LARGO -- Judith Rusk depends on air conditioners to survive, but they may ultimately drive the disabled woman away from her home at the Kings Manor Estates mobile home park.

Rusk, 53, is under doctor's orders to stay in climate-controlled quarters. She suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and pads around her home with a tube below her nose feeding her a constant supply of condensed oxygen.

And in case her central air goes on the blink, she keeps two 5,000 BTU air conditioners in the walls. Those backup units will keep her two-room home cool, aided by the three high-powered oscillating fans that are always plugged in.

But last month, Kings Manor owner Paul Anderson sent word that the backup wall units must go. Portable air conditioners violate rules that he says she agreed to abide by when she bought her home in 2000.

Rusk tried to explain she needed them for medical reasons, going so far as to submit notes from her doctor specifically stating the wall units serve as backups.

Anderson responded by threatening her with eviction if she failed to comply by Friday.

"I've tried several times to tell them," Rusk said. "I've even asked, if they have a problem with me, to come and talk. They won't do it."

Despite the notes, Anderson said he does not believe she needs them.

"All I can say is that every time I've tried to enforce the rules, someone has an excuse," Anderson said. "This is another example."

The dispute, which began on June 7 and came to a head on July 3 with the eviction threat, is one of several owner-tenant confrontations to surface since Anderson purchased the mobile home park off Belcher Road in April 2001.

Anderson, 54, who recently moved here from Minnesota, said he intends to run the park on his terms and enforce rules he said the previous owner ignored, even if that means getting tough with tenants.

That became clear in May when he met with members of the tenants association to discuss his desire to raise lot rental rates. When they raised their concerns, he said they could "get the (expletive) out" if they didn't like living there, and called them "Southern trash" as they walked out on him, according to a tape of the meeting.

After an account of the conflict appeared in the St. Petersburg Times, Anderson had a lawyer send each member a letter notifying them he intends to sue for libel over what he says is a false item on the residents' written list of concerns. No libel suits have been filed, but Anderson said Friday he has no intention of backing off.

Tenants own their homes and rent lots from Anderson, paying him nearly $400 a month. The park has 13 pages of rules.

His rules allow him to take down someone's fence, tow away without notice an "unsightly" car damaged in a traffic accident and evict tenants for air conditioners protruding from the walls.

He considers portable air conditioners no different than a cluttered car port, or loud music. Allow any of those, and they risk dragging down property values, he said. Bending the rules could ultimately lead to encouraging more serious violations, such as drug dealing.

"Everybody wants to be the exception," he said. "They are special. They are above the rules. . . . It just doesn't work in the long run. We have to enforce the rules for everyone. There can't be exceptions."

Even Rusk has to obey, he said.

Rusk, who has chronic heart problems, cardiovascular troubles and routine seizures, says she hasn't worked since 1988. Her doctor says she takes an assortment of prescription drugs and requires a steady flow of supplemental oxygen. She's hooked up most times to a condenser at home and carries bottled oxygen when she leaves.

"I need air," said Rusk, who has smoked throughout her life, quitting in recent months. "It's got to be purified air. When I can't breathe, I have what some might call a panic attack."

When the violation came, she sought the advice of her doctor.

Dr. Randy Shuck, an osteopath, sees Florida's heavy, humid air as another obstacle impeding her breathing. So he has recommended she stay in air-conditioned rooms as often as possible, and he wrote two notes to Anderson, requesting he make an exception for her wall-mounted air conditioners.

"You want her environment to be as stable as possible," said Shuck, "and fluctuations in temperature and humidity put extra stresses on her disease pattern. My job as a doctor is to make her as stable as possible. I can't fix her. Most of her diseases are chronic and we are just fine-tuning how she lives."

Anderson did not budge. Nor did he make an exception for Andrea Rodriguez, another Kings Manor resident who turned in a note from her doctor after Anderson sent a notice telling her to get rid of her portable air conditioners and also threatened to evict her last week.

Rodriguez, 52, who bought her home 10 months ago, suffers from asthma and said the cooler air makes it easier for her to breathe. She does not have a central air unit in place, saying she and her husband cannot afford to buy a unit she estimated would cost $3,000.

The wall units were in the home when she bought it, Rodriguez said, and Anderson never notified her until June that they had to be removed.

"This is the first time I've owned a home, and I'm going to lose it because I can't put a central air unit in," Rodriguez said. "If we were troublemakers or could not pay our rent, I'd understand it."

Both women say they were unaware of the rules.

By overlooking doctors' notes, Anderson may be risking a violation himself, says an advocate for the disabled.

Jack Humburg, a consultant on handicap accessibility, said Anderson is subject to fair housing laws that can be enforced by the Pinellas County Human Rights Office.

He said property owners have to provide "reasonable accommodations," and in the cases of Rusk and Rodriguez, that means allowing them to keep their air conditioners.

"It wouldn't cost him anything to accommodate this person with a disability," said Humburg. "I don't know how they could justify denying it when clearly they've got medical documentation that she is in need of this accommodation."

Anderson said he's made reasonable accommodations.

"They can have air conditioners," he said. "They can have central air all they want. I don't believe (the notes). Central air can cool a room as well as a backup."

He calls their claims outrageous and said they represent 2 percent of a community he has worked tirelessly in the past year to improve. He has paved roads, removed criminals and purchased a pressure washer for residents to use to tidy the exterior of their homes. He even bought paint for them to use.

"When you improve things, you are going to have people who won't like it," Anderson said. "They don't care about the mold, want to keep their air conditioners, don't won't to clean the clutter from their driveway."

Rusk intends to fight. She sent a letter to Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, and one of his assistants told the Times it was forwarded to the office's civil rights division in Fort Lauderdale.

"I really hate to fight back, but I have to," she said. "This is our home. You can sit and talk things out."

-- Michael Sandler can be reached at 445-4174 or sandler@sptimes.com.

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