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

Wed Nov 6 22:51:55 UTC 2013

I  agree. This is a terrible situation.

-----Original Message-----
From: il-talk [mailto:il-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rob Kaiser
Sent: Monday, November 04, 2013 11:45 PM
To: Jemal Powell; NFB of Illinois Mailing List
Subject: Re: [il-talk] Fw: Article from Chicago Tribune News 2013 11 01

How can people be so unkind.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jemal Powell
Sent: Monday, November 04, 2013 4:26 PM
To: Il-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [il-talk] Fw: Article from Chicago Tribune News 2013 11 01

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

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