Reason #23 Why Not To Piss Off Your Neighbor

He owns a bulldozer.

PORT ANGELES, WASHINGTON — A Port Angeles man angry with his neighbors was arrested Friday after a rampage with a bulldozer-like logging machine that damaged four houses, numerous outbuildings, a pickup truck and a power pole, knocking out power to thousands of people.

One of the homes was knocked off its foundation.

Barry Alan Swegle, 51, was booked into the Clallam County jail for investigation of malicious mischief in the first degree, a Class B felony, with no bond set.

Authorities reported no injuries.

Clallam County sheriff's spokesman Jim Borte said investigators were told that Swegle and his neighbors had a long-running dispute, although he wasn't sure what it was about.

Phil Riley, a neighbor who witnessed the destruction, said a property line dispute between Swegle and property owner Dan Davis, whose two properties were severely damaged, “had been brewing for some time.”

Keith Haynes, who lives near the badly damaged homes on Baker Street in the Gales Addition area east of Port Angeles, said his neighbor “just went nuts.”

“He took a skidder and took out two houses,” Haynes said. “I mean demolished.”

A skidder is a bulldozer-like device used in logging. Haynes said Swegle owned the equipment. Borte said the machine was an International Harvester TD-25, similar to a Caterpillar D-9. 

A Barry Swegle logging company is listed as having been founded in 1997. The phone number has been disconnected.