Three neighbors of Eureka Springs City Council member Harry Meyer accuse him of continual harassment and trespassing, with one alleging he committed “assault” using a vehicle.
During public comments at the regular city council meeting on Monday, July 14, three Cross Street residents voiced grievances against Meyer over a series of incidents that they say boiled over on Sunday, July 13, when neighbor Ruth Virginia Seymour alleges she was “ran over” by Meyer.
“I’m in front of you to bring to your attention that you have a councilman that has assaulted me with a vehicle,” Seymour said during public comments at Monday’s meeting. “It happened yesterday evening in my neighbor’s access to the street and he actually left the scene. After he ran over me basically, he didn’t stop. He got out of his truck, locked, and went into his house.”
Seymour said Meyer’s daughter, Eureka Springs City Clerk Treasurer Ida Meyer, witnessed the incident.
“His daughter was a witness and I asked her to stay when I called 911 to no avail,” Seymour said.
Ida Meyer told the Times-Echo by email on Wednesday, July 16, that she had no comment.
Seymour, who lives across the street from Harry Meyer, said the incident happened just after 3 p.m. Sunday when she returned home from visiting her sister and discovered that Meyer had “gone over and messed with personal property” of Jim Marple, who lives next door to the city council member.
“… I called Jim Marple, and in the process of calling him and going over there and taking pictures to send to him, I saw that Harry was down in his yard with a vehicle parked in a legal spot,” Seymour said. “… In that time he backed up his vehicle … came up his drive right back up and then proceeded to come straight at me knowing I was there.
“I yelled at him, ‘Harry, what are you doing?’ To no avail, he kept coming. So, I wanted to present that to you. It’s reported to the police. I will be getting back with you on this. I demand council to take action against this mean, malice, callous and hazardous person to the citizens of Eureka Springs. He has abused his privilege as councilman and has broken the law with a felony action.”
Seymour said the incident was reported to the Eureka Springs Police Department.
“I understand it has to go to the state department,” she said. “Then we will find out in about a week how I will proceed, but I will be back to discuss this with you.
“At this time, I just want it noted that he hit and run, and he also blatantly ran over me.”
Eureka Springs police chief Billy Floyd said earlier Monday that a report had been filed and an investigation was ongoing.
ASP investigating separate incident
Floyd also confirmed that the Arkansas State Police are conducting an investigation into a separate incident involving Meyer. Details regarding that incident have not been made public, pending completion of the investigation.
The Times-Echo reported March 27 that Meyer shot and killed his dog, a dachshund mix named Daisy, in his front yard in November 2024, using a bullet borrowed from the city’s animal control officer. Seymour witnessed that incident.
Marple called the Eureka Springs Police Department to report the shooting. Floyd said discharging a firearm inside the city limits is prohibited by a city ordinance but officers have the authority to exercise discretion in considering whether to issue citations for violations of city ordinances.
Floyd said Meyer apologized for the incident and was not cited.
‘ANGRY LITTLE MAN’
Marple, along with his partner Clyde Elder, followed Seymour to the lectern during public comments at Monday night’s meeting. Marple and Elder told council members of ongoing disputes they have had with Meyer.
It all started when Marple, who owned property on one side of the city council member, decided to buy a lot on the other side of Meyer’s home, they said.
“Mr. Meyer and I used to get along until I bought a piece of property on the other side of him, on the west side of him,” Marple said. “Well, after I bought the property, then he claimed that he wanted, he was going to buy the property. But he didn’t. I bought the property. So, he missed out. Well, he has been ever since then, and that was in November 2024, ever since then he has sought to seek revenge on me and to exploit his position as city councilman to harass me.”
Marple brought up an April 3 report in the Times-Echo, which revealed that Meyer had sent more than 50 text messages to the city’s code enforcement officer regarding Marple’s property.
“… Doing his level best, trying to get me in trouble,” Marple said. “I’ve never received a fine. I’ve never been in trouble. I always complied with everything. But, that didn’t matter to him. He was doing his level best to dig as deep as he could to try and find something. Well, he never did. He couldn’t find anything, so now he’s mad. He’s just a little angry little man. So, now he’s seeking revenge in every possible way that he can.”
Marple showed council members a photo of Meyer “harassing me in front of my property.”
“He walks by my property, he calls me an asshole from the street,” Marple said.
Then using a loud voice, Marple said: “He says, and … this is how he says it. ASSHOLE, walking in front my property.”
That led to a chuckle from Meyer, sitting at the council table a few feet away.
“You see him laughing? You see him laughing?” Marple said. “That’s Mr. Meyer. That’s Mr. Meyer laughing right there. Y’all saw him laughing. This is a picture of him, walking by my property routinely, photographing me in front of my property, harassing me, doing whatever he can to try and get me to do something so he can get me arrested.”
Elder, who said he shares a residence with Marple, said he’s had to install security cameras on their property because of Meyer’s “harassment and craziness.”
“His continuing harassment and craziness has continued … for the past seven months or more,” Elder said. “… I installed security cameras on Jim’s houses to protect his property from Mr. Meyer and to document the ongoing trespass of this vindictive neighbor.”
Elder said cameras were not pointed in the direction of the alleged incident involving Seymour on Sunday, July 13.
“Now, in that area, [Meyer] has knocked down mounds of Mr. Marple’s gravel, own construction gravel in front of Mr. Marple’s own property so he can park an old large flatbed truck there,” Elder said.
“[Meyer] pulled his truck from his backyard where it had been parked and, and once again has it parked in front of Mr. Marple’s property.
“Now, in the process he has assaulted another neighbor with his truck … Why can’t he park in front of his own property? Why is that? Because he has built an unapproved and unlawful fence in the easement in front of his property. He has since increased its height, endangered, entangled deer in the mesh, and has added even further to its height, and further added an electric fence in the easement. He has an illegal fence, and it needs to be removed from the property or moved back to the property line. Then he can park in front of his own property and conform to the laws.”
MEYER’S RESPONSE
Meyer spoke briefly on the accusations from his neighbors at the end of the July 14 meeting during council member comments.
“I’ve been accused of a lot of stuff tonight by my neighbors,” he said. “I can tell y’all this, and this is all I’m going to say about it, is that it all stems with the fact that they don’t understand where property lines end. If their property comes within 10 feet of the pavement, that is a city easement. And they’ve built a house within 5 or 6 feet of the pavement of the property line to the city.
“If my dog walked over there or on theirs, he would yell at me. He didn’t yell. He would yell: ‘Get that dog off my property.’ And I’ve had enough. And now they’ve got over an acre of ground and they pile all their materials out on the city easement, on the street, even where I parked my truck.
“Now they pile those piles there by where my truck was, simply to keep me from parking my truck there once in a while. I have to bring my truck out from below while my drive is not blocked — one of my renters parks there. And then I park it up there. And I did that [Sunday]. And then the craziness ensued. And that’s all I’ve got to say. Harassment, I think, is — I’ve been harassed. It’s not the other way around. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
