Pass the Peace: Feuding Neighbors to Hold Potlucks
Florida judge issues unusual verdict after feud turns violent.
July 27, 2010— -- A Florida judge has ordered neighbors to hold monthly potluck dinners in an attempt to improve their relationships and end a long-running feud that turned violent earlier this year.
Given the history between these two neighbors, the supposed-to-be peaceful potlucks may turn into dinners reminiscent of a Three Stooges pie fight, or worse.
"I know if I have to go I will have a police escort," neighbor Julie Penland told ABCNews.com.
Last January, Tony Alli and Jose Linares of Caron Road in Tampa began throwing punches - not pies - as the conflict reached a boiling point.
Linares had complained for years that Alli played his music so loud it was disruptive, and Linares repeatedly called police on his neighbor. Finally, one night last winter, Linares confronted Alli, and a fight broke out.
When it was over, Linares was face down in a puddle, and Alli was charged with first-degree battery, a misdemeanor.
A jury found Alli guilty and Judge Paul Huey of the Hillsborough County Circuit Court sentenced him to 6 months probation, 50 hours of community service, and half a year of neighborhood get-togethers.
Before handing down the unusual sentence, Huey made a Biblical reference. The ten plus minute speech he gave is available on the St. Petersburg Times' website, courtesy of the Hillsborough County Criminal Court.
"Love your neighbor as yourself," Huey said. "Jesus said that a long time ago."
In a speech that sounded like a cross between a sermon and a father scolding his children, Huey described the feud as both "unbelievable" and "comical." Those words might also be applied to the final portion of the sentence, which requires Alli to organize a neighborhood get together each month of his 6 month probation.
"I can't make you like each other, you know. I wish I could," the judge said.
"I want you all to get together once a month, and you can do it however you want. Once a month, at a different house, you have a get-together...and just whatever, have a potluck, just do something," he said.
"And who knows? Maybe we'll have a little United Nations, maybe we'll start a better little part of the world in one place."
The feud appears to have started almost 10 years ago when Linares called in a complaint about Alli's septic tank, which had burst and was close to the border of their properties. As a result of that phone call, Alli was forced to fix the tank. But the county also discovered that Linares had installed his well in the wrong location, and told him he had to move it. Another neighbor, Julie Penland, said Alli never paid to clean up the waste left on Linares' property.
"There really wasn't anything friendly after that." Mina Morgan, Alli's attorney, told ABCNews.com.
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