Some years ago this came up and one of us had a mail box mounted on a swing
arm that detentes at the road. The platform is held by a pipe - drill rod I think -
that was maybe 20 feet long until it turns downward into a heavy anchor.

The issue he had was snow plows - he would have to pay - school buses - he would pay -
so just make one that would swing out of the way - way out of the way. Then it was
easy to re-set and forget. It just takes a little yard. Move to mow...

Martin
Martin Eastburn
@ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net
NRA LOH, NRA Life
NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder



Ignoramus5275 wrote:
I have been reading about fortress mailboxes (a topic raised here). A
couple of conclusions:

1. At least in some places, and possibly but not necessarily, near
highways, fortress mailboxes may be illegal. Call your building and
zoning department to find out.

2. I doubt the morality of installing a fortress mailbox (but I am not
certain). Two cases come to mind:

- a few years ago, near my old house, a car swerved off a road due to
ice and was almost buried in a huge pile of snow in my yard. The
teenager in it was very apologetic and I dragged his car out with my
pickup. He did not have any ill intention, he was simply an
inexperienced driver on an icy road.

- Last year, same thing happened in my new house, very near my
mailbox. Some bad young driver hit a big pile of snow that I made,
stopping inches away from my mailbox. That was during a sunny day with
me in my yard. Surely it was not intentional. I would rather have him
knock my mailbox down than suffer any meaningful damage. Especially
since he was my neighbor.

Unless I had a repeating problem with mailbox vandalism, I would
definitely not install a fortress mailbox.

If I had such a problem, I would keep a wimpy breakable mailbox, but
would perhaps make the first 8-12" or so off the ground to be made of
something very strong, like a large I beam or some such, to damage the
vehicle, but not the occupant. Around that, I would install a fake
fortress made of plastic that looks like bricks (sold as room decor at
Home Depot), to make the mailbox an unattractive target.

If some vandal hits your mailbox, dies, and you lose thousands in
court, you are not a winner in the situation. If an unfortunate driver
dies, there would be a moral guilt element in addition to the court
judgment.

i


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In article , Martin H. Eastburn says...

Some years ago this came up and one of us had a mail box mounted on a swing
arm that detentes at the road. The platform is held by a pipe - drill rod I
think -
that was maybe 20 feet long until it turns downward into a heavy anchor.

The issue he had was snow plows - he would have to pay - school buses - he would
pay -
so just make one that would swing out of the way - way out of the way. Then it
was
easy to re-set and forget. It just takes a little yard. Move to mow...

And then there was one famous poster here who made the one out of
RR track and well casing, with a look-a-like mailbox welded up out
of heavy steel plate.

I seem to recall the town road grader hit it while plowing snow.

The mailbox busted all the shear bolts off the grader blade.

The town was *not* happy. The poor guy had to pay to repair the
grader, and take out the mailbox.

But I bet the driver never did that again!

Jim


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"jim rozen" wrote in message
...

And then there was one famous poster here who made the one out of
RR track and well casing, with a look-a-like mailbox welded up out
of heavy steel plate.

I seem to recall the town road grader hit it while plowing snow.

The mailbox busted all the shear bolts off the grader blade.

The town was *not* happy. The poor guy had to pay to repair the
grader, and take out the mailbox.

But I bet the driver never did that again!

Why would the mailbox owner have to pay to repair the grader? If anything,
the town should be paying the owner for scratching his mailbox (with the
appropriate deductions for the grader repair and the homeown compensation
taken from the grader driver's salary).

In article , DeepDiver says...

The town was *not* happy. The poor guy had to pay to repair the
grader, and take out the mailbox.

Why would the mailbox owner have to pay to repair the grader?

Good question.

Somebody help me out here, and remind me who did in the road
grader. Maybe then we could ask him how they strong-armed
him into paying for its repair.

But it happened.

Jim


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==================================================

"jim rozen" wrote in message
...
In article , DeepDiver says...

The town was *not* happy. The poor guy had to pay to repair the
grader, and take out the mailbox.

Why would the mailbox owner have to pay to repair the grader?

Good question.

Somebody help me out here, and remind me who did in the road
grader. Maybe then we could ask him how they strong-armed
him into paying for its repair.

But it happened.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

As long as the mailbox owner had the mailbox within the confines of his
private property (and not protruding out into the public road), then I fail
to see how it's his responsibility for damaging the road grader.

DeepDiver wrote:
"jim rozen" wrote in message
...

In article , DeepDiver says...


The town was *not* happy. The poor guy had to pay to repair the
grader, and take out the mailbox.

Why would the mailbox owner have to pay to repair the grader?

Good question.

Somebody help me out here, and remind me who did in the road
grader. Maybe then we could ask him how they strong-armed
him into paying for its repair.

But it happened.


I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

As long as the mailbox owner had the mailbox within the confines of his
private property (and not protruding out into the public road), then I fail
to see how it's his responsibility for damaging the road grader.



FWIW, here in Winchester Taxachusetts, my front lawn runs right up to
where the asphalt street pavement starts, with no sidewalk or curbing.
But, the town has an easement on the last 5 or 6 feet of lawn, sometimes
referred to aS a "grass sidewalk" and there's an ordinance (Honored more
in the breach that the observance.) against planting or placing anything
there which would force a pedestrian have to step off onto the road.

My mailbox sits on that easement, and if it was placed back of it the
mail carrier couldn't/wouldn't deliver to it.

Quite a few folks in the neighborhood here with frontages which are
slightly convex because the road curves put whitewashed basketball sized
rocks every 6 feet or so along edge of their lawns to keep cars from
"cutting the curve" and tearing up their grass. The lawyer friends I've
asked about that all say, "Don't do it."

I'm just glad the town doesn't tell me I have to clear the snow off that
"grass sidewalk". :-)

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

jim rozen wrote:

In article , Martin H. Eastburn says...

Some years ago this came up and one of us had a mail box mounted on a swing
arm that detentes at the road. The platform is held by a pipe - drill rod I
think -
that was maybe 20 feet long until it turns downward into a heavy anchor.

The issue he had was snow plows - he would have to pay - school buses - he would
pay -
so just make one that would swing out of the way - way out of the way. Then it
was
easy to re-set and forget. It just takes a little yard. Move to mow...

And then there was one famous poster here who made the one out of
RR track and well casing, with a look-a-like mailbox welded up out
of heavy steel plate.

I seem to recall the town road grader hit it while plowing snow.

The mailbox busted all the shear bolts off the grader blade.

The town was *not* happy. The poor guy had to pay to repair the
grader, and take out the mailbox.

But I bet the driver never did that again!

Jim

--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================


If the mailbox is on the rightofway then the homeowner is responsible
for the damage. Most mail boxes are on the rightofway and therefore
should be a break away mounting because anyone that substains damage
from hitting the box can sue for damages and win.

John

In article , Tom Quackenbush says...

But it happened.

I think that that was Mike G.,

Thank you, that sounds right. It was either that or
peter drummond. I don't think either of them have
been around here lately - for whatever reason....

Jim


--
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please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

In article , DeepDiver says...

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

As long as the mailbox owner had the mailbox within the confines of his
private property (and not protruding out into the public road), then I fail
to see how it's his responsibility for damaging the road grader.

Not being ironic at all. Somebody else posted it was probably
Mike Graham who had this series of events happen. IIRC he
did pay for the repair of the grader (he might have even done it
himself) and I cannot explain the legal details to you because
I never did know exactly how they convinced him to pay for it.

Jim


--
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==================================================

Jim,


You may be thinking of Peter Drumm. I don't recall a Peter Drummond. Peter
Drumm died the same month as teenut (Jan/2001).


Regards,


Terry

"jim rozen" wrote in message
...
In article , Tom Quackenbush
says...

But it happened.

I think that that was Mike G.,

Thank you, that sounds right. It was either that or
peter drummond. I don't think either of them have
been around here lately - for whatever reason....

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

In article , Terry says...

You may be thinking of Peter Drumm. I don't recall a Peter Drummond. Peter
Drumm died the same month as teenut (Jan/2001).

Yes, that's right. But he had a Drummond round-bed lathe, that's
what I remembered. He was the gent who worked in the granite
quarry, right?

Jim


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please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

"jim rozen" wrote:
In article , Terry says...

You may be thinking of Peter Drumm. I don't recall a Peter Drummond.
Peter
Drumm died the same month as teenut (Jan/2001).

Yes, that's right. But he had a Drummond round-bed lathe, that's
what I remembered. He was the gent who worked in the granite
quarry, right?

Jim


Yeah, that was him. He did have a Drummond lathe. Huge granite slabs being
cut with a wire come to mind when I hear his name mentioned.

Regards,

Terry