This is a very sad story that is local and personal to me. A Waterford, NY family forced from their home under very suspicious circumstances by the VFW made the local paper The Troy Record in November. There is now much more to this story on eNewsAlerts.com. The town of Waterford couldn’t even condemn the terrible action.
To sum it up, a broken water line leading to the property was cobbed up by the tenant’s VFW landlord earlier in the year and the family was led to believe it would be repaired right up until November when they were told they would not fix it. The cob job was a garden hose stretched across the property from the local VFW. Then they told them they were evicting them because it was not profitable enough to them to fix it.
The family did not even have time to fight the action because the garden hose was no match for winter, which was a perfect checkmate for the VFW, who had the family living under an illegal setup for months. The family was then left with no recourse, but to flee, throwing out many of their possessions and leaving their home of 27 years. Had the family been told sooner they would have at least had a reasonable time to find other living arrangements. It was quite a Christmas present. The mayor of Waterford, Bert Mahoney, who is allegedly behind the action has been silent on the matter. You have to wonder if these people have hearts. Shame on the VFW and the town of Waterford, NY. Shame indeed.