Now someone wants to take them away from her.
Plecas, 84,
has lived alone with her five cats at Spanish Lakes 1 mobile home park in Port St. Lucie for the past three years. She keeps
to herself, the cats spend most of their time indoors with Betty, and for
almost three years everything was fine.
Then a month ago the trouble started. According to two eviction notices she
received March 7 and 14, her 1972 double-wide trailer is located in a "no
pets" area, and she is violating park rules by keeping the cats. Unless
she remedies the situation within 30 days, the notices said, she could be evicted
from her home.
Betty's a widow, her only son was killed years ago in a wreck; she has no
other family or friends, and she's not in the best of health.
"I get no help from nobody. I can't sleep more than a couple of hours a
night because this has got me so worried," she said. "I don't know
what to do. I'm trying to put things in boxes, but I will not leave my pets.
They're my babies, they're my life."
Betty might sound like a gentle old lady — and she is most of the time — but
she has a salty side, too.
"They don't like me around here because I swear like a trooper,"
she says defiantly. She doesn't like the park, the attitudes of her neighbors.
She's not even particularly fond of
"I bought the trailer three years ago and I make a $194-a-month
mortgage payment; I pay $355 for my lot rent and I'm never late with that. I
get a little more than $1,000 a month from Social Security. I have no other
income. I have exactly $4.76 in my checking account until my check comes in
next week.
"Lots of times I have nothing to eat. I feed my cats first; I have
tasted their food and, you know, some of it is really good!"
She throws back her shock of white hair, howling with laughter. It's clear Betty isn't going down without a fight —
something she confirms in language completely unprintable in a family
newspaper.
This week, Betty received a third eviction notice. It was different from the
others, citing her "serious violation of park rules" and demanding
that she repair or replace her trailer windows, the aluminum and plastic
skirting between the ground and the base of the structure; she must repaint the
trailer and remove "overgrown vegetation."
The St. Lucie County Council on Aging replaced one window and her front door
a couple of weeks ago. They also replaced an aluminum carport that had been
damaged in the storms. It's true the trailer could still do with some paint and
minor repairs, but the trees and grass on the property are not overgrown.
Betty has tried talking to the park management but "they don't let you
explain anything." They also didn't return a phone call I made seeking
their side of the dispute.
Yet there is a happier side to this story. Betty has an attorney in her
corner. John Kevin Griffin of Fort Pierce has agreed to take her case for free;
he's even asked for St. Lucie Bar Association volunteers to do repair work on
the trailer.
Meanwhile, he's ch
For now, Betty's holding her breath. The five cats, her estimated 800
cookbooks and eight sewing machines are in limbo, waiting. Whatever happens,
I'm sure Betty Plecas won't be quiet for long.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/news_columnists/article/0,2820,TCP_24522_4580311,00.html