 rainy year. Along with that I had to replace two culverts that went under the driveway.  A week after replacing the driveway this neighbor drove his 60 HP tractor onto my property gouging holes not only in my lawn but a 3 inch deep gash into my new driveway.

I called the Police to report the Criminal Trespass, the officer told me that everyone is entitled to a first warning and that I needed to post no trespassing signs even though he ran one over during his tractor incident. I sent him a registered letter that any trespass would no longer be allowed and prosecution would follow if it continued.

After a few months he admitted he was wrong in what he did, and that the property had become too much for him to maintain on his own and he was hiring someone to help. He informed me that he was trying to find someone from south of the border. I asked what that meant and he said, “I’ll never hire anyone legally in this country” he said so with a crooked smile. Enter Alejandro, a very likeable young guy who tried to converse with me but he didn’t speak English. I got an English /Spanish app for my phone and we could converse that way. Alejandro was by himself and the neighbor allowed him to stay in the art studio above the garage. In the fall of that year Alejandro returned to his native country, never to be seen again.

This corresponded with Biden’s inauguration and also his open border policy.

The influx gave the neighbor a wide choice of applicants, he chose Jorge to take care of his property. Not only did Jorge come but also his family including a small infant. The studio that was offered for their lodging was never intended for full time habitation. The unit has no heat, kitchen or other amenities.

It was along this time line that he started to inform me what things I could and couldn’t do on my own property. This was the point in time that I started to back away from this person who was rapidly turning toxic. He started with a Ring Camera surveillance system that announced every time I walked my dog around the perimeter of my property “STOP YOU ARE CURRENTLY BEING RECORDED.” The first time I heard it I laughed and blew it off. Seconds later the neighbor texted me and asked why I was on his property, to which I replied I’m not on your property but he refused to back down. He claimed my dog had crossed the fence line and was on his property. I was walking my dog 30 feet from the fence line on a 12 foot leash which made his claim false. He refused to offer proof so I called him a liar.

I had been removing parts of my fence for years before he moved in and only about 140 feet remained. He tried to remove a fallen tree which destroyed my remaining fence by 75 feet (yet another criminal trespass)

Soon after he hired a lawyer to harass me usually 2 to 3 times a month threatening to sue me. I had observed multiple county code violations on his property but said nothing until he filed two code violations against me which were totally dismissed. After they were dismissed I filed a total of 9 code violations against him 7 of which he was cited for.

One of the violations was for a family living in his garage in substandard conditions. Another was the installation of a “Kill Trailer” to slaughter his cattle that was 100 feet from my property line. Code enforcement inspected and cited him for both. He removed the kill trailer and then asked for an additional 30 days to find other accommodations for the migrant family. That 30 days morphed into 90 and finally the inspector came back to re-inspect. The neighbor had moved all the migrant’s belonging out for the re-inspection. Once satisfied the Code inspector said “No Violation” and days later the neighbor moved the migrants back into the garage unit.

He then installed 343 feet of stockade fencing and during the fencing install he instructed Jorge to throw stones on my side of the fence to cause a makeshift dam on my side to recontour the designated riverine flow basin (yet another criminal trespass)

The neighbor viscously retaliated and filed an Ex-parte Peace Order against me, making false claims that I threatened him and his family. The Peace Order was to expire after 6 months but by this time other neighbors were making complaints about the migrants in the garage. He claimed that my complaints to code enforcement were harassment even when he was cited in those complaints. He fraudulently claimed that I had made another complaint when I hadn’t and his attorney took me once again to court of contempt of court charges a mere 5 days before the order expired which were subsequently dismissed.

This leads me to my beef with the County Code Enforcement Department headed by Adam Whitlock and Inspector 79. One of my neighbors involved the County Rental registration unit for a violation of this property, and yet another neighbor made another complaint that the migrant family had moved back in after the initial re-inspection. The Rental Unit investigation resulted in a hearing to which the neighbor never showed and as a result was fined $1000. Sadly the department never followed up on re-inspection and the whole issue was dropped. The inspection for the unit once again was denied by the neighbor claiming that the inspection could only be done by appointment (which was scheduled a few days later allowing him to move the family out once again.)

Fast forward to present day, remodeling is being done to the lower floor of the garage to give the migrants additional space for living. Baltimore County has granted the permits even though a “change of use” permit was never applied for with the county which would be required to use this building as livable quarters. It seems that an occupancy permit isn’t required in Baltimore County, which seems shocking to me.

This is the classic example of one hand of the government does know what the other hand is doing. The permit inspection will be viewing the entire project with blinders on. They will inspect the plumbing and electrical and yet never question what the remodeled space is being used for.

This is a total side bar to the violation of unrelated people living on the same deeded property which is also against code.

To this day the migrant family is living in the garage illegally and Baltimore County won’t do a thing to rectify it. The four neighbors willing to testify in court as to the violations are ignored and the multi-millionaire neighbor is allowed to violate and thumb his nose at the code and law.

I'm done with Maryland and their counties they are other grossly negligent or in on the take, pick the poison that you may. If Maryland sides with violators rather than with victims I'm done!

#Johnny O #Wes Moore #ScottShellenberger

Update: I emailed this very letter to Baltimore County Attorney General Scott Shellenberger 8 days ago with my phone number attached as of August 1, 2024 he hasn't replied.