Posted on 11/19/2008 7:19:18 AM PST by Daffynition
CARLISLE — There's little undisputed in this story, the tale of the tipped trailer.
Frances Barton's single-wide, the one she had fully paid $5,000 for and was hoping to move to a little piece of land she was buying on a $250-a-month land contract, is now literally in pieces on Jim Gaunce's front lawn.
And, everyone agrees, that leaves some 12 people — four adults and eight children ranging from 3 months to 12 years — facing Thanksgiving with no place to live.
How, exactly, the mobile home came to this odd resting place is where the story gets complicated. On Friday, Barton hired a guy to put her house on a trailer and move it up U.S. 68 in Nicholas County. When the trailer broke down and the house blocked the highway for hours on end, the sheriff got involved.
Barton, and the extended web of friends and family who lived with her, claim authorities didn't give them time to clear out a house full of furniture, much less clothing and the things that can't be replaced such as pictures, favorite toys and baseball card collections.
Barton's boyfriend, Alan Gaunce, no relation to Jim, said somebody — he's not sure who — told him he'd be shot if he didn't get out of the trailer before it was toppled. Barton, a grandma at 35 with gold streaks in red hair, tearfully contends that Nicholas County Sheriff Dick Garrett "showed no respect for my home" when he ultimately ordered two tractors to ram the thing and set it on its side.
On the other hand, Garrett, a wiry chain-smoker who ran for re-election with the slogan of "More 'Dick' in 2006," maintains that anybody who thinks it's a fine plan to pay somebody $200 to move their 25-year-old home, all their belongings, and a passel of pets with a farm tractor can't exactly complain when things go wrong.
"I know I wouldn't pay somebody $200 to move my house and everything in it," said Garrett, noting that the group didn't have a required permit or escort. Basically, he said, he could have arrested the lot of them: Barton, her brood and the hauler. The charge, he said: "being ignorant."
To be fair, the partial closing of U.S. 68 for some nine hours on a Friday night is pretty major in Nicholas County, where Garrett Tuesday was reviewing a Mayberry-like constituent call concerning a thwarted attempt to snatch a fresh cherry pie from a kitchen.
He said he did all he could think of to salvage the mobile home, but had to get the road clear. "It's a federal highway," said Garrett, who stood in the rain from roughly 4:30 p.m. Friday until 2 a.m. directing traffic with the rest of his force, a single deputy.
"I'm sorry it happened," he said, "I really am."
But, asked what he would have done differently, Garrett said, "I'd have knocked it over sooner."
Barton spent more than an hour Tuesday standing and crying next to a 10-foot-high pile of wooden walls and pink insulation, sometimes cradling her daughter's doll, one starting to show signs of black mildew after sitting in the damp remnants of the house. Over and over, she said, "Everything is gone. I've lost everything. It's all I had."
Barton, who helps manage the mobile park where she lived, paid for her home with a settlement from an automobile accident. It's the first home she's owned by herself.
She said she thought the man she hired to move her home knew what he was doing. Chris "Pancake" Meyers told her, she said, that he had more than 13 years' experience in hauling things and that he had the proper permits and insurance for the move. (She didn't ask to see proof of insurance or a permit, she said. Meyers could not be reached for comment Tuesday by the Herald-Leader.)
About 1½ miles into the move, the tires popped off. Sheriff Garrett said he's heard that somebody warned the group the tires would be loose and they should stop the move. He said Barton insisted on going ahead.
And soon found herself in front of Jim Gaunce's house on U.S. 68. Garrett said over the course of the evening, he did everything he could think of to get the house unstuck so it could be salvaged. But, he said, several of the well-intentioned efforts did significant damage to the house. For example, trying to push with one truck from behind while pulling from the front resulted in the hitch coming off and Barton's blue-walled bedroom being crushed.
Lee Roberts, owner of Roberts Heavy-Duty Towing in Lexington, said his company was called in to help. "We tried to pull the trailer back on the road but couldn't without tearing it to pieces."
When asked to push it off the road to clear the traffic flow, Roberts said he declined to do so.
That's when, Garrett said, he called on Meyers and another farmer with a tractor to tip the trailer.
He said he gave Barton and her friends and family at least two hours to get out what they needed and asked more than once if they had everything they wanted before he issued the order to push. Garrett said he didn't know how badly damaged the trailer might be, but thought he had no other choice.
Barton said she collapsed before the final destruction and was taken away by a friend, but Alan Gaunce said Garrett told him the cleanup was "all up to you, baby."
Garret said he has given Barton 10 days to clean up the mess. He's already talked to the county attorney about charges if the debris hasn't been removed. Even as looky-loos slowed while driving by the wrecked house and an increasing number of clumps of insulation littered Jim Gaunce's yard, Garrett said it's not the responsibility of the county to do the demolition or removal.
Without money, Barton said, she's relying on friends to dismantle and move the trash. At least two of the men working Tuesday said they took off time from their jobs on horse farms to help and are working with hammers, a sledge hammer and a chain saw. The Red Cross paid for a hotel room for a few days, but now Barton is on her own. The family, a mishmash of real kin and unofficially adopted kids, teens and young adults, are crammed into a smaller trailer while Barton tries to sort through it all.
Jim Gaunce, an amiable great-grandfather, watched most of it unfold from his rocker in a sunny living room with windows so spotless birds frequently thud into the glass while trying to fly through.
He's sympathetic to both sides and willing, he said, to be patient as the mess is cleaned up. He worries that the insulation might blow into nearby farms, get eaten by cattle and do some major internal organ damage, putting a dent in someone's livelihood.
But he knows one thing for sure. "Somebody," he said, sitting calmly as a chain saw roared, "is going to have to clean that thing up."
Your analogy is not correct.
She hired this person personally. He said he knew what he was doing, and had the proper permits. With that, she should have asked for copies of said permits (specific permits are required to transport these homes on public roadways, not just general business permits, and escorts are required). She also should have asked for a reference or two just to ensure "Pancake" was up to the job.
We have a friend like that. One of our ‘greatest adventures” was several years ago when the city where he lives extended the city limits to his place and began to hound him to clean up. In his usual fashion he waited it out until they began to fine him a large amount per day. Then he had a fire sale but of course didn’t sell everything so a bunch of us had to help him move what was left to his new place further in the country. What a fun weekend that was- load after load of junk. Now his new place looks like your uncle’s.
If we do actually get into a real depression- just look at the trade goods they will have. We will feel like the foolish ones for not having all the junk.
You’re right, it could do with more window boxes.
Do you know where this place is? I wonder how they got those trailers up there, and what they are supported by. That is really incredible.
I want to retire there. Mr. P will be thrilled.
Funny you should say that ... my uncle was elected to the zoning board of his small town and *somehow* manages to keep being re-elected ... and the zoning laws *magically* don’t seem to apply to him. I wonder what his heirs will do .... the cost of the removal will eat up all of his estate.
And speaking of *fire sales* ...one of his barns burned to the ground and he collected a huge amount of money from his insurance policy.
I wonder if we are related and don’t know it? LOL
I have no idea where this is! Mr. P might not like all those stairs though ....especially if it is in an earthquake zone. ;-P
You both seriously lack perspective of someone that lives in a $5000 home.
$200 is the equivalent to $10,000 for someone else living in a $250,000 home.
These people are barely surviving they are certainly not going to have the where with all to follow or have the luxury of doing things in both of your black & white world view.
If you call a tow truck company and the truck shows up to tow your car are you going to ask them for their insurance papers, a couple of references...
You should really try to put yourself in this lady’s shoes and think about the daily challenges she faces. Unfortunately it is unreasonable to expect that with their extremely limited resources they are able to do things that others would find easier.
The Sheriff really blew this one. He treated them like trash and tossed their entire existence into a heap on the side of the road. It is a disgrace and disgusting.
Regardless of a person’s financial position in life they should be treated with respect. It isn’t always the person’s fault for their predicament.
You might both do well to spend some time with some really really poor folk and see what is thrown against them just to make simple daily choices.
I am sure if it were the Sheriff’s property he would have figured out a solution.
“Crews of illegal Mexican drywallers live more spaciously than that.”
The difference is, they are making $20-25 cash with no deductions.
$500 for gator loafers? Dude, you have to tell me where you shop!
If there’s a lesson to be learned .... don’t ever hire someone to move you with a name like “Pancake.” <<<
In 1977 I paid a National Mobile home mover, to move my mobile 237 miles, from Yuma County to Kingman.
I had to pay before it would be moved.
Days, weeks went by and and I got nasty.
The Local County Attorney made a few phone calls and the mobile was brought to Kingman, but to a storage yard.
The County Attorney got on the phone and they brought it to my property here.
But they called and wanted additional money , double what I had paid in the beginning..
I called the Sheriff and told them that I was fearful that I was going to have troubles, so a young Sheriff came out, looked at my paperwork and told me to not say a word, that he would do the talking.
He talked and the mobile was parked, inside the property line, barely.
A week later, Planning and Zoning showed up, wanting to cite me for attempting to park 2 mobiles on one lot [3 acre lot].
The moving company man also told me to put every thing that I owned in the mobile, not to worry it would be here in 3 days, that if I left the aquariums hooked to the electric supply, he would unplug it, when he moved and all my tropical fish would survive the trip....etc.
Not true weeks later.
It was my luck to get a crooked driver, who cashed my check and several others and went on a big party, or so the company said.
Ping.
I'm a big Pen#s.
No, but there is a difference between hiring someone to tow your car and hiring someone to move your house and all of your worldy possessions. It would seem that if you want to have someone do the latter, you'll engage in a little more due diligence.
The Sheriff really blew this one. He treated them like trash and tossed their entire existence into a heap on the side of the road. It is a disgrace and disgusting.
What more could the Sheriff have done? The wheels popped off the trailer carrying the house. The home was already damaged. A professional towing company could not move it. After 9 hours of dealing with a house blocking a major thoroughfare, it seems like he was out of options here.
Only if the dollar is backed by real estate.
However, it isn't.
I have no idea what her income is - but if you are going to pick one thing not to cut corners on despite a limited budget, it would be moving your home.
These people are barely surviving
You don't know that. It is a rare able-bodied 35 year old in America indeed who is "barely surviving."
If you call a tow truck company and the truck shows up to tow your car are you going to ask them for their insurance papers, a couple of references...
I am going to call an AAA-approved operator, who is guaranteed by my AAA membership to be insured and licensed.
If I have a contractor install a boiler - let alone move my home down a highway - I check his papers and insurance.
Unfortunately it is unreasonable to expect that with their extremely limited resources they are able to do things that others would find easier.
I don't care how poor you are, you can still check to see if someone is insured.
Asking doesn't cost a dime.
The Sheriff really blew this one. He treated them like trash and tossed their entire existence into a heap on the side of the road. It is a disgrace and disgusting.
What's a disgrace and disgusting is the sense of entitlement possessed by someone who believes the public road should be blocked indefinitely for her personal convenience.
The sheriff stood in the pouring rain directing traffic and trying to help her out for almost ten hours before he did the only thing he reasonably could do: get the home she ruined off the road so everyone else in the community could go about their business.
Regardless of a person’s financial position in life they should be treated with respect.
I agree. An example of disrespectful behavior: blocking the road and expecting everyone in the world to drop whatever they're doing so a mistake you made can be fixed at taxpayer expense. That's the height of disrespect.
You might both do well to spend some time with some really really poor folk and see what is thrown against them just to make simple daily choices.
You have no idea where I grew up, how much money I grew up with and what folk I grew up around.
Do you have any idea what Lenox Ave (now Malcolm X Blvd) and 143rd Street in Manhattan was like in 1977?
Find out and get back to me.
We REALLY need a picture of "Pancake" Meyers.
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