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Hubbard car-honking problems addressed by court
The Vindicator
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Garrick Krlich of Hubbard testifies in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court regarding the horn-honking that he recorded outside his home in 2010 by someone in a Chevy Cavalier. Magistrate Patrick McCarthy said he didn’t find enough evidence to find that Anthony Palestro of Hubbard was responsible for any of the honking, and a civil protection order was denied in the case on Wednesday. McCarthy did approve a protection order in another case that same day, however, against Nick Bruce.
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The techniques Garrick Krlich of Hubbard uses to document the car-honking problems at his house in recent years were on display Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, and a magistrate’s opinion of the evidence was mixed.
In the first of six cases Magistrate Patrick McCar-thy called Wednesday, Nick Bruce of Pothour Wheeler Road in Hubbard consented to a two-year civil protection order and agreed to no longer beep his horn or otherwise cause a disturbance at Krlich’s home at East Liberty Street and Creed Avenue. Bruce also agreed not to encourage others to cause such a disturbance.
But a second young Hubbard man, Anthony Palestro, took Krlich’s request for a protection order to a hearing and won.
At the end of an hour-long hearing, McCarthy ruled that Krlich had presented “no credible evidence” that Palestro “ever used the horn” on his car or another car owned by his family to disturb the Krliches.
Krlich installed audio/videotaping equipment outside his house after the problem started in 2009.
He reported the problem to Hubbard police but says they refused to act.
Robert Johnson, prosecutor for Girard Municipal Court, said Krlich reported 70 or more criminal complaints regarding the honking to him, with one resulting in a misdemeanor conviction and charges pending against another person.
In most of the other cases, Johnson sent letters to the owner of the vehicles involved warning them that their vehicle was used in a way that might be illegal and urging them to stop, Johnson said, adding that he encouraged Krlich to take the cases to common pleas court.
In the Palestro hearing Wednesday, Krlich played recordings of 10 honking incidents that occurred over a six-month period last year involving a green Chevrolet Cavalier that Krlich later photographed in the driveway of Palestro’s house.
In the 10 tapes Krlich played, an ordinary type of honking, one or two short sounds, could be heard.
Krlich said he followed the Cavalier on July 27, 2010, after one honking incident at about 8 p.m., pulled up beside the car and asked the driver and passenger why they were honking at him.
The male driver got out of the car and asked Krlich if he “wanted some of this,” and Krlich said he “just laughed at him.” Krlich asked for the names of the two males but didn’t get them.
Krlich said he thinks Palestro was the passenger that day but he admitted in court he wasn’t sure.
Palestro testified that he has three stepbrothers who live at his house, and they drive the Cavalier. Palestro said he never rides in the Cavalier, wasn’t involved in the July 27 incident and has not had conversations with his step-brothers about honking at the Krlich home.
Krlich testified that the horn-honking has caused him to take a prescription medication for stress.
Krlich said he learned that the license plate for the Cavalier is registered to Palestro’s mother because the Hubbard Police Department reported that information in a police report generated after Krlich filed a complaint.
Following hearings later Wednesday, McCarthy refused to grant a protection order against Tyler Miller of Creed Street but approved one against Joe Takash of Doris Drive, ordering that Takash stay away from the Krliches for five years.