County gives Dixie Hills residents some relief
After several years of neighbors complaining to local government officials regarding a neighborhood hoarder, the county took action Monday morning to begin forcing the hoarder to clean her yard and property. Neighbors went to media outlets, including The Bulletin-Times, in 2013 requesting help to try and get the situation corrected and get some officials to step in.
Mary Cole, resident of Dixie Hills, is called a hoarder by her neighbors and described herself as a hoarder in a 2013 interview with The Bulletin-Times. Cole began receiving letters from the county on April 23, 2013 informing her she must clean up her property/yard and gave her 30 days to complete the cleanup. The letter Cole received in 2013 read, in part, “It has been brought to the attention of the solid waste director that the property at 95 Dixie Hills Road in Bolivar has an excessive amount of trash outside. Too much trash buildup can cause horrific odors, rodents and bug infestations, dangerous gaseous fumes, which causes air pollution, water and land contamination, in addition to many other dangerous effects.”
Cole told The Bulletin-Times in 2013, after receiving the letter, it did nothing to help her.
“That little letter didn’t have to tell me nothing about rodents. I got two coons I’m about ready to kill ‘em. My cat catches mice inside my house. I’ve had roaches so long and I’ve asked for it but you gotta remember I ain’t had the money,” said Cole. “You can’t kill off rodents when you got water that far deep (shows about ½ inch) under your house. I’m waiting to wake up one morning with a snake on top of me.”
Although the letters gave her 30 days to clean it up or ‘further action’ would be taken, Cole did not clean up her property and continued to pile items outside with no action taken by the county.
Now, two years later and with a new county administration, the county has once again begin sending Cole letters. However, this time, action was taken after Cole did not respond to the county’s letters.
“We sent her a letter telling her she had 30 days to appeal it. She could have appealed it to Mayor Sain (Jimmy Sain) and if she didn’t like his decision, she could have appealed it to Chancery Court. We didn’t hear from her,” Stephen Graves, Hardeman County Operations Director, said.
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