My husband and I purchased our home in December of 2013. The property our home is on was a large plat in the City of Seattle. The plat was subdivided and easements put in place, then new homes built in the back of the plat. Our standalone home is the furthest one back from the road. To get to our home we must use the driveway and parking easement. This easement crosses the properties of a 1951 building which was converted into two attached townhomes. The parking spot we own resides on one of these properties and is part of the easement. Along with the easements, there are Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (CC&Rs) in place for the community. CC&Rs are also known as bylaws, they are the rules and property limitations of a planned community. All homeowners in the community agreed to the CC&Rs prior to buying each of their homes. Agreeing to the CC&Rs is a requirement to buy a home in our community.
According to public records, in March of 2015 each one of the attached townhomes in the 1951 building were sold. Each one was sold to one of two sisters and their husbands. Shortly after moving into the community, these sisters and their husbands notified the five other homeowners, they were going to build over the easement for parking and a driveway among other things. Fundamentally, they were going to make my parking spot unusable and even acknowledged their plans were “not ideal” for my spouse and I.
We did what most reasonable individuals would do and said “no.” What ensued was a tsunami of what one of our lawyers coined “Jerry Springer Theatrics.” These theatrics include accusations like I’ve been making videos of them eating their Thanksgiving Dinner through the windows of their own home to making videos of their naked children. These two jaw-dropping and flat out slanderous (IMO) accusations are just some of the tactics our neighbors and their lawyers have used against us over the years.
In the pages and posts to follow I will walk you through my take on the surreal reality these individuals have thrust upon the other five households on this plat. I’ll also share how broken and messed up our judicial system really is. I’ll be exposing what I believe are lawyers who make sport of harassing innocent and law-abiding citizens on their client’s behalf as well as judges who simply don’t care about the reality of a situation. We’ll also take a look at some local elected officials I believe have a sense of integrity and those I think don’t. I plan on exposing the hypocrisy of certain Seattle City Council Members. I’ll also show how the City of Seattle will bend over backwards for developers and turn a blind eye when developers harm residents of the city. I will take a look at judges and how I believe some think they are above the law and thrive in what I believe to be a vivid display of bias. I’ll also expound on why it is so imperative the citizenry be able to transparently track the rulings of each and every judge in this country.
My hope is that by sharing my experience publicly, it will serve as a warning to others… Actions you take against others can be made public. If you are proud of your actions, or simply at peace with them, it shouldn’t be an issue if someone airs how your actions have impacted another.
With all the shenanigans and accusations my neighbors have deployed against me, they’ve only really got me for one thing… Flipping them off. Yes, they took me to court over flipping them off and won. It’s up for an appeal and I am both pleased and saddened to be able to share my experience and take on this matter. I’m at peace with flipping them off. I think many people would have done far worse than flip off these humans. I used the word “humans” loosely in the previous sentence because I believe they have no sense of humanity.
Without further ado, here are the players…
At the rotting head of this fish are my neighbors in the 1951 attached townhomes at the front of the property. They coined this nondescript dwelling “The Compound.” As I tell my story, I will expand with other players, including lawyers, judges and politicians, and what I believe their role in this legal nightmare has been… But first we need to start with the rotting head of this fish:
Drew Gillespie – Drew is the owner of Pike Brewing Company in Pike Place Market. I believe he is the master manipulator of this whole ordeal. The community trash area is located on his property. When purchasing his home, he asked if the trash storage area could be relocated. I’m assuming he didn’t want it on his property due to this ask. Who in their right mind would want the trash of seven homes on their property? Drew was told it could only be moved if the entire community agreed with moving it. Drew chose to make the purchase of his home anyway. I believe his actions have made it apparent he wants to expand his little empire by removing the community trash receptacle location from his property at the cost of the entire community, which also includes his in-laws. One of our lawyers said nearly exactly the same thing in court.
I’ve only talked with Drew a few times. One of those conversations made me recoil from him as if he were a hot flame. We were discussing how prior to him purchasing his home, the community had opened a warranty claim against the developer over the driveway which was deteriorating and not performing as it should. The community had employed a lawyer to formally open this claim. I told Drew the community needed to get a lawyer because the developer was running out the clock and we needed to stop the clock. I told him I didn’t like lawyers and his response was “I love them. I love to fuck with them.” A chill went down my spine… Here was my new adult neighbor looking me in the eye and telling me he took pleasure in fucking with people.
I honestly believe Drew has been fucking with me and the rest of the community since he bought his home. Truth be told, I believe it was his intent to exploit a flaw he found in the plat prior to closing on his home. I think he’s trying to capitalize on a flaw the developer made at the cost of his neighbors and in-laws. I think it’s pretty obvious he could care less about any sense of community – or the property value of his in-laws – and that he kicks morality to the curb when money, or the chance to make more, is involved.
Katie Ward – I don’t even know where to start with this one so I guess I’ll start here… She married Drew, the man who told me he takes pleasure in fucking with other humans. I believe Kate is single handedly tanking all of our property values. I honestly think she considers herself a farmer and someone who is beautifying the property. She uses random things like pallets and fire wood as yard art. She decimated the landscaping done by a professional landscaper in favor of what I and others in the neighborhood consider very poorly executed DIY projects and then abandons them… Those pallets she painted and put up as yard art are now decaying in place for the whole world to see. Damn it… I wrote this paragraph weeks ago but held off on sending it to the lawyer for review. One of the pallets disappeared but the other is still there. Her hodgepodge of what I and others consider l tasteless crap, just became more of a hodgepodge.
I believe she’s also responsible for the ‘trellis’ that just went up for everyone visiting the property to see as well. The trellis looks like a nylon dolphin net attached to their home. Bamboo is used to prop it up. And to think I thought those pallets were trashy!!! Truth be told, I know they saw me unloading nine sections of a steel trellis I put up along the back of our home late last summer… I think she got trellis envy and decided to one up me. Something tells me the steel, rebar and cement I used to create a freestanding trellis for kiwi and Boston ivy will hold up a lot longer than her dolphin nets, bamboo and nails or whatever it is she attached to her home. A friend told me the trellis I designed and installed was a “work of art”. Very few will ever see it but it was a resounding compliment. I doubt anyone will call her nails, lose netting and baboo “a work of art.” I know that was snooty and don’t care… Trash will be trash and create more trash in my opinion.
Katie was also the first one to start baiting me out of this group of “humans.” I bit her bait once as my husband and I were taking out the yard waste for the community and responded to her with “we have such nice neighbors” or something along those lines. After putting the yard waste beside the curb, we were walking back down the driveway and Drew came out and approached me in an exceedingly hostile manner. To me he appeared and smelled flat out drunk. To summarize, this is what I believe happened… Katie baits me, I tell her we have nice neighbors, she runs inside and to get her drunken husband worked up, he then comes out to assault me but backs down when he sees I’m not afraid of him and that I’m recording the incident. He retreated. Later I viewed our security camera footage and saw Drew came back for more and started to follow us from behind before retreating again.
In one of the mediations, the mediator implied the inhabitants of The Compound didn’t realize everyone visiting the property saw theirs first. I know, it’s not rocket science that the first property on the plat is what people see first but many people can’t see past their own little myopic world. And I also know, some people consider dolphin nets, nails and baboo works of art while others look at it and think “WTF?” The south side of Kate and Drew’s home always looks like what I would describe as the aftermath of a dumpster explosion. This is what the guests of the other five homes on the property are greeted by. Everyone walks by this eyesore (IMO) when they visit any other homeowner on the property. Should one of us decide to sell, that’s the first thing potential buyers will see. It’s simply trashy (IMO) and I believe it will be harder for anyone to get a great deal on their property knowing they need to walk by what the previously mentioned dumpster explosion aftermath. What’s out there gets hit by a tornado so frequently that we are always entertained; and disgusted. This is all on Katie in my opinion.
Emily Ascolese – I believe this woman is either a real piece of work or something is simply broken with her. I honestly think she does her husband’s bidding no matter how whacked, crazy or deplorable it really is. If that’s the case, then I believe she’s broken inside. If that’s not the case, then I’d go for she’s just a piece of work.
Here is a statement Emily once provided to the court:
“One encounter with Mr. Drinkwine in early June of 2016 stands out in my memory. I was in my second trimester of my pregnancy with our youngest daughter, and our oldest daughter was nearly two. I was at home during a very hot day caring for our oldest daughter, Illy. Toward the end of the day, to cool off, I filled my daughter’s wading pool with water outside our kitchen window so she could play in the water and I could place my feet in it. We did not go into our backyard because landscaping and construction in the backyard was not finished. My daughter was wearing a swim diaper. Our kitchen window is about 15-20 feet from the driveway in front of our house that leads back to the parking area near our other neighbors’ houses, including Mr. Drinkwine’s. My daughter and I were playing in the pool and the general area. At one point, Illy took off her diaper and toddled off toward Katie and Drew’s house and stared waling up their outside stairs. I followed after her and picked her up from the stairs, and when I turned around to walk back to the pool, I saw Mr. Drinkwine driving toward us up the driveway. I clearly saw him pointing his smartphone camera toward my daughter and me as he drove toward and past us in a manner that suggested he was making a recording of us.”
First, the video which I and my lawyers believe Emily staged, shows I was simply exiting the property and never driving “toward” her and the child. Emily stated I was driving “toward” her and her child twice. I believe, this is how she and those in The Compound word things to imply malice as well as double down on their Jerry Springer theatrics. Second, this area is their parking lot and for some reason, all of their vehicles are absent, normally those vehicles would obfuscate the camera’s view. Third, there is zero indication of any water or a pool in this video. Emily’s clothes are dry when she puts the child down. Even the child’s hair and sandals are dry! There’s not one indication of water in that video whatsoever yet Emily claims her child was playing in a pool. It’s obvious to me and my lawyers this video was manufactured by those in The Compound to claim I was recording their children naked – think making kiddie porn – as I exited the property.
I sincerely believe Emily staged a video using her own naked child so she and the others in The Compound could say I was making videos of their children naked. That’s the type of person I believe Emily is. That’s the type of people I believe reside in The Compound. This video is now public record and speaks for itself. I honestly feel sorry for that kid and any sibling it may have.
Patrick Ascolese – I intentionally saved what I consider to be the worst excuse of a human in The Compound for last. I can and probably will spend several weeks or months exposing the disturbing behaviors of this man but let’s just put it this way… What kind of person steps into court and asks the court to move all the trash from five households he just pissed off to a location right outside his front door? And in doing so, moves all that trash (including compost) even closer to a window he uses to cool off his house when it’s hot out? Trash which also includes a lot of pet waste. Let me reiterate… The trash of five households he pissed off, four of which he sued, and one who sued him!!! Someone who is an idiot in my opinion. Well, Patrick did just this. I will never understand this man and I’m glad I won’t.
Furthermore, what kind of man produces a video of his own naked child to imply that his neighbor is making videos of his kids naked? What kind of man produces a video of his own naked child on a camera named after the individual he is trying to imply is making kiddie porn of his children? I believe Patrick Ascolese did just that along with his wife and accomplice Emily Ascolese. He and his wife Emily produced and provided a copy of this video to my lawyers and I. Once again, I ask… What kind of human creates a video of their own naked child to imply someone else is filming their children naked?
The legal costs for these shenanigans have exceeded $100,000.00 for my household alone. If you find interest or entertainment in any of this, I would appreciate help in defending our property rights as well as my freedom of speech. When I say “our property rights as well as my freedom of speech” because each reader should understand these cases are fundamentally your cases… Precedent set here can impact you one day. Within a year or two, it could be illegal to flip someone off more than once in the State of Washington due to the legal actions and shenanigans my neighbors and their lawyers engage in. That’s a slippery slope to the courts really cracking down nationally on freedom of speech. You can help me protect yourself from neighbors like mine, and advocating for your freedom of speech, by making a donation using the ‘How can I help?’ link in the dropdown menu above or to my GoFundMe campaign which is located here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/PaulsLegalFund
