Toilet 'art' causes neighborhood conflict

CENTRE ISLAND, N. Y. - It started with two neighbors talking trash, and spread from there into "Bogey" Seaman's front yard.\nWhite toilet seats hang from trees, amid a porcelain garden of junked commodes, urinals and sinks. Nearby sits a discarded refrigerator, tastelessly decorated with a clown's head, totally incongruous in this extraordinarily affluent village.\nSeaman, an eccentric millionaire, deems it art. Most other residents call it an eyesore. And neither side in this eight-year-old fight is willing to budge.\n"I've been having trouble with the village, and this is the way I express the way I feel," says self-proclaimed artist H. Bogart Seaman Jr., pointing to the trash gallery in front of his three-acre waterfront property.\nIt's Seaman's claim of First Amendment rights of freedom of expression that has hog-tied Centre Island Village officials in their battle to remove the display from his property, nestled in an elegant community of manicured lawns, English gardens and America's second oldest yacht club.\n"This is not someone putting up pink flamingos which you may not feel attractive," said Michael Chalos, a maritime environmental attorney and a village trustee. "This is not artwork. It's pure malice done to spite a neighbor."\nThe art collection debuted in 1997 during a Hatfield and McCoy style-dispute between Seaman and next door neighbor John van Merkensteijn III. Seaman complained that his bedroom was illuminated nightly by outdoor lighting installed by his neighbor. Village officials, measuring the amps by a light meter, agreed and told van Merkensteijn to dim the lights. He complied after the village passed a strict light ordinance, said Village Mayor Jack Williams.\nBut the bickering continued, with Seaman filing petty grievances against van Merkensteijn -- such as leaving a garage door open with the light on.\n"They were annoying each other," Williams said. "It was a game of one-upmanship that has now taken on a life of its own."\nOne night, Seaman dumped a row of the broken appliances, collected at junk yards and on the beach, along their shared property line. Van Merkensteijn, an attorney, went to court. He filed a nuisance lawsuit claiming deprivation of the enjoyment of his property.\nState Supreme Court Justice Ute Lally, a Centre Island resident, dismissed the case, saying the plaintiff failed to show that Seaman's debris met the legal criteria for a nuisance finding.\nVan Merkensteijn put his white-shingled, 11-bedroom mansion up for sale. It was purchased last year for $8 million by media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who became only the second most-famous resident of the two-mile sliver of land off Long Island's famed Gold Coast. Its 500 residents already included singer Billy Joel.\nSeaman said he has no dispute with Murdoch, whose empire includes the New York Post and the Fox News Channel. But he refuses to remove the "artistic" trash clearly visible from Murdoch's new retreat.\n"I told him, 'I am sorry I messed it up for you, but I want to be compensated for the damages I suffered from the other guy,'" Seaman said. He is hoping the junk will persuade Murdoch to cancel the sale, and force van Merkensteijn to move back in. Van Merkenstein was reached at his new home in a neighboring town, but he had no immediate comment.\nMurdoch, only an occasional visitor, is ignoring the porcelain display, Williams said. Murdoch was traveling and not available to comment, spokesman Howard Rubenstein said.\nSeaman, 57, was the son of a prominent Long Island family. His father was a banking executive and Republican Party official. Following his parents' divorce when he was 15, he and his mother continued to live on Centre Island. He's lived alone in the house since her death in 1993.\nVillage officials said they have fruitlessly tried to reason with Seaman, but he remains adamant.\nWhen they adopted an ordinance regulating the display of offensive material by homeowners, Seaman relocated much of his "artwork" to the front yard -- and added an inflated Santa Claus standing at a urinal with a sign, "freedom of expression."\nThat case is pending in village court.\nWhen officials planted bamboo trees as a shield along the roadway, he called it "censorship with trees" and allegedly ripped them all out. He was arrested and charged with two felonies for destruction of property and is awaiting trial in Nassau County court.\n"The man obviously has a problem and they should handle him more diplomatically rather than pass these unconstitutional laws," said Jim Mooney, a longtime resident and former mayor.\nResidents feel victimized. They are concerned about depreciating property values, inviting guests over to dinner, or simply taking a walk down the road past the junkyard. Some mothers drive their children to school to protect the youngsters from viewing what they consider to be a vulgar exhibit as they wait for the bus near Seaman's house.\nSeaman is unmoved by the complaints, and offers his fellow residents a quirky caveat.\n"You should be nice to your neighbors," he said. "They can make you wish you never lived here"