Judy Clabes: Southern un-hospitality rules in Cov historic neighborhood; David Klingshirn speaks out

We once claimed that Southern hospitality began at the river’s edge in Covington, but we’re sadly going to have to move the boundary lines — which seems to be in vogue these days — in a way that does not take in the city’s once-genteel Historic Licking Riverside neighborhood.

The story begins well enough when David Klingshirn, owner of a pharmacy in Cincinnati and Hyde Park and founder of the city’s American Classical Music Hall of Fame as well as founder of the Cincinnati Parks Endowment Fund, bought a grand home in the Covington historic district at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers. It was 1986.

It is a big house so David asked his friend, Marc Tischbein, to join him there and assume a 1/3 ownership, which he did. And they lived there happily for several years.

“Marc was my best friend,” Klingshirn said in a recent interview — and with a touch of anguish in his voice.

The relationship started going sour when Marc married Peggy Rankin, one of two daughters who inherited a substantial estate from their father, James Rankin. Klingshirn remembers him as a real “southern gentleman” who loved Kentucky, was a military man, and achieved success as president of the NuTone company. Early in his career, he was a teacher at Sixth District Elementary School.

In 1993, Klingshirn, Tischbein, and Rankin purchased the Carriage House together and undertook extensive renovations that included the building of a second garage to join with one attached to the Carriage House. The Carriage House had at one time been part of the Main House so they put the package back together. Tischbein and Rankin undertook extensive remodeling of the Main House as well.

Klingshirn moved into the Carriage House and always paid the taxes and insurance on the house and the two attached garages. And, he thought he had a “gentleman’s agreement” with the couple that at some point they would sell the property as one piece and split the proceeds as agreed. But when they got a nice appraisal for the property, Peggy announced, “I will never move.”

Because he was counting on the sales proceeds for his retirement nestegg and he could no longer afford to keep up with the expenses of the property, he put the Carriage House — and its two garages — up for sale. The Tishbeins declined to buy the Carriage House from Klingshirn, saying it was too expensive.

Here’s where Lorrie and Scott Hill enter the picture. They were living in the high-powered and high-stressed New York City area. Lorrie was retiring from an important government position and Scott was an editor of a major national magazine with offices in downtown NYC. The commute was killing, and Lorrie wanted to come home to the Cincinnati area. She had always dreamed of a home with a view of the river — and they learned of Klingshirn’s desire to sell his Carriage House. Klingshirn was a deacon in their Cincinnati church and, in 2014, became ordained in the church.

A language warning, but the “F” word is a favorite — and here’s Peggy with her regular greeting for the neighbors.

The Hills fell in love with the Carriage House and purchased it from Klingshirn in 2018. At closing of the sale, they received a deed for the property, which shows they own the Carriage House and the two garages and a substantial portion of the grounds that includes the gate and most of the drive providing access to the home.

Little did they know they would be branded “outsiders,” “out of towners,” and “those people from the North.” How could they know that Peggy Rankin would boast she “had the courts” in her pockets and that personal relationships would rule the day. How could they have foreseen a protracted legal battle with hostile neighbors that would require payment of legal fees — still ongoing — that could come near equalling the cost of the house itself.

This is not the “retirement” they had envisioned.

Klingshirn said he set up a meeting with the Tischbeins and the Hills early on, to help get the neighbors off to a good start. But, he said, it was clear from the start that Peggy was angry and hostile.

“They tried to drive me to bankruptcy too,” said Klingshirn. “I don’t trust them.”

And he is adament that what he sold to the Hills was his to sell — and as he testified under oath to the Kenton County Circuit Court — he sold the Carriage House and the two garages.

“The Hills have done nothing wrong,” he said. “They are not at fault in any way.”

But the lawsuit in Kenton County Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Lape’s court finally ended with a “summary judgment” granting the Tischbeins the second garage on the basis of “adverse possession” and taking quite a chunk out of the property the Hills paid for — despite Klinghirn’s testimony and despite the deed.

The case is awaiting a hearing in the Kentucky Court of Appeals, but no date has yet been set. And legal shenanigans continue. The Tischbeins have asked Judge Lape for another small piece of property on the Hills’ deed — and that she has taken under advisement. In addition, Tishbein undertook an end run around the zoning process to get approval to build another garage beside the Main House and removing a fence. He got an approval that was later withdrawn when the neighborhood association argued that proper procedures were not followed.

Meantime, the Hills are suffering from considerable harrassment from the Tischbeins — harrassment that is well documented by video cameras installed by the Hills.

Klingshirn said he hears from his former neighbors that they are uncomforable living in the neighborhood because of the noise and foul language — and the kind of behavior one would not expect to experience from neighbors in what is considered the classiest neighborhood in Covington.

The Hills certainly aren’t feeling the love, as they participate in the association’s events, and get only the “I don’t want to get involved” from neighbors who just look the other way.

Marc’s favorite pejorative is “Fatty Patty,” directed to Lorrie Hill loudly and often. Sometimes he even adds a little dance to it. One day, it was so bad, that a couple taking a leisurely walk down the street stopped to ask Lorrie if she was OK and was there anything they could do.

When does a neighborhood come to terms with how this hostile environment will impact property values? When do neighbors come together to put a stop to juvenile and classless behaviors?

As we lament what has happened to civility and neigborliness and the lines between right and wrong, make a note that you actually witnessed the mores of our society start to unravel at the corner of Covington’s Riverside and Shelby.

Judy Clabes is editor and publisher of the NKyTribune.

See the NKyTribune’s story about the garage feud here.

Read “Case of disputed garage” here.

To read all the documents that make up the appeal, click here.