Families feud in suburban Baltimore

COLUMBIA, Md., Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A feud between neighbors in a Baltimore suburb has become so expensive a judge suggested the county buy one of the family's homes just to end it.

Police in Howard County have made more than 100 visits in the past seven years to the quiet dead-end street in Columbia where the Cerny and Elliott families live, the Baltimore Sun reported. Criminal charges have been brought a dozen times with no convictions so far.

The 13th criminal case was scheduled for trial Thursday but was postponed.

Howard County Police Capt. Kevin Burnett was subpoenaed to testify in a lawsuit brought by the Cernys.

"They're the modern day Hatfields and McCoys," he told the Sun. "They'll do anything to aggravate one another. I'm shocked no one has gotten up and moved. Now it's turned into a contest of wills."

The feud apparently began when the two families were building their houses and the Elliotts heard a rumor that the Cernys were planning an in-ground pool.

Events took a serious turn in 2002 when someone told social service authorities the Cernys were abusing their daughter, a claim that proved to be unfounded.