John Brown is a disabled veteran with Lou Gehrig's disease, but he's well enough to enjoy sitting on a bench, catching fish and feeding the wildlife in the lake behind his King's Isle home. 

But the 76-year-old may soon lose that pleasure if the St. Lucie West Services District carries out its threat to confiscate the bench and a handrail Brown has used for support to get to the waterfront. 

"We paid $14,000 extra to have waterfront property," Brown said. "We put benches in the front and back yards six years ago. The homeowners' association agreed the front yard bench could stay, but now the district says it owns 22 feet of land between the water and my house." 

Brown had a sturdy iron and wood bench down by the water, but Services District employees moved it back onto Brown's property in July after he refused to. That bench now sits against the back of his house, away from the lake's edge where he could catch fish and throw them to the birds. 

Some friends had also made a lighter PVC bench in hopes it could be easily moved. They included a handrail that Brown could use for support in getting from his property to the water's edge. 

"The first time I tried to get up, it collapsed and we both ended up in the water," Brown said of the PVC bench. That bench remains in the water. 

A July 25 letter from the St. Lucie West Services District gives Brown a deadline of 9 a.m. today to remove the bench from the water. If not "the district will confiscate the aforementioned items that are on district property," William K. Hayden, the district's project maintenance superintendent, said in the letter. 

Hayden did not return a phone call Thursday seeking further comment. 

Brown, however, continues to refuse to remove the bench, and has retaliated with a threat of his own. 

When the district employees come again, he says he may be on the bench - to see if they will remove him, too. 

"It's all just harassment," Brown said.