Fence can’t fix a 52-year-old property-line disagreement

Don Pinello spent Thanksgiving week building fence — a chore that could land the 78-year-old man in jail.

Pinello sank three fence posts along North Cascade Avenue and erected a 25-foot stretch of woven wire fence before he stopped for a spell.

He was fixin’ to turn the fence east and run it 200 feet to Tejon Street. He laid a string of railroad ties to mark his path.

On Monday, Pinello awoke to find his fence down, the posts removed and the railroad ties gone. Then he received a certified letter from an attorney. It warned him to stop his fencebuilding or face criminal charges.

The fence and ties were on the parking lot of a Kmart store that borders Pinello’s property near Fillmore Street and Nevada Avenue.

(You can see photos of the fence at the Side Streets blog on gazette.com.)

The owner of the shopping center, Leonard Rosenberg of Houston, ordered the fence removed. And he had his Colorado Springs attorney, Bruce Wright, deliver a warning.

“It has come to our attention that you have been entering onto our client’s property and placing certain structures and other items on their property,” Wright said in the letter, dated Nov. 30.

“If you continue to do so, we will request the district attorney institute a criminal trespass action against you.”

The letter was not signed with hugs and kisses.

“Your continued trespass on our client’s property will not be tolerated,” Wright said. “Please govern yourself accordingly.”

Wright reacted strongly because Pinello’s fence was not an innocent oversight. He was trying to provoke Rosenberg to sue him.

“It’s the only way I can get my case back in court before a judge,” Pinello said.

His “case” is a 52-year-old property-line dispute. Pinello insists the 25-foot strip from Cascade to Tejon was wrongly taken from his family in 1955 when a neighbor tore down a fence to install sewer, water and electric lines.

Pinello’s parents sued to get their land back but lost. In 1958, the case went to the Colorado Supreme Court, which rejected the Pinellos’ claim they had occupied the land and therefore owned it by “adverse possession.”

Pinello says a bad survey established the east-west boundary too far south — by 25 feet — and must be corrected. Even half a century later.

El Paso County has hired surveyors to study it and Pinello has hired several himself. None support his claim. But Pinello won’t quit, vigorously arguing his case to anyone who will listen. Few do anymore.

Frustrated and out of legal options, Pinello decided to fence the Kmart parking lot to reclaim his land, knowing the fence would never stand.

Why risk arrest — Wright says he will call police if Pinello resumes his work — and criminal charges over a 25-foot strip of asphalt?

“It’s my land and I have a right to fence my land,” Pinello said. “They stole my fence and trespassed on my land.”

Wright said the state Supreme Court decision was final and warned Pinello to back off.

“If he wants to keep butting his head against that,” Wright said, “he’ll have to accept the consequences.”

Tell me about your neighborhood: 636-0193 or bill.vogrin@gazette.com