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Editor's note: This article about a lawsuit involving real-estate covenants referred to J&S Electric Co. owned by Steve and Jennifer Miller of Summerfield, not J&S Electric Co. of Greensboro owned by Raymond Spillers.

SUMMERFIELD — Before an acrimonious lawsuit — and a stalking case alleging that a resident put his neighbor under surveillance and took hundreds of photos, some as early as 5:30 a.m. — Spring Lake Farms was a welcoming place.

It was the kind of roomy, open subdivision, just over the Rockingham County line near Greensboro National Golf Club, where people move for a peaceful country setting.

“We long for the kindness and friendship that once existed here,” longtime residents Beverly and Dewey Meisenheimer wrote in a letter tucked in a Superior Court file that is three inches thick.

Neighbors say the peaceful times ended when Steve and Jennifer Miller bought a lot in 2005, built a house and moved their young family in. Soon after, a retired couple 150 yards up the street sued the newcomers for allegedly violating real estate covenants forbidding commercial activity.

The Millers’ offense? They parked their unmarked work van from their electrical firm, J&S Electric Co., in the driveway and used the house address on their business license, to the chagrin of Dr. Donald E. Matthieu Jr. and his wife, Carol.

And out of what fellow neighbors consider a molehill of a quibble, grew a mountain of a quarrel.

First came a drawn-out 2007 lawsuit filed by the Matthieus, obliging the Millers to produce tax returns, house plans, and all documents including “diaries” that discussed the family business.

A week before the trial, in which the Matthieus planned to subpoena a list of witnesses that included the Miller children and their school counselor, the lawsuit was dismissed.

Next came a misdemeanor stalking charge, resulting in a prayer for judgment continued and a restraining order against Don Matthieu, preventing him from coming within 100 feet of the Millers’ property or taking pictures of them.

The retired pathologist testified in a 2006 court hearing that he took “hundreds” of photographs of the Miller home and the family’s vehicles and license tags. Included in Matthieu’s photo files was an incident in which the Millers’ cat was hit by a car a week after they moved in and a series of photos of Steve Miller walking his dogs.

Neighbors John and Lynn Stevens, who live across from the Millers, wrote the court that Matthieu had once been observed photographing the Miller home between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Matthieu appealed the restraining order, and in the meantime, filed a new civil lawsuit in late 2009 against the Millers based on the same claims as the last lawsuit. Among the documents he is now seeking: the Millers’ cell phone records.

“This is the weirdest thing,” said longtime resident Ella DeCoster, a former friend of the Matthieus who is also a friend to the Millers. “We used to have neighborhood picnics, get-togethers. That’s kind of gone by the board.”

Agreed neighbor Steve Melton: “Life’s way too short for this. The Millers are great neighbors. Everybody likes them. They have two kids who are good kids. It’s like, 'What’s the problem here?’ It’s just a very strange dynamic.”

Matthieu declined to be interviewed because of his pending lawsuit and referred questions to his lawyer, Eric Biesecker. Biesecker said Matthieu is acting within his rights.

“Homeowners in North Carolina have the right to protect the character of their neighborhood through restrictive covenants,” said Biesecker, who differed with the characterization of his client’s behavior as “stalking.”

The attorney said the photographs were gathered for a legitimate purpose — to document commercial activity — and Matthieu was merely taking pictures from the public street or from his own property, a vacant lot he owns which adjoins the Millers’ yard.

The attorney pointed to the fact that Miller, a self-employed electrician, uses his house address on his business license with the Secretary of State and makes business phone calls from his home.

In a hearing on domestic stalking charges against Matthieu in District Court, Steve Miller’s wife, Jennifer, denied that the family stores electrical supplies at the home or receives deliveries.

“I believe this is just an excuse to harass us, to take pictures of our children,” Jennifer Miller testified. “Every time they go outside, he’s there with a camera. He lurks around. I feel like I can’t relax and enjoy my new home.”

Matthieu told the court he never intended to take photographs of the children except to demonstrate what he called “a corporate transaction.” He recalled running to the scene to photograph one of the Millers’ employees picking up the family’s cat before the children could see it dead in the street.

Matthieu, who was represented by state Sen. Phil Berger, told the court his main complaint was that employees met Miller in his driveway in the morning to carpool and then repeated the process at the end of the day.

Matthieu also testified he had “observed phone conversations about business” and heard Steve Miller giving directions to employees.

“I don’t have any personal vendetta,” he told Jennifer Miller in court, “about you or about your house.”

The Matthieus’ civil attorney claims that it was instead the Millers who “lashed out.” Biesecker pointed to an unsigned fax that Jennifer Miller admitted sending to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an advocacy group then chaired by Carol Matthieu, to inform the group about the lawsuit.

Said Biesecker: “I think the Millers should have allowed this dispute to remain in civil court.”

In the Millers’ defense, neighbor Linda Schwoeppe said the five-year dispute has worn the family down.

“You can push a person only so far. They don’t have a business. They have an office with the books and stuff in the house. That’s not illegal,” said Schwoeppe, a retired restaurant owner. “In my opinion, it’s a personal thing because there are lots of neighbors who have home businesses and the Matthieus aren’t going after them.”

The Millers were served with the new lawsuit on New Year’s Eve. There is now a “For Sale” sign in front of their house in Spring Lake Farms.

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lorraine.ahearn@news-record.com