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Neighbors had complained before about Mary Minter's unkempt yard, littered with weeds and debris. But that was nothing compared to the interior of the 38-year-old's Sandy Springs bungalow, as firefighters discovered earlier Tuesday. Minter had to be extricated from her home by four rescue personnel following a 911 call from an unidentified source. It took the firefighters 40 minutes to wade through "chest-high" debris that clogged the hallways of the modest residence, located in the Cherokee Park neighborhood just off Roswell Road. Sandy Springs Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Scarbrough described the smell as "intolerable," though he didn't have to navigate...

Where once a cavernous warehouse hummed with conveyor belts moving tens of thousands of donated items, and where a busy thrift store operated, there is now silence...

<p>For 25 years, a difficult-neighbor problem plagued Curtis and Elaine Colvin of Seattle. The neighbor's home and lawn resembled a junkyard. Finally, last spring, the elderly man was taken out of state by relatives.</p> <p>Konstantinos Apostolou bought the house — and sent in five men to clear the floor-to-ceiling junk. "It was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life," says his son, George Apostolou. There was nowhere to walk, except for a narrow "goat path" connecting the rooms. The men hauled out seven Dumpsters' worth of clothes, books, magazines, spoiled food, firewood, car parts, tires, bank statements and 50-year-old tax records. "I feel bad for the guy," says Apostolou. "I'm sure he was ill."</p>