COEUR d'ALENE — These testy days of snow removal aren't isolated to city streets.

They can extend to steep private roads where neighbor helping neighbor is often the only way out.

Dan Lyons, a disabled senior who lives on a private road below Bennett Bay Inn along Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive, said he couldn't believe his eyes when he returned home Tuesday night.

A neighbor he shares the private drive with, Andrea Bershad, had the road plowed, but Lyons doesn't believe the job was finished well — berms were left around his vehicles and he couldn't get them out.

"I have been clearing the driveway for 12 years and have never asked for a dime," he said. "This time I needed help, and this is what she did."

Lyons can't stand up straight when he walks, thanks to two rods he has in his back from a traffic accident.

"I'm not supposed to be shoveling," he said, adding the plowed snow around his vehicles became so hard and compact that he or someone else couldn't shovel it if they tried.

One of the vehicles surrounded by a berm was his truck with a snow blade on front that he normally uses for snow removal.

Lyons believes the berms were left out of spite due to ongoing issues between himself and Bershad, but Bershad said that's ridiculous.

"I thought I was doing a good thing by having the driveway plowed," said Bershad, who is a single senior. "I thought (the snow removal man) did a good job and my boyfriend was out there directing him to not block in Dan. Until Dan called I had no idea (that there was a concern). His motivation is to embarrass me.

"I really thought he'd be happy I had the driveway plowed. He wasn't, obviously. The fact that he wasn't happy with the results is truly a surprise and unfortunate."

Bershad said, in hindsight, more could have been done about the berm around the vehicle with the blade, but it wasn't done to be vindictive.

Lyons said the piled snow also created issues to access the tram that he and his wife, who has kidney failure, take from the parking area down to his lakeside home below Bershad's residence. He complained about the berms to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office and, when deputies responded on Wednesday, they deemed no crime was committed and the matter was a civil issue between neighbors.

Lyons and Bershad have been neighbors for more than 20 years.

When asked if she'd consider having the hard berms removed whenever possible, Bershad said she's hesitant to do so after Lyons' reaction to the job.

"At this point, I'm not inclined to do anything," she said. "My boyfriend did some shoveling and thought he remedied the problem."

Lyons said Bershad was asked if she could have the berms removed, "but she doesn't want to talk to me."

Bershad said she has never asked Lyons to plow for her and, if snow is an issue, she has parked in a lot at the top of the hill and walked down to her house.

"I don't care if he ever plows it again," she said.

Bershad said she allowed Lyons to use her boathouse and store wood on her property before their relationship went sour.

Earlier this winter, the KCSO issued a press release about being courteous to your neighbors and motorists about where you put the snow, because such disputes do occasionally arise, said Dennis Stinebaugh, KCSO spokesman.

"We do understand you have to move the snow, but we ask that people keep it on their own property," Stinebaugh said. "Sometimes neighbors don't care if you put snow on their property, but we ask that you talk to your neighbor before putting it on there. It's just neighborly."

Stinebaugh also said hiring someone to remove snow rather than doing it yourself can reduce the amount of communication between neighbors on the efforts.

Compounding the snow problem between Lyons and Bershad is the confined area where they live.

Stinebaugh said this year's snow has been more difficult to move than most winters due to the amount of it.

"With this much snow, it can be an issue on what to do with it all," he said.