This mobile home owned by Russell Spears was purchased for $200 in 1978. Spears, along with more than 30 other families, have been given eviction notices at Rita coal camp.
RITA — Another coal camp in Logan County is facing extinction and leaving more than 30 families without a home. Residents of Rita were given notice this week that their rental agreements would be terminated on October 1 and they were to make plans to remove themselves and their belongings from property.
In the lease termination notice sent to residents, DB Land LLC stated that they had decided to use the property for commercial development purposes.
Most of the residents were born and raised in the camp. Many of them are elderly or disabled and with low income.
“As long as the coal was going, we were okay,” said Rita resident Russell Spears. “Nobody ever did any maintenance or anything, but they made us sign a contract in order to stay in our houses that we would pay $200 a month and do all maintenance. We signed a paper that we were responsible if anybody got hurt or anything. They gave us an option to tear down the houses and put in a trailer with our own sewage and everything.”
Many residents did tear down the houses and set up mobile homes and even modular homes.
Spears said that rent was collected by a former owner’s son who reportedly had a drug addiction.
“He was giving out lifetime leases and telling some that they were buying their property and all they had was their rent receipt,” said Spears. “He really pulled that off. It went like for five years and we never heard from them. Then their coal ran out and it was sold to this bunch.”
Spears said the owner is DB Land LLC located in Dodge City, Kan.
“Well they found out that the coal wasn’t there and what was there was underground and it would cost them too much to mine,” said Spears. “That’s when they noticed this little piece of property. When they bought this land, they didn’t even know they owned this community. They thought they only bought the coal.”
Spears said the representative sent by DB Land LLC, Mike Cline, initially told residents that they would be able to purchase their lots.
“Well, the main man was supposed to come in and talk to us. He drives up in his Cadillac with his surveyor and they sit behind the church for a few minutes and then he left,” said Spears. “I got a hold of Mike Cline and he tells me that they have changed their mind and they are not going to sell to us and they are going to make us all leave.”
Spears said the land company has plans to put a motel and convenience store in the area, catering to the Hatfield-McCoy trail riders.
“They told me that if I wasn’t out of here in three months they would take equipment and move our stuff,” said Spears. “My trailer was purchased by the Red Cross for $200 for me when my house burnt in 1978. If I move it there won’t be anything left of it.”
Residents who were searching for property loans a week or so ago to purchase the land they were renting are now searching another property to rent.
“There’s no where to rent to put a trailer,” said Spears.
Spears said Cline told him that homes or trailers left on the property would be destroyed.
Also, I am not sure where pontiff came up with the argument concerning government assistance. Oh, because the red cross bought a home for a man whos home burned down? That is not "living off the government."
And before you go off on me, I am not an agent of any party involved, merely someone on the outside looking in. Regardless of whether you like "outsiders" or not, my words are true, hate them or not.
While I feel sorry for your situation, there's nothing that can be done about it other than you picking up your boot strings and taking care of business for yourselves.
If there's "no place to rent", then leave Logan County and go somewhere more hospitable.
I get tired of hearing the same old crap over and over about how "We grew up here! This is our home!"... No, it's not your home, it's a place to hang your hat that cost you $200.00 a month. You don't buy a home for $200 a month.
If you can't afford better, take a look at your lives and ask yourselves: Why?
You know the answer. Deep down inside, there's a reason for your situation. Deal with that first, overcome it or let it go. It's all a situation that you have to take control of. It's not the government's responsibility to make you happy in life. You have the right to pursue happiness, not the right for someone else to give it to you.
For some of you, you need to get off your fat lazy welfare recipient a**es and do something for yourselves. Darwinism states "survival of the fittest", in some of your cases, dying off is natural selection working as predicted.
Pontiff of Truth
The more you spoke the angrier you got, why do you hate poor people? Nobody is asking the government or anybody for anything so obviously you are a twitless faux news believer.
Fact is these people have very little option in what to do. According to your theory of "social Darwinism" people with little options need to die off so people like you can get more of the pie.
Makes sense! Hope you enjoy living a life with that much anger and resentment of people who have nothing.