Gary Lucas, at 601 E. Sixth, lives across the corner from the property at 511 E. Sixth and said it's been abandoned for 24 years. His troubles began, Lucas said, in 1984 when the owners of the house divorced and moved away. Since then, he said he's put up with debris strewed across the yard, hobos breaking into the residence and grass getting as tall as three feet in the summer.

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"The city mows the lawn so much they think it's a public park," he joked.

But the condition of the property is no joke to Lucas, who said he's been contacting city officials for years with no results.

"They say they'll take care of it, but nothing gets done. It's something I've had to wake up to for years."

Another neighbor, Sherri Lukas, backed up Lucas' claims and said that the property has been an eyesore in the neighborhood for too long. Recently, Lukas said she saw kids jumping up and down on the crumbling porch.

"It's not safe and not what you want in the neighborhood," Lukas said.

Added Gary's wife, Ruth Lucas, "This is absolutely ridiculous. If a city official had to live where we do and put up with this, there would have been something done a long time ago."

Apparently, the city tried in the past. According to a 1991 McCook Daily Gazette article, the McCook Board of Health declared it a public nuisance and ordered the property to be cleaned up. If it wasn't, the city would clean it up and send the bill to the owners. If the bill wasn't paid, then the city could foreclose and sell the property.

But something was resolved as the house remained.

The property is owned by William and Betty Houdesheldt of Omaha, according to the property search Web site of the Red Willow County Assessors office. The one-story residential structure, built in 1929, has been assessed at $35,334, with property taxes of $712 paid.

More recently, Lucas said the city spent two days cleaning up the property, removing overgrown trees and other debris from the residence.

City Manager Kurt Fritsch confirmed this was done and that the owner was billed for the work. As to the city mowing the lawn, Fritsch said in the past the city had done this occasionally and billed the owner, but an individual was hired this year by the owner to do the lawn.

Lucas agreed that a person was hired to mow the lawn but that it was done on an extremely irregular basis.

In October, Lucas' battle took another turn when he was cited for littering when he left sections of a tree he had cut down in the backyard of the property, so neighbors could use it for firewood.

Although Lucas said the grass was so tall at that point that it completed obliterated the tree trunk sections, he was given a ticket after the tree service failed to pick up the trunks in a timely manner.

At his Oct. 14 court hearing for the ticket, Lucas joked he would fight it "all the way to jail" but ended up pleading guilty to avoid a lengthy trial. He paid the $50 fine plus $44 in court costs.

He and his wife plan to travel this fall and did not want to interrupt their plans for court appearances.

Another twist to the story came on Monday, when the property, along with four other McCook residences, was inspected by the McCook Board of Health to see if it met public nuisance criteria. The property is one of several that's being addressed by the Property Resolution Team, which is working with owners to clean up dilapidated housing in the city.

Present at the inspection was the owner, Betty Houdesheldt of Omaha.

Houdesheldt said the neighbors' complaints are exaggerated and she plans to move here next summer after she retires. She's hired someone new to paint and fix up the house, she said, and that someone will be hired to shovel the walk in the winter.

Houdesheldt said she comes to the house a couple of times a year and doesn't find a problem with the residence. "It's in pretty good shape," she said.

Lucas noted that Houdesheldt has promised in the past to fix up the house and move back, but nothing ever became of it.

"Every year she says that," he said. "And every year nothing changes."

Still, after two decades of living across from the house, Lucas said he hasn't given up on getting something done. He's been encouraged by the Sept. 29 action of the McCook Health Board, when a house on West Fourth was declared a public nuisance and condemned.

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease," Lucas sighed. "The only way I'll get anything done is to just keep squeaking, I guess.