Fred Bollen owns a home on Eutaw Street. He lives a few blocks away, but that does not mean the house is empty. He has nine cats who call it home. “My wife comes here twice a day,” Homeowner Fred Bollen said. “She changes the water and the potties all the time.”
But the owner of the property next door, Ben Kowalczyk said it’s not enough. The stench is just too much to bare. “It’s consistently kept getting worse,” Kowalczyk said. “I was doing renovations and I can move into the house, but I can’t cause it smells so bad.”
But Bollen said it’s Kowalczyk’s fault. “He tore the ceiling out of his kitchen to do a remodel of his bathroom and our ceiling connects to his,” Bollen said. However, Kowalczyk does not see it that way. “I don’t care how it’s coming over,” Kowalczyk said. “The fact is it’s caused from his side and the cats. He needs to get rid of the cats.”
The New Cumberland Police Department issued Bollen citations in connection with the cats, but they are still meowing on Eutaw Street. The two men have been arguing about the cats for over a year, and Bollon said Kowalczyk offered to buy his house, but he declined. “He wants to flip the house and either live in it or sell it,” Bollen said.
Kowalczyk said his desire for the house is not a secret. “I would like to take the house,” Kowalczyk said. “I mean I would rather own it than have an owner that neglects the property and lets it fall apart or lets the animals ruin it.”