A Story in the Local News to Illustrate My Case

The local news has been following the murder trail of a John Kenney, of Carmel Valley, who shot his neighbors over a property dispute. It is the apex of the downward spiral of upscale white folks.

The facts of the case are that in 1999, Kenney bought property next door to the home of Mel and Elizabeth Grimes, presumable he built a house or there was already a home on the land. In 2005, the Grimes built an artist’s studio and carport without permits from the county (illegal) and this forced them to cross a small portion of Kenney’s land. (It would later be discovered that the disputed land was a public easement.) This lead to a deterioration of relations between the two parties which lead to a physical altercation between Elizabeth Grimes and Kenny in June, 2005 that sent him to the hospital. Both parties then sought restraining orders against each other. A year later, Kenney files a $1 million dollar lawsuit against the Grimes over the altercation claiming injury and emotional distress. On January 29th, 2007, Kenney orders a 1-ton boulder and has it placed on the disputed spot of land which then partially blocked the Grimes carport. Later that evening Mel Grimes went out with a sledge hammer to begin hacking away at the boulder and his wife called 911. Kenney went down to confront Grimes and at some point (so says his defense lawyer) Grimes threatened Kenney with the sledge hammer at which time Kenney pulled a .45 out of his waistband and shots Grimes. Elizabeth Grimes runs outside and begins to attack Kenney while he is on his cell phone talking to a 911 operator. Kenney then shoots Elizabeth Grimes and then shoots Mel Grimes one more time and then fires a second shot into Elizabeth. His hands are shaking so badly that he accidentally discharges a round as he attempts to safety the weapon. The Sheriffs deputies arrive and arrest Kenney. He pleads not guilty and we’ve sat through two long trials since then.

The Jury is still out.

This is typical of Carmel and Carmel Valley in the early 21st Century. You have the Grimes, Mel being a defense attorney and his wife living out – way the hell out – in Carmel Valley so that they can have a large home for a relatively reasonable amount of money. Then you have Kenney, a former chemist for a construction company move in next door presumably for the same reason. No problem, everyone’s entitles to live where they please. Then you have the Grimes build a carport and artist studio without permits. The permit process is in place so that your neighbors have a chance to speak about any concerns they may have about what you might do to your property and see blue-prints and so on. In the process one might have to revise plans based on negative feedback but the permit process is in place to head off disputes that can lead to ugliness. The fact that Grimes was a lawyer makes this move inexcusable, I cannot speak to his motives but it is my opinion that he figured that if the County caught him in his misdeed that he’d pay a fine and schmooze his way out of it. He didn’t account for his neighbor.


He did not account for his neighbor.

So they essentially illegally expand their house. It angers their neighbor, Kenney, who complains to Monterey County but Grimes gums up the works with legal tricks and nothing is done about the illegal modifications to the home. I assume that there are some ugly events in between the construction and the shooting that have not been mentioned but at some point Kenney suspects his neighbors of dumping trash on his front yard so one day he decides to sit in his car with a camera and try and catch them in the act. Elizabeth Grimes sees Kenney in the car with the camera and storms the car and yanks the camera from around Kenney’s neck and then whacks him with it. That’s when the restraining orders were filed.

So you can keep score, Elizabeth Grimes attacks an old man and sends him to the hospital.

A few weeks later Kenney is at church attending a meeting when Elizabeth storms in and starts yelling about how Kenney is no Christian and she had to be forcibly removed from the church. So Kenney definitely feels physically threatened by the Grimes and abandoned by the Sheriffs department.

To further keep score, you have an attorney and his wife illegally put an addition to their home which upsets their elderly neighbor and they respond by throwing trash on his lawn and assaulting him. They had no problem using their position in society to break the law and terrorize an old man because he dared to speak up against their unlawful act.

Not only did following the law not cross their minds, they could care less about how their neighbor felt. The idea of sitting down and talking like adults never entered their minds and compromise was out of the question. Kenney felt helpless but he too would not back down and bought a gun.

All over ten square feet of land that belonged to neither of them.

That is where we are at today. I want things my way and everyone else can fuck off. I was here first, you can move away! I’m a lawyer and I can cheat the laws of the state to get my way. My neighbor is shit out of luck. In Carmel there was no postal delivery for almost 70 years and everyone was content to get their mail at the post office. Then some idiot who spent $1.7 million more than he needed to on a house on San Antonia street decided that he was too important to play along and demanded mail deliver to his home. Soon other rich idiots joined in so that today there is sporadic mail delivery in Carmel which has spoiled a really nice town. They are giant four-year olds with money.

They need a good spanking.

Next time: What ever happened to being the bigger man?