> I don't want it to escalate into an actual war, I just want it to stop. So I'll call the police...
That doesn't make sense. If you don't want it to escalate into an actual war, why would you send armed agents to do your bidding? What would "an actual war" look like, if not that? Isn't Afghanistan (to name but one) an "actual war" even though you and I aren't there?
My main question is this. If you have determined that nothing will stop your neighbor except the actual threat of physical violence if he continues, why wouldn't you do it yourself? I don't mean to be rude or sarcastic; I'm genuinely interested in your thinking on the matter. Most people will say they find something "civil" in having someone else do the dirty work, and I can't figure that part out. If I hire a goon to go steal your stuff, would you not consider me a thief? How would my having an agent somehow change my position? Thanks if you can clarify at all.
I don't know if you read my other post, but I'm not in Wyoming yet, I'm still in Illinois. Life is different here. To put it briefly, the police are everywhere here, and the mindset is that you use them for things like this, because if you don't, if you take matters into your own hands, then the other guy WILL call the police on YOU. Following from my other post, the police here are just another "benefit" that you're "forced" to use, which just reinforces dependency.
You should understand, EVERYTHING is different here. There ARE weirdoes walking down the street, and people quite often have very little respect for other people. If you have two people who show respect to each other, and deal with each other honorably, then there would be no need for the police, because the situation wouldn't happen in the first place. But when you have someone as disrespectful as my neighbor, and because people taking matters into their own hands are frowned upon here, if I were to take matters into my own hands, the assumption would be that I'm a trouble-maker. Regarding my statement of "actual war", I was partially exaggerating, but in a sense, if I were to take matters into my own hands, this would be viewed as more-aggressive than just calling the police to "defuse" the situation.
Pelletfarmer, would you please tell me, and I mean this in the same spirit of your question, in order to learn, what would you do in a situation where a neighbor had cut down your brush and was dumping on your lot, and repeatedly talking to him did nothing to change his actions?