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Technograph'I was just trying to do my job as a mother'
Beth Scarbrough, City of Champaign work toward compromise
By Patrick Wade
Posted: 3/16/07 Section: News
Because of his condition, Cecil must live in a special house "protected from air pollution from cities and automobiles," his mother said. In addition, he cannot live in close proximity to pesticides or herbicides. The hedges provide that protection from Prospect Avenue, and Scarbrough said they would not have bought the house if the hedges were not there.
"I had already compromised as much as I possibly could," Scarbrough said. "We were getting pretty desperate after a year-and-a-half of no house."
The Scarbroughs stayed with relatives in Homer, Ill., in August 2005 after losing their house in Seminary, Miss., to Hurricane Katrina. Before moving into their new home in Champaign in early February of this year, the Scarbroughs bounced around, spending some of that time with relatives at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
"We hated staying with anyone too long," Scarbrough said. "It's not like we're bringing one or two people, we're bringing seven people."
The family even went back to Mississippi in October 2004 to try and live in their house, which had been severely damaged during the hurricane.
"We knew it was bad," Scarbrough said. "But everything was bad."
They did not know that black mold had set in. After living in the house for two days, Cecil ended up in the hospital in serious condition.
After Cecil was released from the hospital, the family tried staying in their daughter's motor home.
"But then, (Cecil) kept getting sick," Scarbrough said. "The Mississippi air quality was just too bad. The hurricane brought up a lot of stuff."
The doctor treating Cecil at the time informed the family that it could be years before he could return to his home in Mississippi.
The family's Mississippi home was called a "healthy house" and was specially built in 2000. To build a similar home in Champaign would cost the family $355,000.
"We just didn't have that (money)," Scarbrough said. "So, we had to take an older home and make it into a healthy house."
"I had already compromised as much as I possibly could," Scarbrough said. "We were getting pretty desperate after a year-and-a-half of no house."
The Scarbroughs stayed with relatives in Homer, Ill., in August 2005 after losing their house in Seminary, Miss., to Hurricane Katrina. Before moving into their new home in Champaign in early February of this year, the Scarbroughs bounced around, spending some of that time with relatives at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
"We hated staying with anyone too long," Scarbrough said. "It's not like we're bringing one or two people, we're bringing seven people."
The family even went back to Mississippi in October 2004 to try and live in their house, which had been severely damaged during the hurricane.
"We knew it was bad," Scarbrough said. "But everything was bad."
They did not know that black mold had set in. After living in the house for two days, Cecil ended up in the hospital in serious condition.
After Cecil was released from the hospital, the family tried staying in their daughter's motor home.
"But then, (Cecil) kept getting sick," Scarbrough said. "The Mississippi air quality was just too bad. The hurricane brought up a lot of stuff."
The doctor treating Cecil at the time informed the family that it could be years before he could return to his home in Mississippi.
The family's Mississippi home was called a "healthy house" and was specially built in 2000. To build a similar home in Champaign would cost the family $355,000.
"We just didn't have that (money)," Scarbrough said. "So, we had to take an older home and make it into a healthy house."
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Shelby
posted 3/25/07 @ 5:54 PM CST
At least these folks have a legitimate reason for keeping their hedges so high. There are far too many residents in C-U who have overgrown vegetation in their yards that restricts a driver's line of sight at an intersection. (Continued…)
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