KATHLEEN, Ga. — A man couldn't stand drivers speeding through his neighborhood, so he spent about $300 to install speed bumps on his street.
The City of Perry made him remove them almost immediately because that's illegal.
"It's a beautiful neighborhood," Sean Leonard said. "You walk your dog, you walk your kids, they're walking home from the bus. The road's gonna be used for more than just vehicles. Like, share the road."
Leonard moved to Georgia from New York in 2010 after he met his wife, who's native to the Peach State. They've been living in the Wind River subdivision with their three kids since 2021.
"We have a problem with speeders in the neighborhood," Leonard said. "I noticed the issue since the get-go."
One of his neighbors also says speeding is an issue.
"Maybe nobody cares," resident Ben McLeavy said.
Leonard and McLeavy said they get along with most of their neighbors, but they were fed up with speeders zooming through their street.
"I was talking to a neighbor and somebody came by," Leonard said. "Pretty excessive speed. I yelled at them to slow down, because my daughter was out here, and they yelled an expletive at me. That was kinda like the last straw."
He took it upon himself to order speed bumps from Amazon. They cost him about $300.
He had to drill the rubber tarps into the ground and bolt them.
McLeavy said he helped install them because he was tired of how the problem affected him and his family.
"We try to play outside, but we can't do it in the front yard... because there are people speeding," the father of three kids under 10 said. "So we have to stick to the backyard."
There's a speed limit sign at the neighborhood's entrance, but Leonard and McLeavy said many drivers either disregard or don't notice it.
Leonard said they installed the speed bumps on Oct. 24 just before 6 p.m..
The next day, a City of Perry member came by and spoke to the house across the street from him and said "they will be removed," he said in a text.
Even though he installed them, Leonard believes the city talked to his neighbors instead of him because they've reached out to Perry in the past about installing a speed bump or sign indicating they had a child with special needs.
That evening on Oct. 25, he said, many people were posting on the neighborhood's community Facebook page to thank the person who installed the speed bumps.
However, not everyone in Wind River supports that.
Leonard said someone came by on Oct. 26 with tools to remove the speed bumps.
Home security footage shows two people dismantling the speed bumps.
"I confronted and stopped him," Leonard said.
They argued, he said, and "other neighbors came out in defense of me and told him to leave."
On Oct. 28, Leonard said the same person returned and removed the speed bumps while he wasn't home.
"I just don't understand how children's safety is a controversial issue," he said. "I didn't think anyone would disagree with the speed bumps."
Leonard and McLeavy's subdivision is in a part of Kathleen that is within Perry city limits.
According to City Manager Lee Gilmour, people are not allowed to make their own changes to public roads.
After confronting Leonard's neighbor across the street about removing the speed bumps, the city installed a sign on either side of their block instead to indicate to drivers a child with autism lived there.
"A need was expressed and we were able to address it," Gilmour said. "If we are able to help out neighbors in a neighborhood, then we will."
The City of Perry does not encourage people to install devices on the street because of liability risks. It also is not legal.
Instead, they advise you to reach out to them directly. You can reach out to the mayor, city manager or city clerk, they said.
Now, many on Leonard's block want a speed bump identical to the one at the intersection of the Wind River and Woodlands subdivisions. They started a petition calling for the city to build a speed bump in the area.
"Evidently, we have to get a petition through here to make sure that people don't pull 55 through a neighborhood with tons of kids," McLeavy said.
Gilmour said the majority of Leonard and McLeavy's neighbors must agree before the city can act.
"Generally, it's 65% of the affected property owners need to agree," Gilmour said.
Once the petition is approved by the council, public safety officers assess the area to determine a plan of action, Gilmour said.
It may take a few weeks to a few months to install the speed bump, though. However, that depends on the process, available materials and other contributing factors to the execution, Gilmour said.
Until that happens, McLeavy said, "It is what it is."