Dear Editor,

I am confused. There are so many people who move from the city to the country to enjoy the country life that is quiet, safe and friendly, but when they get there, then they complain about the country folk and their ways.

They buy property in the country that is lower cost and build their fancy subdivisions then they complain about their country neighbors.

The country folks have vegetable gardens that aren&8217;t neat, they have animals that smell, home places with equipment and buildings that have been there for years that the city folk don&8217;t like to look at, cars that aren&8217;t running right now and on and on.

Wasn&8217;t all of these things there before you bought the property and built your fancy new house next to it? Why didn&8217;t you buy somewhere else which didn&8217;t have these things that you now don&8217;t like and are calling the police or inspectors to force the country folk to fix places up now or else lose their property?

My family has been on our land for more than 50 years and a fancy subdivision was built about 13 years ago, and now someone has called a county inspector to get us to &8220;clean up&8221; the old home place.

The old home place hasn&8217;t been changed at all in 30 years or more! Now, you want to force an 86-year-old man and his 66-year-old daughter (who are on fixed incomes just trying to live their life in peace) to now come up with hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to &8220;clean up&8221; what you now find &8220;unacceptable.&8221;

It was fine when you built or bought your house next door, but now it isn&8217;t? Why don&8217;t you move back to the city and put up with the crime and rules of the city and leave our quiet, friendly and safe country area in peace.

You don&8217;t care that you are putting unnecessary stress and fear in people who have struggled their whole lives to live on their property, to farm, to raise their families, pay their taxes and to die in peace and at a time when they aren&8217;t able to deal with this.

We didn&8217;t move into your city &8212; you moved into our country. You have no right to force your city standards on us. We don&8217;t force our standards on you &8212; we leave you alone to live in peace.

Someone who had struggled for years owned the property that your fancy house probably sits on right now, and you wouldn&8217;t have been able to enjoy &8220;country&8221; life if it wasn&8217;t for plain, old, honest and hard-working country folk like us.

Frances Owens

Pelham/b