Looters weren't about to mess with Terry Frey. Not with a 12-gauge shotgun in his car, a "38 Super" Colt handgun tucked in his back belt and a warning painted in big black letters on his hurricane-ravaged home in Charlotte Harbor, declaring "LOOTERS WILL BE KILLED."
The warning may have kept looters at bay. But it drew a few reporters, photographers and passersby last weekend - "freakin' looky-loos," as Frey called them.
Too many, according to his wife. She made him paint over the message last Sunday night after a photo of the house made the local paper.
"They were harassing her (at work) and giving her copies of the paper," Frey lamented.
On Aug. 13, the 58-year-old retired paramedic slept in his truck outside his house on guard duty, his shotgun by his side.
His situation was considerably improved by Monday morning. He had boarded up his 1,200-square-foot house as best he could and moved his valuables - computers, widescreen TV, his wife's jewelry and his gun collection - to his son's house.
He was able to make a cell phone call for the first time Monday and find gas. He even filed his insurance claim, meeting with an Allstate agent at one of the company's mobile response units in Punta Gorda. Next up: a trip to Fort Myers or Sarasota to buy a 20-foot portable trailer as temporary living quarters.
"We've got to see if the county is going to condemn our house. But that's probably a couple weeks down the road," Frey said.
"In this kind of a situation, you can't get in a hurry. It calls for the patience of Job."
