Newman Lake Residents Object To ‘Junkyard’ Neighbors Say Debris Pile A Messy Eore
When Marilyn Afana bought a run-down Honeymoon Bay cabin last spring, her new neighbors didn’t give it a second thought.
But the tiny Newman Lake community has been in an uproar since last summer, when Afana and her sons tore down the old cabin, leaving piles of debris in its place, and set up a messy camp in a parking area below their hillside lot.
A small, gray-walled shack topped with a blue plastic tarp, piles of trash and a junk car fill Afana’s parking lot.
The upper lot at 11718 N. Honeymoon Bay Road is covered by empty soda cans, crumpled pieces of metal roofing, strips of tattered insulation, old appliances, worn furniture, broken glass, snow and rain-soaked cardboard boxes, clothes and an old box springs cover. Neighbors complain that the mess spills onto adjacent property.
“It’s a junkyard,” said a neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous because he said he is afraid of Afana’s grown sons.
Both sides acknowledged that a zoning complaint filed against Afana more than two months ago has snowballed into verbal and physical confrontations, though they disagree over who has started them.
A judge ordered Afana’s sons, Mike and Matt, to stay away from another neighbor after the woman reported to sheriff’s deputies that they had threatened to hit her with a baseball bat.
Another neighbor said one of Afana’s sons threatened him with a gun, but he did not report the incident to authorities.
Mike Afana, who said he does not own a gun, denied the allegations and said he has been the one victimized. The 22-year-old said he has been threatened with a knife and suspects a neighbor of slashing his tires.
“I’d rather talk it out,” Mike Afana said. “Fighting and arguing is the last thing on my mind.”
After the zoning complaint was filed in November, the county ordered Afana to clean up the mess.
Mike Afana said his family is doing the best it can to clean up the property and build a new cabin in a timely manner.
A lack of money and time have slowed the work, he said. All three work full-time jobs, leaving only weekends free to tidy up the property and rebuild the cabin, which they hope to finish this spring.
“It’s taking us time,” Mike Afana said. “We’re not rich.”
Allen deLaubenfels, county zoning inspector, said the Afanas have removed some junk cars from the property. DeLaubenfels said he is satisfied with the progress they have made since being ordered to clean up the mess.
However, neighbors are not impressed. The property remains an eyesore, they said.
Neighbors also don’t want the Afanas living in the 10-by-12-foot shack, which has no running water, while they build a new cabin.
“I understand everyone has a right to live somewhere, yet I don’t see why three adults - that seem to be capable of working - can’t go out and rent a place to live until they can fix their place,” said neighbor Neil Thompson.
Mike Afana admits he stays in the shack periodically to protect tools stored inside. But he said his mother and brother live elsewhere.
“Until I have it under lock and key, somebody will be there,” he said.
Despite the steps taken by the Afanas and deLaubenfels’ reassurance that the problem will be solved, neighbors remain skeptical.
“We don’t believe it’s going to get any better,” Thompson said.
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