Kirby Manor Invasions Part 2

Sharon & Stephen Davies-Tight

Kirby Manor

11500 Detroit Avenue Apt. 707

Cleveland, Ohio 441102

NOTICE OF CEASE & DESIST

March 26, 2023

Mark Ricketts President & Chief Executive Officer

National Church Residences

2335 North Bank Drive

Columbus, Ohio 43220

To Mark Ricketts, and/or to Whom Else It Concerns:

On Wednesday, 15 March 2023 we both knew as soon as we came home from the doctor’s office that someone had been in our apartment. Lilly Belle, our service dog of almost ten years was beside herself. And limping. When I went to put her vest on to take her out, she didn’t want to go – she kept motioning in an agitated way to the bed under the table, going back and forth from us to it.

My husband and I were gone from 10:12 Am to 12:36 PM at the doctor’s.

Let’s get something clear right away,

We have given every single manager forewarning that no one was to enter our apartment without prior notice and without us being there, and that we would make sure that somebody was there. We’ve had a service dog since we first rented this unit, Lilly is our second. Rose, the first died under suspicious circumstances. We’ve also had items stolen from our apartment and actually caught the head of maintenance putting two valued paintings/prints in the trunk of his car.

Whether there was a service dog in the apartment or not, or whether we valued our possessions or not, no one had or has a right to enter unless prior arrangements were/are made with us, the tenants.

Not once since we’ve lived here, since 2009, have we ever given anyone permission to enter without us being here with the exception of heat or chemical treatments for pests, which for our own safety required an overnight outside of the building.

About six months ago, we left overnight with the understanding that the unit be locked after the treatment was over and they left it open all night. When we returned the next day, it was still open.

It is our experience that Kirby Manor does not train its staff and the roving maintenance people to abide by the rules of the lease.

Who would leave a door unlocked in a building with a high incidence of illegal entry and thefts?

We have abided by the conditions of the lease agreements since 2009 when we first arrived. Yet, the same cannot be said of Kirby Manor management – no matter who they were, and there have been many, plus their maintenance staff. They habitually break their own rules to suit their own convenience.

Kirby Manor staff has habitually broken their own rules about a 24 hour notice being given before entering units for non-emergencies. They have also consistently said not to call them for emergencies, but to call 911. So, even if there was an emergency and we weren’t there, Kirby would be obligated to call 911.

Even with long-standing staff members, maintenance has often tried to enter without prior notice, especially when there wasn’t a regular crew working this site, when roving maintenance would just show up at the door stating that they had a right to enter without notice, because it wasn’t one of those bank inspections.

However, to enter while no one is home without notice is an entirely different kind of HOME INVASION.

Once we settled Lilly Belle, we went out to lunch down the street. We returned at around 3 PM. UNDERSTAND NOW, THAT WE WEREN’T AWARE AT THAT POINT that anyone had entered our apartment. It wasn’t until the next afternoon when I turned on the stove light before going out for an early supper for St. Patrick’s Day with my husband, that I saw something hanging from the inside hood of the stove that upon further examination was an anti-incendiary device, disk-shaped with a fuse hanging down from it.

Lilly Belle is a service dog, but even if she weren’t she has rights and we don’t trust complete strangers coming into our apartment, illegally, unbeknownst to us, when our daughter is HOME ALONE – with no means to defend herself and no means to escape.

Which one of you would allow a complete stranger to enter your house with your child home alone?

Steve called the maintenance help line and a person named Arlee refused to call Kirby Manor Manager to ask if she told someone to enter our apartment without a prior 24 hour notice to install an anti-incendiary device. Or if she knew anything about it. If she said she did, then our complaint was with National Church Residences and we wouldn’t call the police out.

Historically, the Cleveland police and Kirby Manor do not have a good working relationship, since the management staff refuses to help the police when videos are needed to identify a person doing something illegal. The police have also said, via Kirby Manor, not to call them unless it’s fire, flood or blood.

Understanding the worldwide terrorist threat from being on the brink of a World War III, while being an animal-rights and anti-war PeaceWithoutSacrifice activist in a multicultural facility with many angry visitors coming and going, then finding this device under the hood of our stove with no explanation on how it got there, with a fuse hanging from it, with no instructions on how it works or what to do when it gets activated or even what activates it, then recalling two days before how Lilly Belle acted when we came in from the doctor visit, put us on the highest alert, for Lilly Belle’s safety, our safety and the safety of everyone in the building.

Arlee from National Church Residences HOTLINE refused to call management, saying they would never do that – enter an apartment without notice – and told Steve that because of the unlawful entry and the suspicious nature of the device that we should call Cleveland Police.

The police came out a few hours later and after stating many reasons why it might be there and not having proof of Kirby Manor Policy about entering without notice or consent, they left.

SEE SOMETHING. SAY SOMETHING. FELL ON DEAF EARS.

Later that evening there was a loud knock on the door. It was a person with no identifying name tag or clothing, who refused to give his name stating that he received an emergency call about a stove device spitting flames.

Why this person was responding several hours later, after hours, calling it an emergency, when all we wanted to know was who placed the device and why it was placed without notice is unknown to us. No one from National Church Residences or Kirby Manor office called us. This man we had never seen.

When questioned about Lilly he kept motioning to one of the bedrooms, yet denied entering the apartment. Lilly was standing right behind us. The one he pointed to was the one she was in that day. There are two bedrooms, she could have been in either one, depending on how I feel about it.

He said he didn’t enter the apartment, he just reached over like this and installed it. That wasn’t entering an apartment to him. I said, so this kitchen isn’t part of the apartment? Evidently not, he shaking his head no, and saying you don’t understand, and you’re not listening, and I guess your view matters and my view doesn’t matter. I wanted to protect everyone. Every single person in the building has one. I wanted to PROTECT YOU. He just wasn’t getting the part about a 24 hour notice to enter. He sounded coached. Everything he said was parsed.

This message he got on his phone about flames over the stove was an emergency he said, and he knocked, he didn’t use a key to open the door – even in an emergency. Nothing of it was making any sense.

When I asked him who told him to install the devices, he denied that Kirby Manor told him, after much thought, saying it was in the supplies – in the room. Nobody told me, no, no, not Kirby, not here. I just… and then a lot of pauses. It was difficult to understand him, since he was trying to cover all his bases. I don’t know who else would have told him to install them.

Installing anti-incendiary devices wasn’t an emergency, yet he entered at will.

On the way out, the police could tell we weren’t satisfied with their responses, giving Kirby Manor every reason under the sun why they would install them without telling anybody. So he said to take it to housing court, which I didn’t agree with, so he said he’d ask people on the way out if anyone else had them installed. Not many people hang around waiting to talk to the police. Steve did however go down to check the mail and a couple people said they got them with no notice of entry. One woman was still in bed sleeping when she woke up to someone in the kitchen.

Many other tenants know that Steve and I have strict rules about entering without notice, because of Lilly being alone, yet somehow the management and maintenance don’t comply with the rules they set – even though they’ve been reminded repeatedly. We even said we’d send a certified letter and Tia, the manager at the time, replied with an adamant NO, we’ll take care of it. Don’t send a certified letter.

It must take too much effort to send out notices, but they do it all the time – except for this time.

It seems Kirby Manor leasing agents want total access any time, day or night, like that manager a few managers ago said, ‘we can enter at will any unit for any reason at any time.’

That dominating slave-master prison guard attitude that is applied at Kirby Manor needs to end and it needs to end with far more than a promise.

I could have called the FBI or Homeland Security. They would have sent a hazmat team out. In fact I might send them a copy of this letter, since the person who came to the door who still doesn’t have a name inferred that Kirby didn’t tell him to install them but somebody else might have, still leaves that door open. How many units did he really put them in? He used mostly facial and body gestures to communicate.

Who initially supplied them? Did they come from a donor or were they ordered from a reputable company?

Coincidentally a few days prior, the new person next door asked to borrow a can opener – said we ‘weren’t able to get one’.

So these anti-incendiary devices were just laying around – over 200 of them – and he decided on his own without conferring with Kirby Manor – to install them himself in every unit without giving anybody a 24 hour notice? Where was Kirby management that they didn’t see him doing this?

Who sent over 200 of these units to Kirby Manor without any pre-instructions to tenants on what to expect, how to care for it, what happens if it goes off and spills powder everywhere? Is it dangerous? How do you clean it up?

Kirby Manor had some electric company come out a while back to install energy saving light bulbs in all the units. It was a big deal and we all were sent notices.

Why not this time if installation was occurring in all units?

The first manager we came in contact with at Kirby Manor in 2009 who approved our application was named Dominick – he said there are two types of people at Kirby Manor – microwave or toaster oven. Most people don’t use their stoves; they’re electric; they’re too expensive.

I told the guy at the door that Lilly was limping when we came home. His response was mostly non-verbal sounds, with you don’t think…? while pointing to the room Lilly was in at the time.

My opinion is when he came in and saw our apartment he wanted to take a look around, opened the door, Lilly ran out, then he couldn’t get her back in. She probably ran under the table where she has a bed she uses when we’re home. He got desperate, reached underneath, she inched away each time, he grabbed her leg, pulled it with force and dragged her into the bedroom.

That’s my take on what happened to Lilly and I have a right to it based on what he said, the motions he made and Lilly’s limp and behavior. What else he did, or what he feels he has the right to do in the future I don’t have a clue. I believe he’s a danger to Lilly and to myself and to my husband.

Stephanie Jackson says we can’t prove anything happened. I claim, she can’t prove something didn’t happen.

I have him placed in my apartment without prior notice, using a master key to enter, leaving a device with a fuse on it, hanging from the stove by a magnet.

But I need a name to get a restraining order and the police showed no interest.

Today Steve called the Housing Court and explained the situation. They said they don’t handle crimes and illegally entering an apartment is a crime – call the police.

Steve calls the police once more and evidently a report wasn’t filed by the first officers who came out, so they said they’d send a cruiser out when one was available.

This turned out to be more of the same. Nobody cared about Lilly, since there was no proof. The police officer and Steve went to the office on premise to talk to the manager Stephanie Jackson. The officer said she stopped by he office before coming to our unit, but the office was closed.

Stephanie explained to the police officer that Kirby Manor decided to waive the 24 hour notice rule for all tenants to install the devices rapidly, since there had been several fire alarms recently.

There are always fire alarms – many – but recently there haven’t been as many as usual; we would have heard the alarms going off, so what was the exigent circumstances that created this emergency?

And after they were installed why didn’t the office send out notification of what they did and why they did it including instructions on what to do if one goes off over the stove? How to handle the device. What if it gets wet from steam coming out of pasta pots. There are a lot of questions with no answers.

The police officer accepted whatever the manager said. It seemed that the manager was alerted by the police department prior to them coming out, so was prepared. Even the guy was in the office.

The manager, Stephanie Jackson, said to Steve in front of the police officer, “I hardly ever see or talk to you, the only time is every 2-3 months you cause trouble with something like this. You’re nothing but trouble”.

Why would a leasing agent want to see Steve and hear from Steve more often?

Steve then explained to the police officer that he was assaulted by a guest at Kirby Manor a few months ago and pushed down the stairs, just before she tried to stroke him out in full view of office staff, while he remained motionless and took the assault. The police officer said, “that’s another issue”.

“You’re month to month”, said the manager. “You only have to give a 30 day notice. If you’re not happy here, leave”

“You’re free to go whenever you want and I wish you would.”

And that was it. The police officer wanted to hang back and talk to the manager. Steve wanted to stay for his input. The officer told him to go to the elevator and back to his room like he was a little boy, and she’d stay till he got on the elevator.

They both, Stephanie Jackson and the police officer, embarrassed Steve in front of other tenants and staff.

The man who entered our apartment illegally was in the office standing behind the manager when Steve and the police officer arrived.

Steve did hear someone call him Earl.

__________

I never should have had to fight this battle.

NCR chose to call something an emergency that wasn’t.

They chose not to send out a notification of explanation afterwards.

They chose to breach a contract, thus break a lease agreement independent of the second party’s knowledge, essentially putting every tenant into a category of ‘month to month’, as the manager, Stephanie Jackson called it.

There is only one word to describe how we felt when we realized someone had entered our apartment without our knowledge with a service dog in residence, home alone, and left hanging from the stove a disk with a fuse hanging out of it:

TERRORIZED.

__________

The fact that this was all done under suspicious circumstances leads to further suspicion.

Kirby Manor management, some guy named Earl, the police all lied to make Kirby Manor look good for breaking everybody’s lease without their knowledge and at least in one instance terrorizing a family with a service dog to do it, by failing even after the fact to explain to all those tenants whose leases they broke, what their options are now.

Emergency vehicles dispatched to Kirby Manor in the last year from March 2022 to March 2023 was 140, the greatest majority being ambulances.

Most of the time when the fire trucks come out it’s for a lot of smoke. People are short or wheel chair bound, or inflexible and can’t reach the smoke detector to turn it off in time.

All I have to do is make toast to set off the smoke detector in my unit. It’s a real nuisance, but I can however, reach mine in time. The way they were set up causes a lot of unnecessary dispatches. Maybe that should have been addressed first.

The staff acts too much like prison guards, acting like they own the tenant, taking all their privacy rights away. Like I said earlier, that needs to end.

Elder abuse in at Kirby Manor is rampant.

That the manager Stephanie Jackson was comfortable verbally abusing and humiliating my husband in front of a police officer for bringing attention to his unresolved assault by an out of control visitor, calling him a trouble maker for it, refusing to release the name so we could take out a restraining order against his assailant, that they all witnessed, and then now, when they entered illegally to install something that looked like a bomb, with a service dog in residence, anybody with eyes to see would know that the fix was in, which makes that police officer – badge number 758 service number 2023 – 079256 – complicit in the abuse telling the story that needs to be made public in order to end the elder abuse at National Church Residences once and for all.

The officers minds were closed before they arrived, both times. The offending parties were coddled and the accusers were demonized and humiliated.

CEASE & DESIST NOTICE

This is a CEASE AND DESIST NOTICE to block any person or entity or representative of any entity or anyone or any group from entering our unit without a 24 hour written notice –

– and further to block in particular the person named Earl – A SUPPOSED EMPLOY OF NATIONAL CHURCH RESIDENCES, who knocked on our door Saturday 18 March 2023 several hours after the police left claiming to be maintenance responding to a message on his phone – not saying who left it – refusing to give his name when asked, who admitted to me, Sharon Davies-Tight, that he entered our apartment without prior written notice or consent DAYS EARLIER to install an anti-incendiary device, claiming further that Kirby Manor did not tell him to install it.

Sincerely yours,

Sharon and Stephen Davies–Tight

current tenants since 2009 at Kirby Manor, Cleveland, Ohio March 26, 2023

___________________________________date______

Stephen and Sharon Davies-Tight

11500 Detroit Avenue

Apt. 707

Cleveland, Ohio 44102-2360

THE KIRBY INVASIONS PART I