Family of 20 determined to keep condemned home

We had a similar story here locally. There was a "single" mother with six or 7 children moved by H/H out of the neighborhood we bought into in 1999 to an outlying area (commonly referred to with a very pejorative nickname).

I ranted a bit when I saw the newspaper article, but then decided that we're better off without her. IIRC, she was also unemployed.

Don't these people (H/H AND the recipients) understand that there's more to owning a house than the mortgage payment?! My oldest daughter caught wind of a couple of deals where the mortgage would be less than her current rent payment. As visions of more space danced in her head, I brought her back to earth with our receipts for new windows, painting, landscaping, etc. Not to mention utility bills and taxes. Hell, even if all you do the first couple of years is keep the place clean, cut the grass and shovel the snow, that's still more money than you're paying in an apartment.

The only connection I've ever had to H/H is convincing my boss that anyone who lists "H/H volunteer" on his resume would NOT be a good match for our office.

Boris' suggestions:

(1) Evacuate the house. Send in a robot with a powerful gamma source, such as Cesium-137. Have the robot wave it everywhere, in every nook and cranny. When the robot leaves, there will be nothing alive inside, including walls, floors, structure.

Or (2) Tent the place and flood it (in sucession) with Ethelyne Oxide and then Methyl Bromide. Remove tent. Flush with air.

I think method (1) will work best.

--Boris

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