Trailer Park With Terminally Ill and Handicapped Residents is Condemned

Residents of a trailer park in Ringgold were told a few days before Christmas their power would be cut in two weeks.

Yellow signs throughout the small neighborhood say the park is in a serious state of disrepair and will be condemned.

But 63 year old Mary Hicks who has leukemia and takes care of her severely brain damaged 50 year old nephew could soon be homeless.

"I can’t move my trailer," Hicks said. "I haven’t found anywhere else to move yet. And I have a mentally challenged nephew in there that I take care of and I’m sick and I have nowhere to go."

Hicks has lived in her home since 1978, raising a family and now her nephew with hydrocephalus.

"His parents both passed away," Hicks said. "I took him to keep him from going in a home."

The disrepair of many homes is obvious but officials say it is the landlord’s responsibility to upkeep the trailers.

Landlord Tony Brewer collected rent one week before the homes were condemned and now tenants say is nowhere to be found.

Multiple calls to Brewer from News 12 weren’t returned.

And the residents, many of whom are handicapped and elderly, were given no alternative place – even temporary – to find shelter.

"There were no options," Elder said. "There was nothing handed to anyone. There was no directive. There was no alternative but you got to get out."

On January 4th, Catoosa County will shut off the power to these homes and even if the entire process is legal, over a dozen families will be homeless.