Condemned home burns

Alexander Cain
The Union-Recorder

November 06, 2008 10:51 pm

— A house on North Jefferson Street that had been condemned by the city and called an “eyesore” by city officials was used by the Milledgeville Fire Department as a training location through a controlled burn Thursday.
Owned by local businessman Rusty Kidd, the house had been condemned by the city in 2007 and had faced public scrutiny for more than two years as trash and debris began accumulating both inside and outside the building.
A portion of that trash and debris was attributed to an 85-year-old World War II veteran, Kevin “K” Reed, who had been living in his car in front of the house for more than a year.
Thursday, Reed’s car, which he had been using as a bed, was towed from the site and the house was set ablaze as part of a Milledgeville Fire Department training exercise, leaving Reed with little choice but to find a new location to live.
Reed, however, has been offered assistance with relocation in the past, but has refused to accept it each time, according to Kidd.
Kidd was out of town when the burn began Thursday but was reached by The Union-Recorder by phone for his comments on both Reed and the status of the site.
“The property was unsafe and a health hazard. If something had happened to him or anyone else on the site, I would have been liable,” Kidd said.
The Union-Recorder joined Kidd in July on a visit to the property as Kidd attempted to persuade Reed to move to a new location.
At the time, Reed was adamant about staying at the location despite conditions that were declared “unlivable” by Kidd and others.
“I live here. There’s nothing this town can do for me. I don’t have any skills and have been down too many destructive streets,” Reed said.
Kidd had attempted to assist Reed in moving but was unsuccessful in his efforts.
“I found a place he could rent for $200 a month, which is what he had been paying me. He would make the payments at our office in downtown,” Kidd said. “At the time, the location I found through Don Braxley was on Hall Street and was vacant.”
The problem, Kidd said, is that whenever Reed was approached with the offer of assistance by the public, Reed would turn down the offers.
“I didn’t have to try to find him any place to go. I personally talked to him for four or five months and told him what would be taking place later. I found him a location on Hall Street and another location on Elbert Street and he didn’t want to go,” Kidd said.
Kidd said his secretary had informed him Thursday morning after Reed’s car was towed and the Milledgeville Fire Department began the process of setting the house on fire that Reed was still on the site.
“I heard he was standing there and that the Milledgeville Fire Department had taken him across the street,” Kidd said.
Reed had stopped paying rent around four months ago and had been squatting at the property since, according to Kidd.
Despite denotation to the contrary, everything with regards to the process was done legally and by the books, according to Kidd, Jack Graham, city marshal, and Tom Dietrich, Milledgeville fire chief.
Signs were placed on the home six weeks ago stating it had been condemned and four months ago paperwork was filed to begin the eventual process that led to Thursday’s controlled burn, according to Kidd.
“All I know is that he wasn’t here and that we made sure that no animals or people were inside the building when we began,” Dietrich said outside the home Thursday. “We were getting at least one call a day. The mayor’s office was receiving calls. The code enforcement office was receiving calls. The place was an eyesore. The house wasn’t fit to live in.”
When contacted for comment, Reed, who watched the property burn from across the street, seemed resigned to the removal of the home and the car that he had called home and a bed for nearly two years.
“I had lived there for eight years. I moved there about six months before 9/11,” Reed said. “Old folks don’t have any recognition or resources to make an issue out of it, but that shouldn’t stop you from getting as old and as crotchety as possible.”
When questioned about his future plans or where he would be spending Thursday evening, Reed expressed interest in relocation to a coastal area — though for the time being, it’s the stray cats that he fed each day that should come first, according to Reed.
“I’d like to make my way to Chatham County. It’s better there for folks to express themselves and not be a burden on everyone,” Reed said. “My cats come first. They’ve been a plus and a friend for me for too long to give up on them, and I’ve got to see to them first.”
Baldwin County Animal Control removed several cats from the property prior to Thursday’s controlled burn, according to Dietrich.
Neighbors of the North Jefferson Street home expressed concern over the fate of Reed Thursday, but also noted that the house and the property around it had become difficult to deal with over the past few years.
Curtis Patrick rents 920 N. Jefferson St., and watched part of the blaze through a bedroom window Thursday afternoon.
“I’m glad it’s gone. They told me Monday that the fire marshal said they’d burn it down. Rusty [Kidd] came up on Tuesday and knocked down a shed and cleaned things up,” Patrick said.
Even with the condition of the home, Reed was a reliable neighbor and was willing to speak on almost any subject, according to Patrick.
“When you walk up and talk to him he’d talk to you about anything. He was out there every day. We had talked to him [Reed] a couple of times but he wasn’t that talkative. When we first moved in here, he’d stay in the house at night,” Patrick said.
City Marshal Jack Graham stated he has known Reed for more than 40 years, going back all the way to Graham’s prior association with local law enforcement.
“I can’t remember anyone getting a call on K. Reed. He always kept to himself. He’s an icon in the community. Not a day goes by you don’t see him,” Graham said. “I’ve known him since we moved to Milledgeville in 1966. He’s quiet, keeps to himself and tends to look for artifacts when he walks.”
But those items brought to the property quickly began to build up and created trash troubles, which, when combined with the stray cats that Reed would tend to began to cause concerns for neighbors, according to Johnny Bolston, owner of Clover’s Flower & Gift Shop at 910 N. Jefferson St.
“I’m just glad to see it go. All the cats would mess up the yard and there was all the trash. I’d shovel up cat droppings each day,” Bolston said. “You’d have to check your property every day.”
But Reed didn’t dislike everyone, according to Graham.
“He was a bit distrustful of people in uniform. I once saw the railroad barricades come down on his hand by accident on Jefferson Street, and when I got out to ask him if he was OK he wouldn’t talk to me,” Graham said.
For now, Reed’s future remains uncertain. He’s able to make his own decisions, and continues to refuse assistance when it is offered to him, by Reed’s own admission.
“Over at Dodo’s they offered to put me up in a motel. I told them no. I don’t really think of a comfort zone. Chatham County would be my comfort zone,” Reed said as the daylight began fading Thursday evening.
Reed has a nephew in Greensboro who has been alerted to Reed’s living status, but it was unknown if the nephew had ever come to Milledgeville, according to Kidd.
“I would say that what happened Thursday was that the city burned down a condemned shelter. He wasn’t living in the house. He had been living in the car,” Kidd said. “If he stays on the property, the sheriff would remove him by force if necessary. There was a lady in Milledgeville that used to try to help him out. She’d come by and clean up the place and cut his hair.”
Unless Reed accepts assistance on his own, there is not much that can be done immediately, Kidd said.
When questioned on what he would do Thursday evening, Reed stated he would stay near the site to watch out for the kittens and cats that were left behind and potentially disoriented by Thursday’s controlled burn.
Special procedures were used to ensure that Lee Loans, the next-door neighbor of the property, and the property rented by Patrick and Joey Drago were not in danger of being set on fire, according to Dietrich.
“We did what was called a master stream. We shot the water down like rain which created a water curtain that kept direct heat from setting the buildings on fire,” Dietrich said.

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