Neighbors vs. HOA: A battle heats up in Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A group of neighbors is taking their homeowner's association to court. They say residents are paying up but not seeing results, and now they want to know what happened to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This is happening in the community of Pine Village North in northeast Houston.

A group of fed-up homeowners who gathered in court Monday told us their HOA went too far when some board members were removed after questioning the spending.

Inside Pine Village North, there are townhomes with shattered windows and hazardous vacant units.

"They won't board them up. We see kids going in it," resident Martha Preston said.

There's dangerous trash piling and huge holes in the ground.

"This is a hazard for children, for anyone. You could slip, fall, break your leg, break your neck," resident Christopher Matthews said.

Preston and Matthews are also former HOA board members who are among a group of neighbors who say more problems peaked during their annual homeowner's association meeting last week.

"We are trying to figure out how we can get rid of our president because we have some concerns about the money," Preston said.

Preston and Matthews are taking the HOA to civil court. They say it violated bylaws by voting them off the board.

"They voted me off because I started questioning what's going on, where our funds are going, why things aren't being done, why we have increased crime here," Matthews said.

Matthews and Preston say the controversy is over a financial report issued during the HOA meeting. It shows more than $550,000 was collected from homeowners between January and September. Nearly half of that money was allegedly spent on building repairs and maintenance.

Then, there's a negative ending balance showing the HOA is $25,000 in the hole.

"I was wondering, wow. Somebody is fattening the frog for the snake," Preston said, "Somebody is getting this money, because I cannot see that much work being done around here right now."

We tried getting some answers from the HOA's lawyer during a temporary injunction hearing.

"No Comment. No Comment," the attorney said.

A board member also dodged our questions about that financial report.

"You have anything to say about it?" we asked.

"No comment," the board member said.

For now, a judge has ordered the newly elected HOA board cannot proceed in making any decisions. A trial has been set on this matter for next month.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Gunmen on the run after shooting neighbors in SW Houston

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police want to find two men who shot at their neighbors in southwest Houston, then disappeared overnight.

It started in the parking lot of an apartment on Coventry Square near Bissonnet. Police say a couple who lived upstairs got into an argument with two men who lived downstairs. The men who lived downstairs allegedly pulled out a gun and started shooting at the couple.

"That couple ran to their apartment with the suspects continuing to fire at them as they hid in their apartment," said Kese Smith with the Houston Police Department. "The suspects continuing firing at the apartment and even at one point going in to their downstairs apartment and shooting rounds up through the floor."

The couple wasn't hurt and called 911. They believed the men were still downstairs. SWAT was called in, but when they searched the apartment it was empty.

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Neighbors worried after crime spike in Sharpstown

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Some neighbors in the Sharpstown area are on edge because of what they say is a rash of burglaries in the last few weeks, and they say the criminals are becoming more brazen.

Neighbors in the area say they are afraid. They say these crooks are not just targeting property. They say the bold thieves are now attacking people.

"Strange people gawking around who don't belong to the neighborhood," neighbor "Domingo" said. "I've been seeing these types of things, and we are worried."

Neighbors in the Sharpstown area off Guilford and Roos streets tell me they are frightened and on edge. They say they've been worried and warning one another about a recent rash of crimes hitting this subdivision in the last couple of weeks.

Neighbors say unknown crooks have been busy breaking into cars and burglarizing several homes. They say some families have even been terrorized in their homes at gunpoint.

Residents add that this week an elderly woman was pushed into some bushes and nearly sexually assaulted, until a neighbor heard her screams for help.

Neighbors say asking Precinct 5 constables to increase patrols in their community doesn't seem to be enough. Some neighbors say they are taking security one step further.

Neighbor Rosalie Fielder said, "Just in the last two weeks, there's been a series of crimes. When they are pulling guns and raping women, you know, everybody here is going out and getting guns now. We're frightened."

I've reached out to the local constable's office about the neighbors' concerns and I'm still waiting for a call back.

Neighbors say they are being vigilant by doing their own street patrols watching for any suspicious activity.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Crime Tracker »

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Katy man charged in sex assault of neighbor's son

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A 64-year-old Katy man is accused of sexually abusing his neighbor's son.

Grady Green is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child for the alleged abuse of the five-year-old boy.

According to court documents, Green's neighbor frequently went to his house to administer medications to his wife. On August 7, the mother told investigators she went looking for her son at one point while they were there.

She said she found the boy coming out of a second-floor bedroom with Green. Later that day, the child reportedly told his mother he had a stomachache and told her about the assault.

Three days later, the child was interviewed at the Children's Assessment Center about the alleged abuse. He revealed more details, which launched a police investigation.

Green was arrested Friday and remained in jail Monday without bond.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Neighbors rescue woman stuck on balcony of burning apartments

  Pooja LodhiaHOUSTON (KTRK) -- You don't get better neighbors than some of the residents of a north Houston apartment complex. They saved a woman from an overnight fire.

Firefighters got to the complex on Northborough near Meadowfern at around 11pm to find flames shooting from roof. Six units in all were up in flames and five of those were occupied.

Residents of the complex jumped into action before firefighters arrived, some even saving the life of an elderly woman stuck on her second-floor balcony.

"We stayed on the other side. I saw smoke coming from the apartment and I heard someone hollering," said resident Anthony Cornelous. "And my brother-in-law, we had jumped the gate. The lady, when she jumped, we were there to catch her."

About 50 firefighters helped bring the blaze under control. Fortunately no one was hurt.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Neighbors upset over poorly maintained former golf course

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- They used to live next to a golf course, neatly maintained with a quaint little pond. But after the city purchased the land, neighbors say things went downhill fast.

Now they're even worried about their safety. And when they couldn't get any answers, they turned to Eyewitness News for help.

The good news is, the part of the old golf course in question was being mowed before the end of the day. The bad news is, it took neighbors months of complaining and finally talking to Channel 13 before anyone would fix it.

If you look on Google maps, the neighbors in the 7700 block of Antoine used to border a well-manicured golf course. These days, not so much.

"The weeds here, they're quite high," said neighbor Josefina Valague. "We can't walk through here, there's snakes."

The city of Houston bought the old Inwood Forest Country Club last summer. The Near Northwest Management District signed a lease with the city, agreeing to mow the course "not less than nine times a year." They told Eyewitness News in a statement "it is being allowed to return to a more natural state to become a green space and wildlife habitat."

But the neighbors here say it's a little too green and wild.

Neighbor Mildred Foster said, "I'm tired of it and they won't do nothing about it."

Valague says her daughter has complained for months about the problem.

"They refuse to talk to her," she said.

Eyewitness News tried to find out why no one's mowed back here. The president of the Near Northwest Management District emailed us, saying it's a pond that's to blame. It's tough to get a mowing tractor between the pond and the neighbors' properties.

"It was maintained before," Valague asserted.

That's changing, after Eyewitness News asked about it. In that same email from the management district we were told they "expect the mowing to be completed by the end of the day." Around 5pm we spotted a tractor out on the former course doing just that.

Eventually the plans for the old golf course call for a bike path and the Harris County Flood Control District says the property will help with flood control. In the meantime, the neighbors say they just want the part of the course bordering their properties kept up.

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Dispute between neighbors turns deadly in Montgomery County

  SPLENDORA, TX (KTRK) -- A Splendora man accused of shooting and killing his neighbor on New Year's Eve was behind bars Sunday.

Gustavo Whalenberg, 69, has been charged with murder.

The shooting happened around 6:50pm in the 23000 block of Charterwood off U.S. 59 in Splendora.

By the time Montgomery County Sheriff's Office officials got to the scene, the 54-year-old victim was dead.

Detectives learned that Whalenberg and the victim had been working with each other during the day when they began to argue.

A brief struggle ensued and both men went to their respective homes, authorities said.

A short time later, Whalenberg allegedly went to the victim's residence with a handgun and shot him once in the chest.

Whalenberg was arrested at the scene and taken to the Montgomery County Jail.

Officials said an autopsy will be performed on the victim's body. His name has not been released pending notification of family members.

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Cops, neighbors rescue family from burning home

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A family is counting their blessings after they were trapped inside their burning home. They were rescued by their quick thinking neighbors and a couple of Houston police officers who just so happened to be passing by the home on McGowan and Sampson.

There were five children inside a back bedroom in the home as smoke filled the structure Thursday evening. Neighbors say they pulled several of the children out one window, but others remained inside. That's when a pair of passing Houston police officers entered the picture.

It was a fast moving house fire that generated thick, choking smoke. Neighbors called for help and stopped two HPD patrolmen driving down the street. On Friday those two officers came back to the house to see what was left and relive the minutes that they became firefighters.

"We managed to get one corner pried," said Houston Police Officer John Domingues. "There were several neighbors right here with us."

Inside a bedroom were three teenage girls, trapped by burglar bars. While neighbors did what they could, the officers pried off one set of the bars. Officer Domingues was about to pull one girl out when he was blown out through the window.

"It was hot," he said. "Then whatever it was that blew me out was hotter."

Officer Domingues got up again and he and his partner Officer C.R. Lamunyon continued with the rescue, even as firefighters were arriving. Their response time was just over three minutes, but consider that those three girls in that room are hospitalized -- two listed in critical condition with burn injuries. What the patrol officers did helped save their lives at the time, and that comes from a fire department captain.

HFD Captain Ruy Lozano said, "They actually hoisted the original fireman that rescued the child. The house was engulfed. The fireman went in and he passed them to those original police officers. You couldn't ask for a better ending."

The house had been home to a family of six. Toni Rodgers raised her three daughters, also taking care of her two nieces. All they had is gone and the family has no insurance. Rodgers agreed to speak publicly, but not on camera.

She said, "I took two children in who aren't mine, so I feel that God is going to bless me either way it goes."

Rodgers will be spending her time now with her family at hospitals. She's worried about where they'll live next and about what will happen to the family dog.

As bleak as their outlook may be, the entire family might have died in this fire. And now two patrol officers have a new appreciation for what firefighters do.

"The worst thing that's going to happen to us is somebody throws bullets at us," Officer Lamunyon explained. "But imagine being in there with a flamethrower. That's what these young men do. I'd rather face that any day than fire."

Three young girls remain hospitalized, Rodgers' two nieces and one daughter. One girl is said to be burned severely enough that she is expected to be transferred to Shriner's Burn Center in Galveston.

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Neighbors' feud results in lawsuit

CLEAR LAKE SHORES, TX (KTRK) -- A dead tree, blinding lights and a blue tarp -- a woman claims those are all things her neighbor has been using to harass her for years. So now she's suing.

After getting no satisfactory resolution from the homeowner's association or police, one Clear Lake Shores homeowner felt there was no alternative but to file suit, claiming harassment. But her neighbor says there is more to the story.

In a neighborhood where the view sets the mood, what Lynda Michaelski has seen from her surveillance cameras, she calls "disturbing."

"This is what we've caught him doing. Can you imagine what we haven't caught him doing?" Michaelski said. "I want him stopped. This is unacceptable behavior. It's wrong."

She says she had 13 cameras installed over a year and half ago at her Clear Lake Shores home. She says they then caught next door neighbor Bernard McIntyre once erecting a cross at her fence; another time at about 5am in a bathrobe, adjusting the light, in what she claims is an attempt to shine it right into her home.

"He scares me, you know? I'm scared of him," Michaelski said.

Based on this video, Michaelski accuses McIntyre also of poisoning her 100-year-old oak tree. On another occasion, you can see him apparently back at that fence, putting up a tarp and tossing what, by all accounts, is a roll of toilet paper over it, leaving it hanging.

"Unbelievable," Michaelski said.

McIntyre admits doing this. He says because he was tired of looking at a statute of the rear-ends of three frogs, which Michaelski had placed on the fence.

"I just put some toilet paper up and say, 'Here, go wipe them,'" McIntyre said.

He thought at first that the statues were obscene.

McIntyre claims Michaelski has been the one harassing him ever since he took a stand against her in a legal matter years ago involving another neighbor. He insists he's done nothing wrong.

"She's using lawsuits basically to bully people around so that they don't say anything critical about her," McIntyre said.

We have learned McIntyre pled no contest recently to a charge of illegal dumping. He says though it was just throwing leaves over Michaelski's fence.

As far as the allegation of shining the lights into Michaelski's home, McIntyre says he was just trying to blind the surveillance cameras.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Mysterious shootings have neighbors on edge

  By Demond FernandezHOUSTON (KTRK) -- Apparent random shootings in a southwest Houston neighborhood have residents on edge. A victim who was shot in the back has been upgraded to good condition. For the first time, we're hearing from a second victim who was shot in the same neighborhood, also for no apparent reason.

The shootings happened along Bob White near Ariel. Many of the neighbors along Robindell are strongly suggesting anyone steer clear of that intersection. They say this mysterious gunman has them feeling like prisoners in their own homes.

There is a huge reason you won't catch too many neighbors outside their homes near Bob White Drive in Robindell right now.

"Everybody is very scared," said neighbor Mary Thayer. "Very scared."

Neighbors are scared knowing two people have been shot in the last week and a half while walking along the street. We spoke with one woman who was shot in the shoulder.

She said, "I'm still shocked. I'm afraid to go outside whether it's here or anyplace."

The woman said she's too afraid to be identified since police have yet to arrest the mysterious gunman who injured her and shot another man in the back on Bob White last week.

"First I thought it was an accident maybe," she recalled. "But now that it happened to somebody else, I just think somebody's having fun at the expense of other people's pain."

Neighbors are also concerned the shootings are happening too close to McNamara Elementary.

"It's very serious," said parent Gigi Nevil. "It's very scary."

The random shootings now have HISD and Houston police increasing patrols in the area. Parents say school buses are also keeping kids away from the intersection the shooter has been targeting.

Nevil said, "My daughter rides the bus. Her bus driver has changed her route so that she actually pulls her closer to the house, which is thoughtful."

Police are still interviewing several people in these shooting cases.

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