A fight over a winery crushes a family and divides a neighborhood

And they desperately need income. Jerry Marterella felt a tiny bump on his head in early 2010; by the time he was diagnosed in March, he had stage 4 melanoma. The winery, meant to be a retirement fund, grossing about $350,000 a year when it was open, had become essential income.

They have spent well over $400,000 in legal fees and are now about $1.3 million in debt, Kate Marterella said.

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To neighbor Kelley Jenkins, the fight has been ridiculous. She was recently warned that she couldn’t sell puppies when her golden retrievers had litters, even though her teenage children have more friends over on a given weekend than she had customers all year, she said.

“It hurts your head,” she said. “Our roads have gone to hell, the pool, the rec center — the tennis courts have weeds grown all up. They’ve let the community go, to destroy” the Marterellas.

The expense of the lawsuit, more than $150,000 for the board and rising, has meant Bellevue has had to cut back on maintenance, Zegel said.

“I’m very sorry the Marterellas are losing on this,” Hamilton said, “but I do think they were reckless. I think they, frankly, thought they could run over everybody. But it would be wonderful to have it over with. That’s the view from my porch.”

They would have given up long ago, Kate Marterella said, sold the place and moved away, even though she believed they were right in principle. Now it’s too late: They can’t afford to pay the landowner council’s legal fees. They’re underwater with the house, she said — who would want to buy a house with a winery they could never operate? And, she said, because the board has gotten a reputation for strict enforcement, “Realtors call this neighborhood Hellvue now.”

So she listens to her husband struggling to breathe, harvests grapes, tries to find new ways to sell her wine.

“We’re very sorry about his illness,” said longtime resident Kay Hayes, “but it doesn’t change our case in any way.”

“This isn’t about the Marterellas,” Zegel said. “It’s about protecting our way of life.”