Miller of Groves says she’s fine with home ‘for $1,000’

By Darragh Doiron
The Port Arthur News

March 26, 2008 08:45 pm

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GROVES — A season ago, Melody Miller’s house was gutted, open to the elements and unlivable. She laid her head to rest in the FEMA trailer in the front yard of her Groves home.
Her home sweet home was an eyesore to the Action Committee for Displaced Citizens and members worked with her and about 49 other residents to see they stopped living in trailers parked on residential sites. Trailers are for trailer lots, committee members — and apparently some other Groves residents — agreed. Miller continued to live in the trailer, on Hogaboom Road, long after the deadline. On Tuesday, a jury of the Groves Municipal Court found she should pay a $1,000 fine. Miller said she didn’t have the means to repair her home after Hurricane Rita, but finally found help from Nehemiah’s Vision. In the end, she said she considers the fine, balanced with the donated help, evens out to her paying $1,000 for a “new,” livable house.
“God blessed me with this home,” she said. “It cost me. I made somebody at the city mad, then, I guess I still pay the $1,000 dollars.”
As more than two years passed after Rita, Miller said little work had been done on her home because she didn’t have the money. She said she can’t work because of a car accident. Her father and her disabled brother live next door, but there was no room for her, so she continued to live in the trailer, she said.
Now she can spread out in her refurbished abode.
“I’m enjoying my home, just cleaning up and puttering around, putting up all my whatnots. I enjoy living in the space,” Miller said.
Months ago, it looked as though Miller was in the trailer for the long haul, with cats visiting her plant-covered entry to the trailer. She eventually bought it from FEMA, but the committee ruled she still shouldn’t live in it in a residential area.
Now those plants are on her front porch. The blue home is now gray and white with colorful blooms in flower beds. Miller said her home is better than ever with help from Tim Townsley and Nehemiah’s Vision, a group that helped several other home owners with rebuilding after Hurricane Rita in 2005.
“It was a wonderful experience with them… very nice to work with. It’s prettier, newer,” Miller said.
Volunteers from National Disaster Relief recently sent two bus loads to provide finishing touches, such as those flowers and mulch in the front yard. That trailer is now in the back of the house, which is compliance, but Miller said she may have to sell it to get the fine funds.
The Committee for Displaced Citizens conducted several hearings and granted several extensions as residents shared their reasons for delayed construction progress. The clean up goal of repaired housing was designed to make Groves a beautiful place to live, Steve Sanborn, building official for the city of Groves, said.

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