Neighbors' feud prompts bill to limit video surveillance

A property-line fight that escalated into a video surveillance war moves to the Statehouse on Tuesday with a hearing on a bill to protect people's privacy.

A feud between two Merrimack neighbors and the legislation it inspired has drawn national attention. The feud is headed to court while lawmakers wrestle with whether to prohibit one aspect of the dispute: video surveillance into a home's interior.

State Rep. Bob L'Heureux, a Republican from Merrimack, is the main sponsor of the legislation that would add home interiors and anyplace "where surveillance is conducted for voyeuristic purposes or for the satisfaction of prurient interests" to an existing law protecting private places such as public restrooms and locker rooms.

The law was passed after complaints that people were secretly being videotaped while partially clothed.

After an article detailing the Merrimack feud appeared in the New Hampshire Sunday News on Jan. 9, Good Morning America and The Oprah Winfrey Show contacted L'Heureux.

"I don't know why they're so interested," L'Heureux said yesterday. "I said, 'If I go on her show, she can come on my show.'"

L'Heureux has a local public access television show.

The dispute involves Ed Woodward, 44, a lifetime resident of Hoyt Street in Merrimack, and Andre Prince, 54, who moved next door to Daniel Webster Highway with his family in 2001.

Soon after the Princes moved next door, a disagreement over a property line escalated into a feud that resulted in numerous complaints to the police, erection of a 15-foot fence, two assault charges and the installation of at least six surveillance cameras.

Each man has mounted surveillance cameras on his home.

A hearing will be held next month on the misdemeanor assault charges. Prince is accused of hitting Woodward over the head with a stick and throwing a bucket of water on a repairman on Oct. 28.

Prince contends the pair were trespassing on his property to replace a light so Woodward could continue to videotape and monitor the inside of his fenced yard and the interior of his home.

Over the years, each has called the police to complain about the other more than a dozen times.

Woodward said he installed his cameras roughly a year and a half ago so he could sleep at night. He alleges that his mailbox was vandalized, gravel was stolen and basketballs have been thrown against his garage.

The dueling cameras led to Prince adding repeatedly to his fence to block Woodward's camera.

By NORMA LOVE

The Associated Press