By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

PITTSBURG, Kan. — Neighbors say they are fed up with a man who has been living in a parked car in his back yard for at least seven years, and who they say is disturbing the peace with loud music and obscenity-laced tirades.

“You can’t enjoy your back yard,” said Linda Sanders, whose back yard is across the alley from the car in which Steven Graham is living.

Sanders, her husband, daughter and grandchildren live at 305 W. Park St. She is one of more than a dozen neighbors who have signed a petition urging the Pittsburg City Commission to adopt a resolution that would prohibit people from living in their cars on private property within the city limits.

Spearheading the drive are Kenny and Cathy Waring, who have lived in their house at 612 S. Olive St. for three years. The house is one block east of Lakeside



Park and just across the street from Lakeside Elementary School. The couple say Graham, 55, lives in his parked car on the adjoining property behind their home.

“Every day he’s out there. He never goes into the house,” Kenny Waring said. “He sleeps out there, he eats out there, he watches TV, he plays guitar. ... Everything that you do in your house, he does out there.”

Graham acknowledged that he watches TV, listens to music and at times sleeps in the vehicle year-round, but he stopped short of saying he lives in it.

“I’m living anywhere I’m at,” he said, pointing to the chair in which he was sitting outside the home. “I’m living right here, right now.”

The car, a blue, 1989 Buick Century, is parked on a concrete slab in the back yard of Graham’s property. A large, blue tarp covers about three-quarters of the vehicle, including the back window and license plate. The tarp is secured with bricks and cinder blocks.

An extension cord runs from the house to the car, providing power for a 13-inch TV that rests in the passenger seat, an oscillating fan and a radio.

“I get better reception there than I do in there,” he said, pointing at the house. “I listen to Rush (Limbaugh) every day just about.”

The Warings said they spent the first year in their new home trying to get along with Graham.

“If he was being noisy, we’d ask him to be quiet, and most of the time he would,” Kenny Waring said.

By the second year, things were escalating, and the Warings said they were calling the police on a regular basis.

Fed up, the couple started a petition that was presented to the City Commission at its meeting on July 24.

‘Out of this rut’

Graham co-owns the property at 304 W. Washington St. with his wife, LaDonna Graham, whom the Warings said they had contacted about the problems.

“She’s apologetic about the situation,” Cathy Waring said.

Graham said he and his wife have “been having troubles” since 1999, and that he’s been out of the house since about 2000. His wife still lives in the residence. The Globe’s efforts to obtain comment from her were unsuccessful.

“She’s not going to support me not having a job and bumming around,” he said. “I’m trying my best to get a job and get up out of this rut.”

The Warings said they began talking to the city’s code-enforcement department around their second year in their house. They said they weren’t taken seriously because they were the only neighbors complaining at that point.

“At that time, none of our other neighbors cared,” Kenny Waring said. “Now we’ve had new neighbors with kids move in, and they care.”

One of the biggest complaints from neighbors is that Graham does not appear to have access to adequate bathroom facilities, and that he may be using his yard for a toilet.

Sanders said one of the worst incidents she’s had with Graham occurred shortly after her son-in-law came home from Iraq in mid-June. She said she and her family were working on building a shed in their back yard, and Graham began to burn trash and other debris in a trash can across the alley.

“I walked out there, and (the smell) was terrible,” she said. “Then Ronnie came out the back door and said, ‘It smells just like back in Baghdad.’ He said he’d been on detail where they have to burn excrement and said that was exactly what it smells like.”

Graham said the allegation that he urinates and defecates in the yard is “a crock.”

“No, I go elsewhere,” he said. “I don’t expose myself to people.”

He said he does not use the bathroom in the house.

“I run up and use the gas-station bathroom,” he said.

As for bathing, Graham said he takes occasional showers at a friend’s house and at the Wesley House church in Pittsburg. He said he also makes use of a garden hose to keep clean.

Accusations ‘overblown’

Before the City Commission meeting last month, several neighbors had complained about the noise from Graham’s car at night, and he has been cited by police for noise-ordinance violations. Police records also show that he has been cited for disorderly conduct.

“He sings. His music is loud,” Sanders said. “I’ll never listen to Moody Blues’ ‘Nights in White Satin’ again the same. You ought to hear him when he gets wrapped up in the Beatles.”

Earl Lee, who lives across the street from the Warings at 613 S. Olive St., said Graham tends to start singing early in the morning, but it usually isn’t a problem except for on weekends.

“You can hear him through the walls. He’s very loud,” Lee said. “I probably would’ve complained a long time ago, but he sings classic rock.”

Graham said he got headphones to plug into his stereo to help with the noise problems.

“I’m older, and my hearing might be bad,” he said. “We had a little problem with playing the radio too loud, so I fixed that.”

Lee, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 10 years, said he signed the petition because he views Graham as a “nuisance.”

“He needs some kind of help,” he said. “He shouldn’t have to be living in a car.”

Graham said he read about the neighbors’ complaints on a community message board on the Internet, and that a lot of the accusations are “overblown.”

“I read some of that stuff and wanted to bust out laughing, but you’ve got to be quiet in the library,” he said.

Cars not addressed

Mayor Bill Rushton said he was unaware of the situation until the Warings and Sanders appeared before the City Commission.

Rushton said the city has an ordinance that prohibits people from living in recreational vehicles and trailers for more than a few weeks, but the ordinance does not address cars.

At the meeting, Rushton directed City Manager Allen Gill to work with the city attorney’s office to resolve the matter, but he said he has “no idea” when a resolution will come before the commission.

“We’ve got to get a fix on this as expeditiously as possible,” he said. “These people in that neighborhood have been dealing with this for too long.”

Todd Kennemer, assistant director of public works and head of the code-enforcement department, declined to comment for this story, and referred all questions to the city prosecutor’s office.

John Mazurek, city prosecutor, said six charges are pending against Graham. Those charges allege that Graham violated noise ordinances on two occasions, that he urinated in public, and that he assaulted neighbor Kenny Waring. He also faces two charges or disorderly conduct.

A city employee hand-delivered letters to the Grahams that outlined several housing-code violations and informed them that they are in violation of the city’s zoning ordinance for single-family households.

“The housing code requires plumbing, it requires a bathroom, it requires a kitchen,” Mazurek said. “This car that he is living in doesn’t contain those.”

If the Grahams don’t comply within 30 days, the court could issue a contempt citation.

“The hope is they’re going to voluntarily comply and get out of the codes violations,” Mazurek said. “Whether that means him moving into the home or moving off the property, I don’t want to speculate as to what further action we would take until we know what happens here.”

Graham said he would like to see the situation get resolved, but he isn’t sure what he will do.

“I just want it to be over with myself, because it’s getting plumb ridiculous,” he said. “I think it’s kind of sad somebody is so worried about what somebody else is doing. It’s supposed to be a free country.”





Court date

According to court records, Steven Graham has pleaded innocent to the city charges against him. A court date has been set for Wednesday, Sept. 5, in Pittsburg Municipal Court.