Neighbor Jailed Over Junk Judge Orders Man Held Until His Yard Is Cleaned Up

He has dumped dozens of rundown cars on his property.

He has left piles of scrap metal, tires and broken-down trailers in his yard. He has built an enormous fence made of mobile home siding.

Now, a judge has ordered Alden Arveson locked behind bars until he cleans up his personal junkyard.

Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies arrested Arveson Friday after the Hayden man spent more than a week hiding out from the law.

“Everybody is just tired of it,” said Kootenai County attorney Dennis Molenaar. “The county has spent hundreds and hundreds of hours trying to get this man to comply. He has just abused the system.”

It is a conflict that pits personal property rights against county laws - neighbor against neighbor.

County authorities say arresting Arveson was the last resort after years of coaxing and coddling the man to remove an illegal junkyard from a residential neighborhood.

But Arveson says his neighbors and the government officials are busybodies, violating his right to do what he pleases on his own property.

He compares his situation with that of Randy Weaver’s standoff at Ruby Ridge.

“It’s just a crying shame that an honest hard-working person is being dictated by planning and zoning,” Arveson said Friday, shortly before he was arrested. “I live on this property and pay taxes. It’s mine, not theirs.”

It is a dispute that dates back to the mid-1980s when Arveson’s neighbors grew increasingly concerned about the growing amount of junk accumulating on his property.

Lorraine Nichols has lived in the neighborhood on East Garwood Road for 17 years. Over the years, she has watched Arveson accumulate countless cars, machinery and broken-down trailers.

“It was something that kind of gradually took our attention,” she said. “It just got worse and he kept going and going and going.”

It was growing into an eyesore, a danger to the water supply and a fire hazard, neighbor Howard Witherwax said.

In 1987, several neighbors presented the county with a complaint about Arveson.

Molenaar said the county tried to work with Arveson. In spring 1992, county workers gave him 30 days to clean his mess and fence his land. Despite repeated extensions, nothing changed and, in 1994, the county took Arveson to court.

After more missed deadlines, Arveson and his wife were given five-day jail sentences. The order was suspended to give them time to clean.

Last week, the couple was to appear in court to explain why their property still looked like a junkyard. When they didn’t show up, Judge James Judd issued an arrest warrant. He ordered that Arveson be arrested and kept in jail until the property is cleaned up.

Arveson went into hiding.

“I’m not voluntarily going to jail for a pile of junk,” he said Friday, before his capture.

He admits having at least 20 cars on his property along with seven utility trailers. But he insists the cars aren’t broken-down -they just don’t run very well. Besides, “What you can have on your own private property should be your own business,” Jeannette Arveson said.

Alden Arveson said he’s tried to clean his property some, but it costs too much money.

But Nichols said she watched Arveson haul more vehicles onto the property the day of one of his prior cleanup deadlines.

Sheriff’s deputies hesitated to arrest Arveson on his property, concerned about a violent standoff.

Deputies tried once and only found his wife. Arveson called them later and told the officers not to come on his property, said sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger. Wolfinger said Arveson made some threats, alluding to the violent standoff at Ruby Ridge with Randy Weaver and his family.

Arveson admits he mentioned Ruby Ridge, but only because he was scared for his own life, not because he intended to threaten the officers.

Shortly after noon Friday, deputies arrested Arveson without a problem as he was driving off his property.

“As far as I’m concerned he’s getting his just deserts,” Nichols said. “He’s been in contempt of his neighbors and now he’s in contempt of the court.”

Before he was arrested, Arveson questioned how he could be expected to clean up his property if he was behind bars.

“I don’t think there’s a neighbor out there that wanted to see him incarcerated,” Witherwax said with a sigh. “The neighbors would like to see him clean up his property and everybody just get along peacefully.”

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