30+ BOUNDARY COUNTY LOCALS DEFEND NEUMAYERS

On May 9th, 2024, over thirty residents local to Boundary County, Idaho personally congregated in defense of Jerry & Kathleen Neumayer who initially faced $1,000-a-day fines from Bonners Ferry Planning & Zoning. Not all individuals are photographed, but at the forefront is Jerry, Kathleen, Kiaana, Paisley & Ezekiel Neumayer. Together, along with the rest of the Neumayer family (Tom, Nicholas, Jacob), they faced property inspection after a complaint lodged by their neighbors Jeff & Sandra Bundy. However, the Planning & Zoning Inspector rescheduled their visit, presumably after receiving news of Jerry’s supporters. This was speculated by Jerry and Kathleen as I prepared company equipment for their interview.

“Why didn’t they show up, Jerry?” Asked Davene King, a supporter standing off-camera. “What’s going on?”

“Because they got scared, you know?” Jerry responded bluntly. “They’re worried.”

If Jerry Neumayer is correct in his statement, why would Planning & Zoning have any reason to be scared of Jerry and his supporters? This question is certainly viable after Planning & Zoning canceled their visit only after Boundary County locals arrived at his aid. Were there concerns that people would become unruly and violent, possibly threatening the safety of public officials and citizens? Tom, son of Jerry and Kathleen, addressed this concern in his interview.

“Nobody was there to get violent. Everybody was just there for support, and thank goodness, [to] witness.” Tom said when speaking of Jerry’s supporters. “If they hadn’t shown up, I guarantee you [that] the inspector would’ve shown up and tried to take every advantage they could.”

“We’re all peaceful.” Davene, a friend of the Neumayer family, had spoken off-camera.

"Yeah, we’re all peaceful.” Jerry agreed, but responded further by adding. “But I wanted you guys to see what they’re going to do to me so you can be prepared.” Later on, he continued this by saying. “This is really impressive that many people showed up to support me, and not all of them came. I don’t want violence or anything. I want peace and honesty.”

“They thought we were going to be more aggressive.” Kathleen communicated, clarifying their intent.

“And we’re not aggressive.” Jerry said forthrightly.

“No.” Kathleen confirmed.

“I just want people to see what’s happening to me, because they’re going to be next.” Jerry finished, posing a potential ominous fate for other property owners.

Jerry Neumayer has been a resident of Boundary County since the early 1960’s. His wife, Kathleen, has lived there for roughly half the time, arriving later on in the 90’s. Together, with the help of their son, Tom, they purchased their own property outside of Bonners Ferry city limits in May of 2010. Through Jerry’s work of painting and restoring automotive vehicles, he has developed a trusted reputation within the community alongside his wife and children. Clayfield has received many comments through various social media outlets detailing Boundary County’s love for the Neumayer family; several of which were featured in the August 2024 Edition of The People’s Press. Jerry attributes this love to his general honesty in life.

“I’m a well-known person because I’ve been here my whole life. [I’m] well-liked because I’ve been honest to everybody.” Jerry spoke confidently. “And that’s all I want to see in this community! I don’t want to see my courthouse and cops being crooked. Be peaceful, be nice.”

It’s interesting to note that the word “crooked” was not only used by Jerry, but also his son, Tom, when describing their experience. Throughout my three separate interviews with the Neumayers, I noticed a recurring theme of implied corruption within the local government of Boundary & Bonner County. This corruption seemed evident when Kathleen and Kianna both independently shared a story concerning a supposedly canceled school maintenance & operation levy.

“They have an agenda.” Kianna told me, while sitting besides her husband Tom and their children. “Last year for the school taxes to be approved, they passed it six times, and it failed five times.”

“Everyone I talked to was voting no.” Kathleen said in her interview alongside Jerry. “And… everyone I talked to got this thing in the mail that said it was canceled, so nobody turned up to vote because it said canceled.”

“It was supposed to be canceled, so nobody showed up.” Kianna said similarly. “The sixth time, they snuck it underneath the board so that way they could pass it.”

“That’s a pretty underhanded way to go about things.” Kathleen said finally on the subject of the canceled 2023 school maintenance & operation levy.

Interestingly enough, a school maintenance & operation levy is a tax that funds a school district’s budget and according to page 2, section 1, line 20-21 of House Bill No. 521 passed by the House of Representatives, “the Legislature finds that the burden of taxation on the people of Idaho is too great”.

Yet, the city of Bonners Ferry has passed a local option tax of 1% on all taxable goods under $1,000 to pay for general fund departments such as Bonners Ferry police, fire & street departments, and property tax relief. This tax was instituted July 1, 2023 and will only expire ten years later in December 2033. According to the Bonners Ferry Herald, voters approved the local option tax with 72% of the vote. But after hearing Kathleen and Kianna share their story concerning the canceled school maintenance & operation levy in March of 2023, the question is raised of whether voters actually have an impact.

“So why was the Planning & Zoning Inspector visiting you today?” I asked Jerry and Kathleen in my first interview.

“To do a walkthrough so Jerry could explain to them what it was all about here.” Kathleen filled me in.

“And why do you think they decided not to come?” I asked, referring to the inspector’s cancellation.

“Because they were scared of the group I had my wife put on.” Jerry chimed in. Could these fears be rooted in my next question?

“Your behavior has been characterized by some as criminal.” I told Jerry straightforwardly. “Why do you think that is?” “Why would it be criminal?” Jerry responded innocently, looking around at his beautiful land.

“I think that was classified like that because they wanted to criminalize a violation.” Kathleen answered me after Jerry.

“What is the complaint filed against you?” I began investigating the violation and its source.

“We really don’t know exactly.” Kathleen admitted. “They said we had a junkyard. [That’s] what they told us.”

“Why have they classified your property as a junkyard?” I continued.

“Because of my stuff and antiques, and they got their little business back there [and it] cramps their style.” Jerry spoke concerning Jeff and Sandra Bundy who initially filed the complaints being investigated by Bonners Ferry Planning & Zoning. “None of those people ever complained about my stuff.”

“Are you registered as a commercial or non-commercial junkyard?”I asked pointedly.

“No.” They both responded, with Jerry finishing. “It’s my place, it’s my stuff, it’s not a junkyard.”

“And this is just cars that he's been waiting to retire [so he can] restore.” Kathleen went on.

My interview with Tom, their son, was my second interview with the Neumayer family thereby being my second impression of the inner workings of this situation. With Tom, I strategized beforehand making sure to plan questions based on answers given by Jerry and Kathleen. This way, I had a better chance of verifying the facts of the matter versus individual opinions.

“A lot of people have described your parent’s property as a junkyard.” Tom began to laugh as I asked my question. “How would you describe your parent’s property?”

“Treasure yard! There’s all kinds of goodies there.” Tom immediately jumped in before I could finish my question. “It may look kind of junky and there’s a lot of stuff there, and a lot of piled up stuff and whatnot. [But] if you actually dig deep into a lot of that stuff, he’s got all kinds of muscle car parts and engines from cars that you don’t see very often. He’s got rare things and things that helped me build and create my life. My dream was to get into cars, and because of all his collections, I was able to get out there and work on things, practice with some of this stuff, build things, learn from it, [and] grow.”

“I did body work for over fifty years.” Jerry repeated in different parts of his interview. “I restored thousands of cars; old ones, show cars. People paid me a lot of money to do them, [and] I made them look brand new, from the ground up. I collect parts that are still good for people that…” Jerry thought for a moment, thinking of an example. “Hit a deer, you need a headlight. Young people can’t afford a $400 [to] $2000 headlight. [If] I have it, I’ll give it to them just so they don’t get a ticket.”

“To some people…” Tom said addressing the perception of his parent’s property. “It may look like he’s got a lot of random stuff out there laying around, but even our neighbors who are stirring stuff with us, they came to us a couple years ago asking for car parts.” Tom couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of this as I formed my next question.

“You’re telling me that the neighbors who have filed complaints and basically inspired the county to build this case against your parents,” I clarified specifically what Tom was saying. “-have actually come to your parents asking help from what they’ve classified as a junkyard?”

“Yeah.” Tom casually confirmed with a smile. “Yeah, I actually dug through all the parts and found them…” Tom paused to give me more context. “They’ve got a little Toyota pickup that their grill broke out. So I dug through all of our parts and I found one for them that was in good shape, and gave it to them.” Tom chuckled yet again. “I didn’t charge them, I just gave it to them. They’ve asked for help which is weird. It started out as [what] I thought was a pretty good relationship with them.” 

Though not entirely sure, it seems clear to the Neumayers that Jeff & Sandra Bundy, the owners of the property adjacent to their own, are the cause for Bonners Ferry Planning & Zoning investigation. When asked who filed the initial complaints concerning their property, Jerry and Kathleen answered with their names. Later on, after having completed my work with the Neumayers, I reached out to Sandra Bundy through a Facebook message inviting both her and her husband to do an interview addressing these allegations. I never received any response.

“Would you classify this as a feud between two families?” I had asked Jerry and Kathleen.

“I’m not arguing or fighting with them.” Jerry answered after taking a moment to think.

“They’re harassing us!” Kathleen interjected firmly to which Jerry followed up, repeating what his wife had said. “They’re harassing us.”

“How would you describe harassment?” I asked, not skipping a beat.

“With the constant videoing and the things that they say.” Kathleen started off by giving an example of her own; a story in which Jeff Bundy threatened to shoot her dog. Her response to this was simple. “You shoot my dog, and I’m gonna shoot your dog.”

        “They exaggerate their stories.” Jerry continued, adding to Kathleen’s narrative. “I don’t need their hassle.”

“She tried to say that my dog attacked her.” Kathleen spoke, I could only assume, of Sandra Bundy. “Well… my dog was with me at work that day. It’s just stuff like that.” Kathleen trailed off putting her hands up in despair.

“I want to get along with them.” Jerry said to my surprise. “But the way they are, they should just leave us alone and then there’s no big deal, but they’re gonna sit there and grind that little stick into us.”

According to Tom in his solo interview, the Bundy’s ultimately told the Neumayers to “Go to hell.” and that “They do whatever they want.” These are the words of Tom Neumayer, but again, with the Bundy’s not willing to verify the legitimacy or falseness of these claims, the Neumayer’s story remains the only narrative concerning their actions in the situations leading to Bonners Ferry’s involvement.

  “It got to be where every time she saw us,” Kathleen began, imitating Sandra Bundy. “Move your shit!”

“[Sandra would] say something, Kathleen [would] say something.” Jerry jumped in. “[Then] I’d get a long letter [from the city].”

“I had never even heard of Planning & Zoning.” Tom told me honestly in his interview. “They were never in our area before, we had never heard of them. It was always [within] city limits, never in rural areas.”

“Planning & Zoning sent the notices saying, hey, we need [to do an] inspection, and [make sure] that everything’s built as it’s supposed to [per] Boundary County city codes.” Kianna explained in detail, surrounded by her family. “We don’t live in the city, we live outside the city. So we were confused and were like, did they move the city limits? [But] they didn’t, they were just trying to enforce city limits up here. We were curious, why and who had said so? They sent a bunch of different codes on [a] piece of paper, and they didn’t make sense. So when Kathleen and I started researching what the form had said, they were all city limits, so when we contacted them, they said the inspector still had to come out here and make sure that everything was up to code. But it’s not within city limits, so we didn’t understand how they could enforce it. The police department doesn’t have much authority up here. The sheriff does, and one of his deputies, he can give that permission to, but anybody that’s not the sheriff can’t come up here except [for] border patrol. That’s because the Montana border is up here on the mountain. So it’s not like they could really enforce it, and the sheriff has a lot of things going on.”

“The Bundy’s, they’re the ones that… Well, I can’t say for sure.” Tom told me hesitantly. “But, pretty sure they’re the ones that are feeding the information to [Planning & Zoning]. Because they drive through all the time videoing [when] my kids are out there playing and they’re country kids. They’re out there shirtless, playing around, and when somebody slows down with their video camera hanging out the window when my kids are out playing…” Tom needed to elaborate no further when describing the Bundy's harassment of the family. “My kids are getting creeped out, they’re getting freaked out. They don’t want to go outside and play without an adult there because they’re getting uncomfortable. It’s damaging the way that we’re living because they’re intruding on our privacy and my kids’ comfort.”

“These people back here, they’re coming through.” Jerry had told his supporters concerning the Bundy family. “I can’t be out here [because] they’re always right here taking pictures of us [and] whatever we’re doing in our place. It makes it pretty uncomfortable [with] the kids.”

“I went in and I filed a complaint against them.” Tom had told me. “Because it’s getting to where it’s out of hand. Planning & Zoning wants to come in and talk to us about this. Well, the first thing is we the people didn’t have any say about them coming out to our rural area; our countryside. They just decide they can take over by a quiet vote with six people?”

“For Planning & Zoning, and the commissioners, I have to say shame on them.” Kianna spoke poignantly. “Shame on them for not holding up the constitutional rights, and shame on them for not having their people’s back.”

“Trying to go behind the people’s back…” Tom followed up his wife’s statement.

“Trying to be sneaky, there’s no need for that.” Kianna stepped back in. “If it was truly a good idea, or if they truly had an actual plan to resolve issues, then they should bring it up to the people because ultimately, we should have the choice, not them.”

“For the people, by the people.” Tom said, quoting what has become the motto for this independent newspaper, then reiterated. “By the people!”

“They’re supposed to stand up for us, and they’re not.” Kianna aptly finished, calling out Bonners Ferry Planning & Zoning.

“I know that I have certain rights that I’m pretty sure they’re stepping all over.” Tom had summarized. “That’s why the whole group of people [was there], they’re tired of getting controlled by the government. For the people, by the people, and they’re doing all these scare tactics and all this stuff trying to make it legal for them to imprison somebody for building on their own property out of city limits. They’re trying to cover it up with, to an extent in city limits, there should be restrictions to how much you can have on your property because they’re just little chunks of property. There should be restrictions in the city limits, but out in rural areas, and them coming out there [to] tell us what we can have on our property and what we can do with our property?”

“I was born and raised in the mountains of Northern California.” Kathleen had informed me. “My dad was a general contractor, so I’m very familiar with the control that Planning & Zoning grasps for. It’s not something [we] want here, it really isn’t. Planning & Zoning has its place, but it isn’t in rural areas. People move out in rural areas for the freedom it affords them, and they want to take it away.”

“All they want to do is spread out all over these rural areas so that they can charge all these people to build on their own property when it has nothing to do with them.” Tom said matter-of-factly about Bonners Ferry Planning & Zoning. “They shouldn’t have any say in the matter. We bought rural land out in the countryside, out of city limits, to do whatever we want to with it."

“Those neighbors could’ve came and talked to us.” Jerry said simply. “They didn’t have to go and turn us in. I would have never done this to them. I can understand junky places, and a person doesn’t want to live there, [but] who was there first? You know, and they can talk it out. We could’ve talked it out with these people.”

“Go have a cup of coffee [or] a beer with your neighbor and have a visit!” Kathleen expressed passionately. “Work out a solution, then get together, and put it into effect. It’s that simple.”

“All you gotta do is visit. That’s what I say, communication.” Jerry agreed with his wife at a separate juncture. “Because assuming and not communicating [is] when you got problems. I’m a pretty easy person, all [they] had to do was come and visit with me. Then I’d set them straight, this is the way it is, and I’d do it nicely.”

“What has been the most trying part of going through all this?” I asked both Jerry and Kathleen.

“Stress.” Kathleen said with a chuckle to which Jerry added. “Yeah, a lot of stress. It shouldn’t be that way.”

When this same question was asked of Kianna, mother to three boys and a girl, she answered saying that the most trying part of this situation is constantly moving.

“I homeschool. The two older boys, they’re in first grade and kindergarten, so homeschooling takes a toll on their whole schedule.” Kianna spoke expressively, using her hands to communicate as she talked. “We have a routine, we have a schedule everyday. For us to move from a house to a camper, that’s a big degrade.”

“And it’s hard to keep our spirits up, especially for the kids when all of this is going on.” Tom joined in. “[The] kids had their own room, had all this stuff, then we had to move into a camper because of all this chaos.”

“Me personally, probably the degrading part.” Tom had said separately in his own interview when asked this question. “Just feeling defeated constantly working so hard to get somewhere. I think that’s probably the hardest part for me is [being] defeated watching my kids when I come home. They only see me for a little while, and then I gotta go back at it or I gotta leave; go do a side job somewhere else until midnight [to] 1 o’clock in the morning doing whatever. That’s probably the hardest part for me is working so hard, not getting to spend a lot of time with my family, and not feeling like I’m giving them what they deserve.”

“What do you have to say to the people in Planning & Zoning?” I asked Tom close to the end of his solo interview.

“Well…” Tom started with a chuckle, then, looking directly into the camera filming his interview, he spoke defiantly. “I guess we the people aren’t going to stand for this. We’re definitely going to take back our rights. We’re not going to standby while they come after our freedom on our property and take away any chance we have at a future; at our kids’ future. I would have to say that we’re done.”

“There was enough stuff ushered in under Dinning and his crew that the community wouldn’t want; doesn’t want.” Kathleen answered this last question referencing Dan R. Dinning, the previous Boundary County Commissioner. “You talk about wanting a better rapport with the community, here’s your start. You can start by listening to them now. Listen to what the people that live rural have to say about Planning & Zoning and infiltrating their lives.”

“Don’t be sneaking around us.” Jerry agreed.

“No one person can make a difference, it takes a community to do it and it began that day.” Tom told me referring to the events of May 9th, 2024. “It’s not going to end there, it’s going to go a long ways. As long as we all stand together and stand up [to] speak the truth, I think this is going to be huge.”

“What do you have to say to the people of Boundary County and to, specifically, all the people who came out in support?” I had asked this question of the entire family to which everyone gave a resounding “Thank you!”

“I can’t thank you guys enough. That was amazing! I wish I could have been there.” Tom said regretfully. “If it wasn’t so busy at work, I would have been there. I don’t even know what to say, it rendered me speechless. That was awesome that the community came together and protected one of their own like that. I hope that next time I’ll be able to be there so we can help somebody else in this need. I hope that we can all do this more often to support our locals and our community [to] keep our rights as we the people. I did not expect that to happen. I knew that the inspector was coming out, but I didn’t know that so many people wanted to express their freedom and their rights and it started right here. ”

“It really shows…” Jerry began, searching through his thoughts. Kathleen helped by finishing. “That the community is still there.”

“Yeah, that people are still there.” Jerry said in agreement.

“I think that was amazing.” Kianna said similarly to her husband. “How the community came together and stood for the same exact reason no matter their background or who they were. They all had the same beliefs and I thought that was amazing. Great job! We will all do the same thing for anybody else! I noticed a lot of them were disappointed that Planning & Zoning didn’t come out. I heard that comment a handful of times that they were bummed because they all had questions. They all had their own statements ready to give to Planning & Zoning. Not as a threat, not as a warning. They were curious where they were being attacked from. By passing things and not letting people know? That’s conniving.”

“We the people!” Kathleen said promptly. “We are the people that designate the government that is supposed to rule, okay? If we see an officer of the government not operating in accordance with the constitution, it’s our right and our duty to remove them. We are to stand by our constitutions, Idaho and US. They’re not doing that.”

“When the people stand together is when the history hits.” Kianna told me during my final interview. “My grandpa told me, no well behaved child makes history. You have to make a difference, and sometimes, you have to be rude about it. But we definitely want to thank the community for standing behind us, and we will stand behind others who are also being attacked.”

“If they ever go through anything like this, or ever need us to do the same thing for them…” Tom began, interjecting.

“We will help them.” Kianna said, already knowing what Tom would say.

“Yeah, I hope they feel comfortable getting in touch with us.” Tom finished up nicely.

“What changes would you like to see in the local political offices?” I asked Jerry & Kathleen at the close of their interview.

“I think somebody gets in there and they stay in there too long, they get crooked.” Jerry answered, yet again using the word “crooked” to describe local politics and government. “I like to see honest people.”

“Yeah.” Kathleen almost scoffed. “Honest people that listen to what the community has to say.”

“We’re all in it together.” Jerry continued what his wife had said.

“We’re not stupid!” Kathleen jumped back in. “[There’s] a lot of people out there that would have some really fantastic ideas.”

“What would you like to see happen in the community?” I asked Tom concerning their Boundary County supporters. “How would you like to see everyone proceed forward?”

“To proceed forward, I hope we can all stay in touch. I hope they all stand together like they did yesterday [May 9, 2024]. Be there for each other, like they were for my family; standing up and protecting our rights for us.” Tom’s response remained appreciative. “They didn’t have to do that and I would be there in a heartbeat to stand up for all of them.”

“We want people to know that people have their backs.” Kianna described her desires for the community. “They can call their neighbors, or walk down the road and talk to their neighbors, saying, hey, this is what’s going on. Are you having the same problem? Communication; we want to see communication through the whole community because if there’s not communication, then things are going to fall apart again and things are going to get shoved through by Planning & Zoning commissioners everywhere. People are just going to keep on pushing rules through that were never approved by the people of the town. That’s what it is, it’s the people [that] are not aware or acknowledged or they’re sheltered. They don’t want to know what’s going on because they don’t want to be a part of it.”

Jerry and Kathleen Neumayer still reside in Boundary County along with their son Tom, his wife Kianna, and their four children, Nicholas, Jacob, Paisley, and Ezekiel. They continue to live on the same property working to ensure their personal freedoms. If you want more information concerning the Neumayer family, you can watch their interview (Interesting People episode #014), but at this time, the Neumayer family has no further public comment.

Candidly,

JUSTUS A.S. CLAYFIELD