DARLINGTON, SC (WBTW) – Last month News 13 told you about a mobile home community in the Pee Dee whose residents were told to move out in 30 days, though many have lived there for decades.
For most, it seems like a nightmare scenario: a letter comes telling you to leave the home to which you have dedicated your life. For those in the Juleswood community those bad dreams are a reality.
It was April 29th of this year when just such a letter–hand delivered by Darlington County Sheriff’s Deputies–shocked residents like Minnie Johnson.
“I thought I would live out my old age here,” said Johnson. “I never thought I would be uprooted.”
Johnson and those living in seven other mobile homes were told to be out by May 29th. Most of the residents are elderly and/or disabled, and lack the resources needed to make a hasty move.
David Gregg has lived on Juleswood for 38 years. He says a move in his old age was not a part of his plan.
“I’m medically retired, on a bunch of medication, on a fixed income,” Gregg explained. “I was looking forward to staying here until my dying days.”
Rev. Roger Gore with the Darlington Family Engagement Program, along with Community Development Consultant Marilee Jackson and other community leaders, say 30 days to move out is not enough.
“There’s no plans on the books to do anything with the property,” Gore said. “Even if they had it transferred to the new owner, they could have put a condition in there to give them 90 days or 120 days to move.”
With the 30-day deadline now come and gone, residents on Juleswood are left uncertain if or when they will have to move–and even less sure of how they’re going to do it.
“It’s all I think about,” Minnie Johnson cried. “When I wake up in the morning, I look around and I’m like, ‘this is not right.'”
News 13 reached out to the Conner Law Firm in Hartsville, who represents the family of the now-deceased landowner. Our calls were not returned.