Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Rescued from eviction

A dying Clearwater woman faced eviction if her carport wasn't restored. A local builder was one of many who came to her rescue.

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published January 5, 2006

CLEARWATER - Dorothy Payeur spent Wednesday writing thank you cards - from home.

Her home.

Last week, Payeur, 68, wasn't sure she would be allowed back into her 1970s single-wide mobile home at Japanese Garden Mobile Estates.

Payeur is dying of cancer, and her doctor estimates she has three to six months to live.

She had faced eviction from Japanese Garden because she didn't have $6,000 to replace the carport that Hurricane Jeanne tore from her mobile home, but returned home Dec. 30 from Morton Plant's rehabilitation facility after an article about her appeared in the Times.

Readers responded, and now she wants to say, "God bless you."

"I've never realized that there's people like that in the world," Payeur said.

Ed Donofrio, co-owner of N&B Construction, will rebuild Payeur's carport.

Donofrio, who watched both his parents die of cancer, said he was in tears after reading about Payeur's plight.

"It just brings back so many memories," Donofrio said.

He immediately called Gary Lyons, the park's lawyer, and William Hopper, the park's manager. He set up an appointment to meet Payeur.

Lyons said the eviction notice will be dismissed when the carport is built. Donofrio said he got a building permit Wednesday and expects the carport to be finished by Friday.

Donofrio met Payeur and shared a few embraces and tears before speaking.

"He was telling me about his mother and father and then we cried more," said Payeur, who added that three other people had called to offer a new carport. "He's very, very, oh, I don't know. It was too much for me. I couldn't believe it."

Angela and Ted Barber of Safety Harbor also read about Payeur last week.

The couple had read that Payeur had been trying to pay rent and medical bills from her monthly $800 Social Security check. She was trying to get by on half a bagel and coffee.

"My husband said, "This cannot happen. I want you to take my debit card,' " Angela Barber said.

She took it to Publix and bought $500 worth of groceries, "from spring water to roast beef," and took the whole carload to Payeur, she said.

"The food just kept coming in," Payeur said.

Friends and strangers have been dropping off checks totaling about $300, which will help replace Payeur's carpet. The carpet still has shards of fiberglass embedded in it after the same storm that took her carport collapsed her ceiling.

While Donofrio said he planned to complete the job for Payeur quickly, he has faced complaints that he didn't finish other projects.

Last year, Donofrio was sued by the owners of 10 homes in Pinellas County. The complaint, filed in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, claims some work that Donofrio was contracted to perform was never completed or wasn't done properly.

That case is pending, though the Times reported in November that he made a confidential settlement with four of 10 homeowners who sued him.

In October, Donofrio also was arrested and charged with grand theft in connection with a transaction involving one homeowner, a 65-year-old St. Petersburg woman. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.

Donofrio said there is no link between the complaints from the other homeowners and what he's doing for Payeur.

For her part, Payeur said she already feels better now that she's back home. "If I feel up to it, I'm going to bingo," she said.

[Last modified January 5, 2006, 19:01:03]