Neighbor put up ‘disturbing’ art display over tree trimming dispute, woman says

DALLAS (KTVT) - A Texas woman says a dispute between neighbors over tree trimming turned into a creepy and threatening art display.

Jeannie Trebisky recalls the moment when she walked into her backyard and saw eyes staring at her from what her next-door neighbor calls an art installation.

“I just stopped and said, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Trebisky said. “My heart stopped because all I could see were these eyes staring at me.”

The North Dallas grandmother, who lives alone, says the display is retaliation for trimming her neighbor’s crepe myrtle trees, which were hanging over the fence above her pool and dropping their flowering leaves.

“It’s just very disturbing, and I googled the pictures to see what they mean. One of the captions that came up is ‘be prepared to be very scared,’ so, to me, that’s threatening,” Trebisky said.

Trebisky says she had a legal right to trim the trees and that her neighbor didn’t object at the time. But her neighbor claims the tree trimming went way too far and exposed her backyard patio to anyone who may want to look down onto it from Trebisky’s upstairs window.

“She’s afraid of me looking in her yard, which I’m not,” Trebisky said.

After the tree trimming, Trebisky says the neighbor placed signs saying “no trimming” along the fence inside Trebisky’s backyard. She immediately took them down, but soon, she woke up to find three large murals of eyes installed on top of the fence.

Trebisky complained to the city about the murals. Dallas code enforcement officers declared them illegal graffiti and ordered them removed, but they were replaced by silk screen images that Trebisky says the city still hasn’t ruled on.

“It’s just anxiety every morning… You can’t even enjoy your backyard when you see something like this,” Trebisky said.

She adds that the creepy images have scared her grandkids and even her dog.

Civil attorney Jeremy Wilson believes the display violates private nuisance laws.

“There seems to be no utility to this artwork other than to annoy and harass her neighbor,” Wilson said.

Trebisky says she is prepared to file a lawsuit and go to court, if the city doesn’t intervene.

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