[il-talk] Fw: Article from Chicago Tribune News 2013 11 01

Tue Nov 5 06:04:33 UTC 2013

I agree with you Robert. We need to let blind people know what is happening 
to other blind people. I forwarded the article to several people as well as 
the nfb of California listserve.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Robert Hansen (NFB Related)
Sent: Monday, November 04, 2013 4:53 PM
To: Jemal Powell ; NFB of Illinois Mailing List
Subject: Re: [il-talk] Fw: Article from Chicago Tribune News 2013 11 01

At the bottom of this email it says we are not to forward this sttuff.
I wonder about that.  I know we do anyway.

Just wondering

RH

On 11/4/2013 6:26 PM, Jemal Powell wrote:
> Here is a sad, but unfortunate article  from the Chicago Tribune, about a 
> blind woman.
>
>
> ----- Forwarded Message -----
> From: NFB-NEWSLINE Online <nfbnewsline at nfb.org>
> To: Jemal Powell <derek2872 at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Friday, November 1, 2013 7:35 PM
> Subject: Article from Chicago Tribune News 2013 11 01
>
>
>
> Blind woman faces abrupt eviction \ Home's land sold for $43 after church 
> doesn't pay taxes. By Carlos Sadovi, Tribune reporter; WGN-TV 
> contributed.. A blind woman is facing eviction from her northwest Indiana 
> home of 55 years after the land it sits on was bought at a tax sale for 
> $43 without her knowledge. . She got screwed on this bad," said Lake 
> County Treasurer John Petalas. The new owner has filed eviction papers in 
> court and, in the meantime, is charging Dolores Pittman, 67, $300 a month 
> to remain in the house in Cedar Lake, about 50 miles from Chicago. She has 
> been paying that amount since May but it's a hardship, she said. 
> Previously she had been paying $10 a year to the town to rent the land. If 
> I had money, I'd just say, 'To hell with it,' and go off someplace," said 
> Pittman, a former librarian. An attorney is looking into the matter but 
> has told her it doesn't look good, she said. Pittman said she moved into 
> the home with her parents when she
>   was 12. It was four days before Christmas, and my little brother was 4. 
> And we moved in during a snowstorm and the first thing I put up was the 
> Christmas tree because it was important that Santa knew where to come," 
> Pittman said. It was security that we had a house. My mother said she just 
> wanted a house that she knew she could die in. At first, her parents 
> rented the home from a Lake County, Ind., church, the Lake Region 
> Christian Assembly, which used the land as a retreat. The home -- but not 
> the land -- was sold to her family for about $16,000 in the late 1970s or 
> early 1980s, she said. The family paid a $10 annual rental fee to the town 
> of Cedar Lake, which they believed had acquired the property from the 
> church, she said. But over the years, the church claimed to still own the 
> property. The church did not pay property taxes. (The church) just didn't 
> pay the taxes, I never got a notice," she said. All the time they (the 
> town) were saying they owned
>   the property. I was paying rent to the town. Pittman said she was never 
> told that the dispute was eventually settled in the church's favor, and 
> she continued paying the $10 to the town. About three years ago, the land 
> was sold at a tax sale for $43. Pittman said she was never notified by 
> officials. Petalas, the Lake County treasurer, said the church had 
> conveyed land to the town but not -- it turned out -- the property 
> underneath the home. The land underneath the home was still owned by the 
> church. Until 2005, the church was not responsible for paying property 
> taxes because it had a not-for-profit status, he said. Then changes in 
> state law removed such status from vacant property and the church was 
> issued tax bills, he said. But the church never paid them. So in 2009, the 
> land went to a county commissioner sale and (it was bought)," Petalas 
> said. They (the church) just ignored it. Cedar Lake's town manager, Ian 
> Nicolini, could not explain why the town
>   still collected a rental fee from Pittman when it no longer laid claim 
> to the property. He declined further comment on the tax sale, saying the 
> town is being sued by the person who bought the land. The owner could not 
> be reached for comment. Nicolini said officials have been working to "make 
> the transition" comfortable for Pittman. While she appreciates people who 
> want to help her, Pittman said through tears that she doesn't want to 
> leave her home: "I want to know, am I going to be in here on Christmas or 
> am I going to be out? ---------- csadovi at tribune.com This article is 
> provided to you as a courtesy of NFB-NEWSLINE® Online for your sole use. 
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