BE IT EVER SO HUMBLE: CITY CLOSES APARTMENTS

LOMPOC - Tammy Lynn Torres tried to fix up her apartment, painting the
walls in a clean beige color.

She left behind her half-used gallon of paint to join a parade of
adults and children evicted from an eight-unit apartment complex in
Lompoc Friday after a drug bust alerted authorities to the dilapidated
dwellings.

It was hard ot fix the two bedroom unit, she said, when the kitchen
sink empitied into a bucket and a giant hole on the bathroom floor
shows where the bathtub had been located. The lights did not work in
one bedroom and the gas wall heater needs fixing.

At Approximately 7:15 a.m. Friday Lompoc police officers served a
narcotics-related search warrent at one of the apartments in a complex
at 508 to 512 N. M Street. The police hit paydirt, arresting three
people on outstanding warrents, and one on suspicion of being under
the influence of a controlled substance.

But they also found the condition of the apartments so deplorable they
summoned building and fire officials explained Sgt. Mike Collins.

Tenants of adjoining apartments invited the city inspectors to view
the conditions of their apartments, Collins said.

Natural gad fumes almost drove them back in one apartment, home to six
small children, Collins said. Another apartment had hot water, but no
cold. Heaters didn't work, plumbing didn't work, windows were held in
with tape, walls and floors had holes.

Fire Chief Ed Casarez said he had to take action, declaring the
property unsafe for human habitation because of Uniform Fire Code violations.

The city action cost about 70 people their homes, including 31
children.

The complex is owned by Charles A. Hickok of Marina Del Mar, Casarez
said. Other city officials said he owned several pieces of property
within the city.

The case will be referred to the Lompoc city attorney for action,
officials promised.

Individual renters, who paid up to $399 a month, said "Bill" had
promised he would fix up the apartments when they moved into the
complex. Built in the early 1960's, it is a typical complex of the
period, with four apartments on each side facing a center courtyard
now covered with grass, weeds and debris.

The apartments, of wood frame and stucco, have low tar and gravel
roofs.

Suzanne Frederick with her four childern, and another young woman
roommate, moved in Oct.9. She said the landlord came around and said
he would fix things. One time, she said, he said he planned to make
repairs, went out to his truck to get a hammer, and never came back.

He did giver her a bathtub, and she got a friend to install it and do
the plumbing. "The old one was too bad to use," she said.

Gathering up her children, blankets and food, she headed to a budget
motel several blocks away. The Salvation Army arranged for one night
of free lodging.

City crews nailed 4-by-8-foot sheets of plywood to the doors and
windows to secure the apartments until the residents can move the rest
of their belongings. Extra police patrols are also planned.

Frederick and her children have lived in motels before. She accepted
the conditions at the apartment complex, she said, so she could be on
house arrest to serve a jail sentence.

Her probation officer almost sent her back to jail Friday, she said,
but finally agreed to give her a break and move her electronic
surveillance to the motel.

Tammy Torres had a special reason to fix up her apartment. Her
12-year-old daughter lives with her, but she said her handicapped son
is in a group home. "I hoped he could come home in December," but a
case worker looked at the apartment and said "no way" she explained.

Torres' "Aunt Sharon" Morales came to the apartment compex to assist.
"I told her she didn't need to live like this ... they should make him
(the landlord) live here."

Morales is optimistic that "God is looking down" and some good will
come from Friday's events.

Mike Collins agrees.

"This will serve as a warning for other landlords to fix up their
apartments to code."

"If we come across apartments this bad," the city will again take
action, he promised.

Realizing the difficult time to be faced by the residents, city
officials called in various agencies. Susan Warnstrom from the office
of Santa Barbara County 4th District Supervisor Joni Gray interviewed
all the displaced residents and explained her goal was to speed the
county housing authority getting them into new homes.

It all was of little satisfaction to one group, who loaded a shopping
cart with their belongings and rolled off to the motel.

Nearby, Lie Noe, 6 years old, cuddled her kitten, Mimi, and watched
her mother, Lea Honeyman, cry. Pregnant and now homeless, Honeyman
moved into the complex Oct. 12 and asked, "Will the city reimburse
us?" Her apartment had only hot water, but it was home and she had no
more rent money.

The city advised the residents to take their losses to small claims
court and also advised them of how to locate legal aid.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry