Sometimes you just know something is going to happen, no matter how much you try to prevent it.

Mary Butcher, an 84-year-old widow who lives in Homewood, just knew the large maple tree next door was going to fall and crush her chain-link fence -- especially since it had been leaning on it for some time.

Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette
Mary Butcher's fence was damaged when a tree on the property adjacent to hers fell.
Click photo for larger image. Listen inLawrence Walsh speaks with both parties involved:
Mary Butcher talks about the tree problem.
Property manager Nick Kefalos makes amends.

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In an effort to prevent that, she called Nick Kefalos of Kefalos & Associates Real Estate, the Wilkinsburg-based company that manages the property for an out-of-town homeowner. He didn't return her call.

Last December, she called him again because the tree appeared to be succumbing to gravity. He didn't call back.

The tree fell during the winter and flattened her side fence. She called Mr. Kefalos. He didn't return her call.

"I just hate being ignored," she said. "If he didn't want to talk with me, he could have at least sent me a letter."

She filed a complaint against him before District Judge Kevin Cooper to force Mr. Kefalos to remove the tree, repair the fence, pay for the court costs and punish him for failing to do something about the tree. Meanwhile, another similarly sized maple tree fell beside her back fence.

A hearing was set for March 29. Mr. Kefalos didn't show. Mrs. Butcher wasn't pleased. Neither was the judge. The hearing was postponed until April 12. Mr. Kefalos appeared and apologized to Mrs. Butcher and the judge. He said he forgot about the earlier proceeding. The judge urged them to settle the case and said they could use his office to do so.

Mrs. Butcher, a retired anesthesia technician, former Democratic committeewoman and longtime community activist, had Mr. Kefalos on the defensive and pressed her advantage.

In a one-page agreement signed by each of them, Mr. Kefalos promised to remove both trees, repair the fence, pay $1,000 in punitive damages and cover the court costs of $74. Everything was to be done by May 15, but only the trees had been removed by that date. The judge told her to wait another 30 days. She did. Then she called me.

"I got tired of waiting on that man," she said. "Come out and see for yourself what happened to my fence. All of this could have been avoided if he had acted sooner rather than later."

During my visit to her back yard, Mrs. Butcher showed me the damage to her once-sturdy fence. Although the workers who removed the trees tried to straighten it up to prevent her dog Winter from jumping over it, she said he has the bounding ability of a kangaroo and can clear it. She keeps him chained on the back porch. He doesn't like it.

I called Mr. Kefalos, a personable individual who was refreshingly honest.

"I let her down and I let myself down," he said.

Although he said he doesn't remember her calls last year, he doesn't doubt that she made them, based on her perseverance and persistence in getting him to make things right.

"We manage about 700 properties," he said. "What happens during the day is that I am pulled in many, many directions. Unfortunately, there was a time when I wasn't paying attention to Mrs. Butcher. She really is a fantastic woman and, frankly, she deserved much better service than what I gave her.

"I will take that into the future and remember it."

Since my visit, Mr. Kefalos met with Mrs. Butcher at her home, gave her a cashier's check for the punitive damages and court costs and sent a check to Allegheny Fence Construction Co. in Hazelwood. It will cost $820 to repair the 5-foot-high green vinyl-covered chain-link fence.

He said it cost $3,000 to remove the trees because her back yard is inaccessible from the street. He said the trees had to be cut up in small sections and carried out.

His advice to other property managers or landlords who find themselves with trees threatening to fall and damage the property of next-door neighbors?

"Keep an eye on them and try to remove them faster than I did."

When he said his client has agreed to sell the property, Mrs. Butcher said she'd help him find a buyer. She said it's the neighborly thing to do.

First Published: June 29, 2007, 1:15 a.m.