'If it was your backyard, would you put up with it?'; Woodstock homeowner frustrated by encampment next door

A Woodstock homeowner says she’s at her wit’s end over a homeless encampment situated alongside her backyard. She’s calling on the city to do more to help those living rough, so she can live in peace.

A Woodstock homeowner says she’s at her wit’s end over a homeless encampment situated alongside her backyard. She’s calling on the city to do more to help those living rough, so she can live in peace.

“We border on a forest, but the forest doesn’t just have animals anymore. There’s people living there. They’ve been there for over a year, and there’s been a lot of chaos,” explained Beth Merryweather.

Merryweather and her husband live in a corner of the city next to a wooded area - she’s called police, fire, and city officials to her property multiple times.

In fact, she says she’s called Woodstock’s non-emergency line so many times that they now know her by name.

It’s all because a man, woman and dog have moved into an elaborate encampment in the woods next to her house. The site includes a large tent accompanied by several smaller tents, a motorbike, and plenty of visitors at all hours. Because they are camped on city property, Merryweather says nobody will move them.

“There’s fighting, there’s screaming. Screaming ‘I think you broke my arm,’ coming from a female. I’ve had fires. There’s a motorcycle revving up,” she explained.