Council to decide tent house’s fate

By Jon Johnson
Assistant Editor
Published on Sunday, June 22, 2008 7:21 PM MST

The Safford City Council will have the final say on what to do with a residence deemed a public nuisance by a superior court judge.

Planning and Commun-ity Director Pete Stasiak and attorney Brad Keogh of Tucson will present their recommendations to the council during executive session at its next meeting Monday night. Stasiak said he believes a decision on what to do next will be made.

The city of Safford had a tent placed over the residence at Colonial Village #4 in 2006 after authorities found it to be befouled with cat feces, maggots and other filth when they arrived for a welfare check on its resident, LaVonne Seale.

Some debris that was once inside the tented home now sits in the yard as city workers wait for the council’s decision on what to do with the site. Photo by Jon Johnson

Judge Jerry Landau of Phoenix ruled the home “presents a condition that is injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses and interferes with the comfort and enjoyment of life and property by an entire community neighborhood and considerable number of persons.”

In his May 30 ruling, the judge gave the city the authority to demolish the residence. He also awarded the city costs in the amount of $33,005. The city did not seek attorney’s fees.

Stasiak told the Courier the city is giving Seale five business days (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) ending this Friday to remove all of her personal belongings. A police officer must open the residence and clear it before any removal of items begins for the day and repeat the process when closing it up for the night. A city employee must stay on-site the entire time.

If the city decides to demolish the home, it will hold a lien of $33,005 on the property. That means if mortgage holder Lynn Hancock wanted to build a new home, she would have to pay off the city’s lien first.

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Comments

6 comment(s)

someone who cares wrote on Jun 27, 2008 7:41 PM:

" Sense among senseless don’t judge unless you know the whole situation. Where were you when the clean weep began on tent house you could have helped as much as anyone else the people that helped were family members and one friend and for you bwana where were you when she needed help. Where were the members of the church that she ATTENDS? And for Sense among senseless you have no clue on how much help Gene Seale has given her so do not begin to JUDGE him, he is a very giving person! " "

cross rhodes wrote on Jun 25, 2008 1:01 PM:

" Two issues:

The city's right to storm her house, take it and boot her into the street. Which they did without prior attempts to rectify the problems.

The neighbors rights to a clean and healthy neighborhood and the city's leaving the site a mess for 18 months.

City of Safford looses on both counts. Who directed this FUBAR?? And yes, where were the 'christians'??? "

Sense among senseless wrote on Jun 22, 2008 9:15 PM:

" This is a putrid site that needs to be torn down. I do agree with Bwana, however, her relative (a former bishop and Ron Green good buddy) Gene Seale should have stepped up and helped her out. Yeah I'm sure she said she didn't need it but that clearly was not the case. There is a lot of service that various wards do for those in the Valley, it's just sad that Ms. Seale's situation was overlooked to the point of no return. Now we can only hope the council has half a brain and votes to tear it down. "

bwana wrote on Jun 22, 2008 8:26 PM:

" For being a so called 'christian community', you people sure don't have a lot of compassion. Instead of tearing down her house, ruining her life and devastating her finances, some of you church going people should have gone over there and cleaned it up.You could have given her another chance at life, instead, you chose to take from her everything she had. Shame on you! You have all the time in the world for praying, but when it comes to helping out a neighbor in distress, all you can do is jump on her like a pack of dogs. "

I am shocked wrote on Jun 22, 2008 7:49 PM:

" I cannot believe how long this has gone on for. I am so sad that the city and the court system has taken its sweet time to work on this matter. "

sc wrote on Jun 22, 2008 2:48 PM:

" I do believe that Lynn Hancock is not a she however I may have missed something. I just thought you should know for corrections sake! "

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