Guest guest Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Well, I have had my show running for 3 days and already got my 1st hate mail letter. Letter says he is a old guy raising his 7 year old with seizures problems and my lights have given him 7 since I started. Says he likes to look out windows and my flashing display is causing problems. Also goes on to say he is an atheist and this is frightening him and he is losing sleep because of the blair of my lights (less than 18000).Funny thing is I know all of my neighbors and eveyone so far is ok with it but on the other hand I do not wont to provoke any vandalism or harm to my family. We live in a great area and crime is nit an issue or anything else. Anyone care to give some advice? Has anyone else received this type of scrooge mail? What did you do or not. I am a 1st yearer and just want everyone to enjoy the lights. As you all know I have many compliments because there just isn'y too many people doing what we do. We are unique and it is cool to see or we all would not be doing it.Thanks!WOOFLMAN:shock: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Well sounds like you are getting what many of us have. Never had a letter before but had a neighbor say that a certain light was shining in his window so I moved it and all was fine. I would say that just try to limit the flashyness if possible and watch the hours that you have your show running. Good luck and don't let it get ya down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 Depends on how far you want to go. If you are worried about it, you get the Police involved and make sure they know about the letter. Then, if something happens, they have somewhere to start. That, I think would be the extreme route.Did they say who they were? Was it anonymous? If so, there isn't much you can do, since you don't know who to talk to.I'd think if you are running until a reasonable time, then you'd be okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 For the right amount of cake...I can take the guy off your hands for you. I always wanted to say that...and they say that they don't believe in God? Ask them when you find out who it is "What God have to do with Santa..." and then maybe it will be OK, with them...Play both angels.Good Luck...Matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Thanks for the replies. My show runs from 6 - 9:30 and only 3 days a week for now. The letter is ananymous so I do not know who it is. Oh well, I will continue on and let the show go on! I will update everyone if something else happens.woolfman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 Continue on and maybe add a Happy Birthday Jesus or add a nativity or something too. Maybe it will get him in the Christmas spirit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 woolfman wrote: Thanks for the replies. My show runs from 6 - 9:30 and only 3 days a week for now. The letter is ananymous so I do not know who it is. Oh well, I will continue on and let the show go on! I will update everyone if something else happens. woolfmanWow.. In that case you go ahead and show it to the Police. Then you don't change a thing. If they can't tell you who they are, you can't help them, can you?Edit: Or better yet, send a letter to everyone on the street, mentioning that you received a letter from one of them, but since they didn't identify themselves, you are powerless to talk to them about it. (I have something of a mean streak this morning. Might not be best to take my advise.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 woolfman wrote: Thanks for the replies. My show runs from 6 - 9:30 and only 3 days a week for now. The letter is ananymous so I do not know who it is. Oh well, I will continue on and let the show go on! I will update everyone if something else happens.woolfmanAnonymous? How many neighbors do you have that are grandfathers with a 7 year-old with seizure problems within line-of-sight of your house?If the answer is 'zero', I would write it off as an angry person that wouldn't be happy no matter what you did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 If the letter is anonymous, I would just ignore it. At this point I would not change my show one bit because who knows if it is just somebody that does not like your lights and they are making up the bit about the 7 year old and seizures. This bit about him being an atheist and it frightening him is kind of strange.If one of my neighbors did complain and I would talk to them about the issues and try and resolve them. Since the letter is anonymous, who knows if it is some nut that just likes to see if they can control you. There are some strange people in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 are you kidding me? only till 9:30? i feel i bit guilty shutting down at 10:30! i say buy the man some shades or better yet a blind for his window! we dont work this hard to dissapoint the many for a sad few! heck i spent $100 building a rope light fence to keep the mail man out only to have him cut through the middle of the display as i was on the ladder repairing an arch over my driveway! then i asked again to not walk through the display! some people are upset due to the fact that they would never go to these extremes to bring joy to themselves or other's and they are probably getting heat from loved ones to at least hang a strand of c-9's or something! i would also put some dummy signs out front saying "property is under video survalance"!IN CLOSING........KEEP'EM ON!!!:waycool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 are you kidding me? only till 9:30? i feel i bit guilty shutting down at 10:30! i say buy the man some shades or better yet a blind for his window! we dont work this hard to dissapoint the many for a sad few! heck i spent $100 building a rope light fence to keep the mail man out only to have him cut through the middle of the display as i was on the ladder repairing an arch over my driveway! then i asked again to not walk through the display! some people are upset due to the fact that they would never go to these extremes to bring joy to themselves or other's and they are probably getting heat from loved ones to at least hang a strand of c-9's or something! i would also put some dummy signs out front saying "property is under video survalance"!IN CLOSING........KEEP'EM ON!!!:waycool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 SORRY A DOUBLE POST! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 26, 2006 Share Posted November 26, 2006 My display just went live tonight (and it works wooohoo), so I haven't had the chance to get any scrooge mail yet. Personally, if I got a letter like this, I would maybe remove the "most blinky" song in the que for at least a couple weeks and tone down the blinkiness in the others. Other than that I would basically ignore the letter since there's no way of resolving it and it seems a bit far fetched. I mean, the odds of an old man raising a 7 year old susceptible to seizures are pretty slim compared to a guy who just doesn't like Christmas lights. If I had a kid with seizures, I would list off some small things you could do to make it "seizure friendly" and put my contact info down so I could talk to you to work something out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 I have been up and running since Thanksgiving night, only comment from the neighbors had been "How can we compete with that?" So far no problems and I dont forsee any at this point. I run from 6-10 every night.James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 bkdraft wrote: I have been up and running since Thanksgiving night, only comment from the neighbors had been "How can we compete with that?" So far no problems and I dont forsee any at this point. I run from 6-10 every night.JamesTell them it's not a competition between houses. Put up some lights and enjoy the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 I would think that if the letter was true, the old guy would have called the police, instead of just sending an anonymous letter. After all, if your child was having seizures, would you just send an anonymous letter? I don't think so.Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Anonymous letters should be placed directly in the circular file.We also shut down at 9:30pm on weeknights (10pm on Fri and Saturday) due to our neighbor's request. Not everyone likes to have traffic, noise, and blinking lights when they're trying to sleep, so it's not an unreasonable request.If your display is overly blinky (e.g. you like to strobe large groupings of lights on and off -- no offense but I see too much of that on some people's video's -- you might want to try to tweak some of the programming with a 'softer' effect -- but only if a REAL (non-anonymous) person complains.Good Luck,-Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 27, 2006 Share Posted November 27, 2006 Don wrote: bkdraft wrote: I have been up and running since Thanksgiving night, only comment from the neighbors had been "How can we compete with that?" So far no problems and I dont forsee any at this point. I run from 6-10 every night.JamesTell them it's not a competition between houses. Put up some lights and enjoy the season.It was all said in jest, actually there are quite a few very good static displays on our highway.James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 tfischer wrote: Anonymous letters should be placed directly in the circular file.We also shut down at 9:30pm on weeknights (10pm on Fri and Saturday) due to our neighbor's request. Not everyone likes to have traffic, noise, and blinking lights when they're trying to sleep, so it's not an unreasonable request.I wouldn't even wast the circular file space with it.If it's not signed - it's not a legit letter in my opinion - more of a prankster trying to mess with your head.Being kind to your neighbors is a VERY reasonable request, but wasting your time with someone that won't give a real name is a letter to hand to the local PD, and then let them deal with it. When I handed it to the PD I would tell them you consider this a "Hate" letter - they should take that real seriously.The one thing about this wonderful country - we have the right to choose - believe on the Lord Jesus Christ - or not, have a light show - or not, shop at WalMart - or not, live in peace - or be a Scrooge and have hate in your heart.Remember - Peace on earth everybody - and Good Will Towards all Men (mankind).Merry Christmas - and Blessings to you all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 So this "7 year old".... I wonder if he watches cartoons ( a well known cause of seizures), or plays video games ( another cause). The "old man", must be wealthly to raise a kid on his own at that age. And just what is his age. If my nieghbors had a problem they would come to me and say so. The ones across the street from me have seizures ( the father and son) and both have wathced it and have NO problems or compliants ( other then I should add more lights)LIGHT ON!!!!Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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