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| Updated: 9/11/2012 10:50 pm |
Published: 9/11/2012 7:11 pm |
The owner of a vacant Little Rock home demolished by a contractor by accident says he's still waiting for justice.
The City of Little Rock approved 2804 South Harrison for demolition, but the contractor tore down 2800 South Harrison instead.
"What are you thinking when you drive past what was your house?" asked FOX16's Kelly Dudzik.
"It's just mental anguish to me because I'm trying to figure out what do these people think that they're supposed to do when they made this big mistake," said homeowner Jessie Vernon.
The person who made the mistake is contractor Grant Youngblood. He admits demolishing the wrong house.
Nearly a month after the demolition, and look at this mess, the debris still isn't cleaned up. The homeowner tells FOX16 he blames both the contractor and the city.
Vernon rejected Youngblood's offer to buy him another property on the block plus two-thousand dollars. He wants $50,000. Youngblood told FOX16's Kelly Dudzik that his attorney sent a letter to Vernon Tuesday offering to clean up the mess.
"He even made a statement saying my house was a crackhouse," says Vernon.
Tuesday afternoon, the Little Rock Board of Directors put eleven buildings on next week's agenda to possibly demolish. The mayor says he hopes instead of tearing down dozens of buildings each year, the city can buy some to rehab.
"I can tell you, I have rehabilitated some houses back in my early days that I look at the pictures now, and I can't even imagine that at the age of 28 I did it, but the house is saved, and it's a great house right now," says Mayor Mark Stodola.
But, because of one contractor's irreversible mistake, Vernon will never get the chance to look back years from now proudly at a home he saved.
"I think they should give me a call, pay me, and get this mess out of here so I can get on with my life," says Vernon.
As for the crackhouse comment, the contractor told FOX16 over the phone Tuesday that he owns up to the comment and does not know if people were doing drugs in the house. He says he meant if the house was left open, people could get in to do drugs. Vernon tells FOX16 the house was boarded up and secure.
Last week, the Little Rock Housing Director told FOX16's Katherine Johnson that the contractor is now liable for the mistake because the city gave him the correct address.
