Wednesday , Octobe r 6 th , 1999
The Tampa Tribune
A blo ck par t y se ems unl i k e l y
10/6 / 9 9 - - 12:29 PM
By DANIEL RUTH
Good gr i e f , the Wye Rive r Accord on a fu t u r e Pal e s t i n i a n s t a t e
repr e s e n t s a pi l l a r of backs l a pp i n g bro th e r ho od when compared to
the year l o n g Carro l l wo od sn i t - f e s t over The Grea t Wal l of Himse l ,
which wi l l soon become Char l i e ' s Fai r l y Pre t t y Nice Wal l .
What began as a s imp l e e f f o r t by Char l i e Himse l to bui l d a wal l
on hi s Saba l Road prope r t y degene r a t e d over the pas t year in t o in
exc e s s of $ 40 , 0 0 0 in expens e s and more rumors , accu s a t i o n s ,
rec r im i na t i o n s and mutua l chara c t e r as s a s s i n a t i o n than a Pabl o
Escobar fami l y reun i on .
And tha t was ju s t when wal l opponen t El i z a b e t h ` `Be t s e y ' ' Hapner
got f i r e d up . The othe r ne i ghbo r s weren ' t too cra z y abou t the
struc tur e ei ther .
Las t Augus t , af t e r f i l i n g a de t a i l e d des i g n c l e a r l y ind i c a t i n g
the s i z e and dimens i o n s of hi s propo s e d wal l , Himse l rec e i v e d a
count y bui l d i n g permi t fo r the pro j e c t . And upon compl e t i o n , the
wal l was in s p e c t e d by count y of f i c i a l s and approv ed .
To be sur e , the wal l i s some th i n g of an acqu i r e d ta s t e . Think of
the Ber l i n Wal l meet s Camelo t .
Never t h e l e s s , the wal l was what Himse l wanted on hi s prope r t y .
And desp i t e the fa c t tha t the th i n g l o oms over the ne i ghbo rho od
as a sor t of poor man ' s Vizc ay a , i t was deemed per f e c t l y l e g a l
and wi th i n zon i ng code s by count y in s p e c t o r s .
But wi th i n weeks of the wal l ' s compl e t i o n , Himse l l e a r n e d - f r om
the same count y of f i c i a l s who f i r s t though t the darned th i n g was
the ca t ' s meow - tha t i t was in fa c t in v i o l a t i o n of more ru l e s
and regu l a t i o n s than Slobodan Milo s e v i c tak i n g the Geneva
Conven t i o n apt i t u d e t e s t .
I t se ems Himse l had run afou l of the Carro l l wo od Civ i c
Assoc i a t i o n , which , by in c r e d i b l e co i n c i d e n c e , has thr e e board
members who happen to l i v e on Saba l Road , in c l u d i n g de f r o c k e d
count y Judge Hapner , who grac i o u s l y vo l un t e e r e d her l e g a l
se r v i c e s to the group to say : ` `Mr . Himse l - t e a r down th i s
wal l ! ' '
At the roo t of the e f f o r t to turn Himse l ' s Wai l i n g Wal l in t o

some th i n g more the s i z e of a spe ed bump was the de f i n i t i o n of
what cons t i t u t e s a f r on t yard .
Sinc e the hous e s i t s at an odd ang l e on a corne r l o t , Himse l
argued the por t i o n of the of f e nd i n g wal l ac tua l l y i s on a s i d e
yard and thu s the wal l cou l d be 6 f e e t in he i gh t . His de t r a c t o r s '
op ined the wal l was rea l l y on a f r on t yard , where on l y a 4- foo t
he i gh t i s permi t t e d .
And cons i d e r i n g Himse l had rec e i v e d a l l the appropr i a t e
permi t t i n g approva l s , i t would se em count y bui l d i n g in s p e c t o r s
agre e d wi th him . Apparen t l y not .
Sinc e November , Himse l has spen t $ 20 , 0 0 0 f i g h t i n g fo r hi s wal l
permi t . At l a s t count hi s cas e f i l e s t r e t c h e d to over 700 page s
of document s , surv e y s and t e s t imony be f o r e var i o u s l and use
hear i n g mast e r s , permi t board and var i o u s and sundry paper
pushe r s .
Monday was hi s l a s t gasp .
Thi s summer , a l and use hear i n g of f i c e r had s i d e d wi th the
Carro l l wo od Civ i c Assoc i a t i o n , ru l i n g Himse l ' s wal l was inde ed on
hi s f r on t yard and thu s shou l d be reduc ed . I f the Land Use
Appea l s Board uphe l d the hear i n g of f i c e r ' s dec i s i o n , Himse l cou l d
have been fo r c e d to t e a r down hi s wal l and fa c e f i n e s and
pena l t i e s l e v i e d aga i n s t him over the pas t year .
Throughou t the backwat e r s of gove rnment noth i n g i s perhap s more
s t u l t i f y i n g , more coma - induc i n g than a Land Use Appea l s Board
meet i n g - unl e s s , of cour s e , i t ' s your l and , your appea l .
The deaden i n g boredom notw i t h s t a n d i n g , Himse l ' s hear i n g be f o r e
the appea l s board and i t s cha i rman , Bruce Curry , was a t e r r i f i c
pr imer on how gove rnment ough t to work fo r c i t i z e n s .
For thr e e hour s the ( unpa i d ) board though t f u l l y l i s t e n e d to
Himse l and Hapner . Nobody grands t a nd ed . The di s c u s s i o n be tween
board members was open - minded and cons i d e r a t e . I f you l i s t e n e d
rea l c l o s e - democrac y was be i ng commit t e d .
In the end , the board over r u l e d the hear i n g of f i c e r ' s
rec ommendat i o n . And a l t h ough Himse l cou l d keep hi s wal l , he
agre e d wi th Curry to make cer t a i n modi f i c a t i o n s to make hi s
ne i ghbor s happy , the same modi f i c a t i o n s he had of f e r e d back in
May , at l e a s t $ 10 , 0 0 0 ago .
However , re s t o r i n g f r i e n d l i e r re l a t i o n s be tween Himse l and hi s
ne i ghbor s may requ i r e bui l d i n g a mass i v e br i dg e of t ru s t tha t
makes hi s wal l l ook l i k e a Bob ' s barr i c a d e .