Ernst J. Meyer 174 School Street.  Belmont, Massachusetts 02478
617-484-8109 617-489-1043 Internet: review@netcom.com

May 24, 2000

Dear Margrit,

The hemlock hedge around our Konnarock property was planted about 45 years ago. The hedge is now about 300 feet long, eight to ten feet high and three to five feet deep.  The evergreen mantle which makes the hedge attractive consists in a thin layer of new growth.  The interior of the hedge is a tangle of black branches and twigs, some of which nourish the evergreen foliage, but most of which are dead.  If one prunes the hedge too severely, it will die; if one does not prune it sufficiently, it becomes more and more unmanageable in size. As the hedge matures, adequate pruning becomes progressively more precarious. Even now the upper reaches of the hedge are very difficult and somewhat dangerous to trim with the ladders at my disposal.  In time there may be no alternative but to uproot some or all of the trees.  This is an expensive project which can be done effi- ciently only using a bulldozer and would unavoidably leave the grounds for weeks, if not for months, looking like a construction site.  Under the circumstances, I have decided to continue trimming the hedge as best I can, to remove any dead trees and possibly a sufficient number of living ones to provide access to the area behind the hedge, if and when we are ready to use it.  During their lifetime, Mutti and Papa hired various individuals to trim the hedge each year.  Since Papa died, for the past thirteen years, I have trimmed it myself. The project entails two or three days' work, depending on my energy and on the weather.

I understand from our two telephone conversations, that without consulting with me, or with any other member of the family, you arranged to have a commercial landscaping company, to whom you refer as "the Bartlett people" inspect the hedge.  I infer from our telephone conversations, that you represented yourself to "the Bartlett people" as having au- thority to contract for reducing the size of the hedge and obtained from them an estimate for the cost of the work to be done. Margaret is under the impression that you planned to have the hedge truncated in October when you expect to be here to work in the election.

From my experience in trimming the hedge, observing the black tangle underneath the relatively few remaining green branches, I conclude that the truncation which you requested would result in a broad band of exposed dark, unsightly twigs, some of which would after some years become masked by new growth, but some of which would indefinitely remain raw and unsightly.  I have no evidence that the contractor whom you consulted gave you a reliable description of the result of the work you proposed that he do. To me it seems likely that cutting off the upper third of the hedge would create so unpleasant a view that one would then find it necessary to remove the entire hedge at further great expense.When we spoke on the telephone, it occurred to me that what you were proposing was probably a serious mistake, and that, if you proceeded with it, the result would prove a profound em- barrassment to you.  

I therefore asked you not to proceed with the planned landscaping.  I cannot give my consent to a project I consider so ill advised.  Because of the considerable efforts that I have made to help create and to preserve this estate, I would like myself to make all necessary arrangements for repair, remodeling or landscaping projects.  As I make all decisions with Margaret's and Klemens' approval, so I would like to confer with you, and if at all possible, comply with your wishes, before I make a major change in the house or its surroundings.  But I cannot continue to invest so large a portion of my life in taking care of the house, if you insist on making surreptitious alterations or repairs, indifferent to my views and wishes in the matter.  I ask that even in an emergency, you make the effort to contact me by telephone before attempting any repairs.  Only in an emergency where delay would cause irreparable damage, should you proceed with repairs without my prior consent.

Perhaps it will help to consider the issues from a formal legal point of view.  You hold a fifty percent beneficial interest in the property, but you are NOT its legal owner.  Title to the property is in the trustee who alone has the legal right to contract for any modification or repair of the premises.  Under the terms of the trust in which the property is held, you have no legal right to enter into a contract such as you negotiated with "the Bartlett people," and doing so makes you legally liable to them for fraudulent misrepresentation. By truncating the hedge with- out my consent, "the Bartlett people"  incur liability to me for trespass, but I could never sue them, because they in turn would hold YOU responsible for having misrepresented yourself as authorized to let the contract, a charge against which you could not defend yourself and which would lead to your financial ruin.  

Of course, the trust can be revised to make you the trustee, and to transfer to you the authority and the responsibilty which is presently mine.  At the time that you signed the trust document, you did not want to assume any responsibility for the maintenance of the house. If you now wish it differently, I offer to renegotiate the trust, although, in all candor, since you have neither the requisite skills nor the required resources, I don't see how you could discharge the responsibilities of the trustee as I have done.  I am also willing to sell the property to the highest bidder and to disburse to you half the proceeds of the sale, if that is what you want.  However, as long as the present trust agreement remains in force, please DO NOT, except at my explicit direction, hire any person, or any company to repair or modify the house or the land.  

As I have said repeatedly, as long as the present trust agreement remains in effect or unless and until you have a permanent financially secure residence of your own, I will make the Konnarock house available for your use the year around. At the same time you should understand that I am not troubled by your choosing to live elsewhere, and if, even when you are in Konnarock, you prefer to find other accommodations, it makes no difference to me.  As I have said before, I expect you, if you use the house, then when you go away, to leave the house, the land, the hedge and the trees, in the same condition in which you found them, ordinary wear and tear excepted.

Dein Jochen