No trespassing!

Two new threatening signs were just posted on a corner lot just up the road from my house. I estimate these signs to be about 9x12 inches, and were nailed to the tree about ten feet up from the ground. Some of the print is on the small side, so I had to walk on to the property to read and take a picture of the posting. I quickly found out I was not welcome to do so!

In the past, a simple “No Trespassing” sign was attached to one tree. Even before that, there was a smaller sign indicating that the property was protected by a Colt 45.

Now this is an undeveloped corner lot in our neighborhood. Much of the underbrush has been cleared leaving only a sparse stand of tell scrub pine trees. I walk my dog past this lot twice a day and sometimes at night. I have never, ever seen a person on this property. Once in a while I pick up a stray can or drink cup, so no one is dumping trash there. The briars and brush that have regrown beneath the trees makes it harder to cut the corner rather than just walking on the street. It is also a school bus stop. Once in a while the kids will play hide and seek while waiting for the bus, but their are parents waiting there, too, keeping an eye on them.

So why the threatening sign? Why invoke Florida law and the sheriff to secure this empty corner lot? I wonder if the sheriff even knows his name is even on this sign. Anyone could make a sign like that and nail it to a tree. The posted phone number belongs to the homeowner on the adjacent corner lot. What is he worried about? Or pissed off about? What’s really going on back there in the woods?

Years ago, when there were more vacant lots than homes, the neighborhood children would run and play in the woods, building forts and creating bicycle trails. There aren’t too many wooded lots left and there aren’t too many unsupervised kids running around, either. I’m thankful that the folks in our neighborhood know each other and keep a close eye on each others’ homes. Surely the sheriff and deputies have more important things to do than keep this empty lot…empty.