He is one of those old rich, out of town guys who is retired  from the big city and thinks he wants to try his hand at ranching,  something he really has no clue about!  But he has money so figures that will make him anything he wants to be.  He has already bought up over 600 acres around us!

My dad made the mistake of considering selling our land to him without thinking to talk  it over with me or my mom because he thought he was really getting an awesome price.  Dad signed a little agreement that the jerk made up on some notebook paper and then he gave a Dad a check for 10 percent of the total price  and said he would pay the rest the next day when they would go sign the deed and other legal papers and left.

Needless to say, I was pretty upset when I found out Dad had sold the family property that was my home away from home for the last 25 years.  I was in shock.  I didn’t know what I was gonna do if I didn’t have our place to go to anymore.  Also after reality hit my dad that he had actually sold our place, and the shock of what he thought was a good price wore off, he was already regretting it too!

Two hours later my mom drove down to our property to talk to Dad after I told her what he had done.  She  said she did not want to sell, and that my Dad couldn’t sell without her approval anyway because it is as much her land as it is my Dad’s land.  So Mom and Dad drove over to the jerk’s cabin and gave him back his check (which never left the property)  and told him that we decided not to sell. My dad told him, “I am sorry but my wife and son don’t wanna sell our land.  I didn’t figure they would mind selling it, but they do.

After they got back to our cabin my dad was relieved. He said he had already started feeling sick just looking at the check right after the jerk drove off. He said he just screwed up and did something without thinking about it.  Dad joked about how he has learned one thing – he won’t ever sell our place again because he didn’t realize how much he loved it til he sold it!

We pretty much thought everything was fine, until about a month later. My Dad gets served with papers saying the jerk has filed a lawsuit against my Dad! Mom and Dad had to hire a lawyer and this suit has been going on for almost a year now! It is just a case of someone who has lots of money and thinks they can get anything they want, and in this case he wants our land.  We really can’t believe it has even gotten to this point because the agreement my dad signed is not even a legal document and he gave the down payment back to the jerk two hours later!

Dad’s lawyer was hinting around about having a jury trial! A jury trial over a piece of notebook paper agreement! Dad told him no thanks, this thing has already cost him $2000.00 in lawyer fees and if a judge does not have enough integrity to rule for us in this case then he has been bought off! In the court deposition they had to attend when Dad’s lawyer questioned the jerk about why he wanted our land, and if it had hurt or cost him anything because we decided not to sell.  The jerk  simply answered, “No, I just wanted it to add to my other 600 acres, it’s my little heaven“. He also basically said he does not like my family being down there and wants it all for himself!

He has owned the land by our family’s land for about 4 years now and we actually thought he was a great guy until he pulled this stunt.  At least now I know how he feels about us being down at our own place and believe me, the feelings are now mutual!

We finally have a court date set to go before a judge in Sept, which will be exactly 1 year from the date this whole thing took place.  We find that incredibly ironic.  This thing has been a real nightmare for all of us,  but it has really taken it’s toll on my Dad.  Dad has worried about it and even talked about going ahead and selling and just finding another place somewhere else to buy, but Mom is determined now and says she would not sell to that man if he offered to double his price!  That’s the way I feel about it too.

I am not sure how this will all turn out yet and have started looking for a  hunting lease in the unfortunate event that we lose our land so I will have a place to hunt this year.  I hate thinking negative, but I’m trying to be realistic.  After all, this land has been my family’s “little heaven” for 25 years.