Interesting case, Ed. I tend to agree myself...cannot imagine a true bear continuing with all this money starting to slosh around. The damn dam can only hold for so long.
This is completely off topic, but also interesting. A friendly little community association with both Fascist and Maoist confiscatory hubris. Amazing!
<<May 2, 2001, 8:42AM
An $814 bill costs woman her home
Neighbors help widow fight community association
By DALE LEZON and S.K. BARDWELL
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle
Wenonah Blevins, an 82-year-old widow, had lived alone in her Champions subdivision house for 15 years with the fear of opening her door at night.
On April 10, she opened her door during the day to discover what she never would have imagined -- a constable with an eviction order and a moving van to take her away from her $150,000 home, which was paid in full.
"It has been just like a hideous nightmare," Blevins said of the past month. She now is staying with a friend.
Over the next few days, Blevins would discover that a check for more than $800 she wrote to the Champions Community Improvement Association in August, for two years' worth of dues, had never been cashed.
Instead, the association had gone to court over the $814.50 in dues, won a default judgment against Blevins, and sold her house at an auction for $5,000.
All without her knowledge.
"I was just devastated," Blevins said. "I didn't know what to think."
Tuesday night, hundreds of angry and confused Champions subdivision residents jammed a neighborhood church meeting hall demanding to know why one of their neighbors lost her home for unpaid homeowners' association fees.
Association president Al Brooks said the governing body followed proper procedures to auction the home.
However, Blevins' supporters said the nine-member board was morally wrong to seize and auction the home, and the neighbors want to get Blevins' house back. Dozens of people accused the association of insensitivity and callousness.
"On the surface, it's appalling," said Ed Terry, a Champions resident for 27 years.
He said the incident made him embarrassed to say he lived in the upscale subdivision in north Harris County. Brooks said Blevins filed a lawsuit against the association, and it may cost a great deal of money to satisfy the company that bought the home.
"If we're going to do anything as an association, as a neighborhood, the question is how much money will it cost?" Brooks said.
Susan Arkell, a Champions resident, said she hoped the community could buy back the house for $7,000 under a state statute that allows people to recover foreclosed property. The courts, however, will have to decide the case, said Marian S. Rosen, Blevins' attorney.
"We just need some answers," said Arkell. "A lot of people want to do everything, as a neighborhood, to correct the mistake that has been made."
The association assesses dues of a little more than $400 a year for garbage collection and other services, Rosen said.
In August, Blevins took a check for more than $800 to the association's offices in the 14500 block of Wunderlich and dropped it in the mail slot to pay two years' worth of dues, Rosen said. She said the association never cashed the check because it had already begun proceedings against Blevins.
Correspondence about the property was mailed to "Mr. W.L. Blevins," and was mistaken for junk mail, Rosen said. A process server looking for a man repeatedly visited Blevins' home between 7 and 9:15 p.m. when Blevins does not answer her door, she said.
"She is an 82-year-old widow," said Rosen. "She has no children, no family. She and her cat live in this lovely $150,000 house, fully paid for.
"They took her home for a bill of $814.50. They filed suit and took a default judgment against her. With penalties and interest, it was close to $5,000, and that's what the home was sold for at auction," Rosen said.
The house was purchased by Danny Hilal, of First Capital Interests. Neither the association nor First Capital could be reached for comment Tuesday.
Rosen was granted a restraining order preventing the association, Hilal and First Capital, and Marc Seymour, whose Security Storage business took all of Blevins' possessions, from disposing of any of Blevins' property pending a hearing in a state district court scheduled for Friday.
The association's attorney told Rosen the association wanted to resolve the problem fairly.
"There is hope," Blevins said Tuesday. "The response of my neighbors and everybody has just been overwhelming." >> |
