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A sad place, a home no more

He has lived in the house since 1985. Now it's uninhabitable and likely to be torn down.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published March 12, 2007

SAFETY HARBOR - The little white house with the metal roof was just a migrant's duplex in a Dunedin orange grove a century ago.

In 1924, it was moved to a lot filled with orange and grapefruit trees.

The couple who lived there until recently said they felt like pioneers, with just a wood-burning stove for heat. But local officials say the house is falling apart. Last month, they started the process to condemn it and forced the couple to move.

Now friends in Florida's folk music community are coming together to help Phillip Terry and Terri Musgrove.

"There's a bunch of musicians that are going to play," said Jack Bellew, who is helping to stage a benefit concert March 25 at the Whistle Stop Grill and Bar.

Organizers hope to bolster Terry and Musgrove during a tough time. Their home, however, may be beyond repair.

Over the years, Terry's house on Third Avenue N has crumbled and rusted to the point that only a faint hue of its blue trim remains.

After a cold snap in February, the city received a tip that it was uninhabitable.

A Pinellas County sheriff's deputy, a city code enforcement officer and a worker from state Department of Children and Families made an unannounced visit.

They saw holes in the ceiling and floor, broken windows, a bathtub that drained onto the dirt outside and a gap in a door large enough for rodents to enter.

They ordered Terry, a well-known Florida folk musician who goes by the stage name Vgo, and Musgrove, who said she is a descendant of Safety Harbor founder Count Odet Philippe, to move immediately.

Safety Harbor Building Official Danny Sandlin said the structure is beyond repair and probably must be torn down.

Now the couple is upset. But City Manager Billy Beckett said the city's primary interest was getting Terry and Musgrove some help.

For now, the couple said they like their temporary apartment provided for the next two months by Denise Becker, a nurse who lives next door, but they want to go home.

"Vgo and Terri, they're good souls," Becker said.

Phillip Terry, 59, and his wife, Janette Terry, moved into the house at 323 Third Ave. N in 1985.

In 1993, the couple, who have several grown children, split. Janette Terry moved to New York and Terri Musgrove moved in.

Phillip Terry met Musgrove, 53, at a Civil War re-enactment event at Stone Mountain, Ga., in 1993.

Both are Civil War buffs. "We like to live in the 19th century," he said.

And they lived like pioneers in the house on Third Avenue.

For money, they worked as stage hands at the Tampa Convention Center and the Ice Palace, now called the St. Pete Times Forum.

Before that, Terry worked with the city of Clearwater's parks and recreation department until a dispute over a lost piece of equipment led to his departure.

Terry and Musgrove played duets on the Florida folk festival circuit with their group Banjos Unlimited.

Then Musgrove got sick.

Ultimately, Terry said, Musgrove was diagnosed with an abscessed diverticula. Diverticulosis is a condition in which small, bulging pouches form in a person's digestive tract.

She was in and out of the hospital from December 2006 to mid February.

Now she is on IV antibiotics and under the care of Hospice of the Florida Suncoast. She said she's feeling better.

Medical bills are closing in on $100,000, but the couple can't pay them. Neither has any income. They are being supported for the next two months by Terry's grown daughter and his mother.

Terry said he may sell the property and split the money with his estranged wife, whose name is still on the deed. The Pinellas County Property Appraiser estimates the house would sell for $161,300.

"We had lives before this," Terry said. "They don't exist anymore."

If you go

How to help

The Whistle Stop Grill, 915 Main St. in Safety Harbor, will host a benefit at 6 p.m. March 25 for Phillip Terry, and Terri Musgrove.

[Last modified March 12, 2007, 00:06:17]