Now what are they going to do for everyone else?
Akron woman's foreclosure gets U.S. response
Kucinich takes plight of owner who shot herself to Congress; Fannie Mae forgives mortgage
By Phil Trexler,
Betty Lin-Fisher
and Stephanie Warsmith
Akron Beacon Journal staff writers
Published on Saturday, Oct 04, 2008
The shots that 90-year-old Addie Polk fired into her chest as she was about to be evicted from her foreclosed Akron home were heard in Washington, D.C.
On Friday, as Congress was preparing a bailout of Wall Street, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Cleveland, took the House floor and decried Polk's plight.
By midafternoon, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) announced it would dismiss its foreclosure action against Polk, forgive her mortgage and allow her to return to the home where she's lived since 1970.
In the meantime, Polk remains in Akron General Medical Center.
She is expected to recover from the chest wounds she suffered Wednesday when she apparently shot herself as Summit County sheriff's deputies came with foreclosure eviction papers.
Robert Dillon, Polk's longtime neighbor, was one of the few visitors the woman al
lowed on Friday. He said Polk's condition was good and she was resting well.
It was Dillon who climbed through a window of Polk's LaCroix Avenue home and found the widow lying in bed bleeding. A small-caliber gun was next to her.
''She said it was a crazy thing to do, now that she's had time to think about it,'' said Dillon, her neighbor for 38 years. ''You know, the good Lord works in different ways. Maybe what's happened to her will help a lot of other seniors in this country.''
Court and property records show that Polk took sole ownership of the home in 1995, when her husband, Robert, died. They had bought the 1,200-square-foot house in 1970 for $10,000. It was paid off in 1982.
In 1997, Polk took out a $21,000 mortgage; in 2001, she paid off the original loan with a $46,400 mortgage. She refinanced again in 2004, taking a 30-year mortgage for $45,620 from Countrywide Home Loans.
Fannie Mae assumed the Countrywide loan after it filed foreclosure action against Polk in September 2007. She ignored the lawsuit and notices left at her home.
The home was sold to Fannie Mae at a sheriff's auction in June. Deputies were to escort Polk from her home Wednesday when gunshots were heard inside.
Brian Faith, a Fannie Mae spokesman, said the case came to the company's attention after publicity about Polk's apparent suicide attempt and Kucinich's statements about the case in Washington.
''Just given the circumstances, we think it's appropriate,'' Faith said. ''It certainly made our radar screen.''
'Human face' on crisis
Kucinich said he read about what happened to Polk in the Akron Beacon Journal and rushed onto the House floor to relay the story to his colleagues.
He said he is frustrated that the country's $700 billion financial bailout plan doesn't provide help to people like Polk.
''It doesn't address the problem of millions of Americans on the verge of foreclosures,'' he said. ''People need to hear this story. This is a human face for a great national tragedy.''
Polk's longtime friend DeWitt Herring remembered how excited the Polks were when they moved into the LaCroix Avenue home. Robert Polk was retired from Goodrich Tire in Akron. Mrs. Polk has no children of her own.
Herring said he and his wife often picked Polk up for dinner.
''We had her over the house a few months ago. She didn't let on she was having any problem. She kept her business very much to herself,'' he said.
The only hint that Polk was having financial problems came in a conversation Robert Dillon's wife had with her neighbor.
''A couple years ago, she complained about inflation eating away at her husband's pension. But that was it,'' Dillon said.
Pastor unaware of issues
Polk also never mentioned her problems to friends at the Akron church she attends every week. The Rev. David Dodson, pastor at Antioch Baptist Church, said he had no idea that Polk was in distress.
''She is the most pleasant individual that I've ever met. . . . She is very proud, very independent and pretty much a loner. She has never complained about anything,'' Dodson said. ''If we had known, if I had known, this would never had occurred. We would have rescued her.''
Dodson said that in his more than four years as pastor, the church has helped at least two other members stop foreclosures.
Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville said he intends to work with county officials to better help those facing foreclosure.
He said foreclosures are rampant in Akron. On the east side, he said 99 foreclosures were filed in one recent month.
One concept he is proposing would be written notification of available services to everyone who is served with foreclosure papers.
''The bottom line is there are a lot of other people out there that need help too,'' he said. ''And we have to find a way to help people and make sure they are not driven to taking drastic measures to get attention to their serious problem.''
Akron woman's foreclosure gets U.S. response
Kucinich takes plight of owner who shot herself to Congress; Fannie Mae forgives mortgage
By Phil Trexler,
Betty Lin-Fisher
and Stephanie Warsmith
Akron Beacon Journal staff writers
Published on Saturday, Oct 04, 2008
The shots that 90-year-old Addie Polk fired into her chest as she was about to be evicted from her foreclosed Akron home were heard in Washington, D.C.
On Friday, as Congress was preparing a bailout of Wall Street, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Cleveland, took the House floor and decried Polk's plight.
By midafternoon, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) announced it would dismiss its foreclosure action against Polk, forgive her mortgage and allow her to return to the home where she's lived since 1970.
In the meantime, Polk remains in Akron General Medical Center.
She is expected to recover from the chest wounds she suffered Wednesday when she apparently shot herself as Summit County sheriff's deputies came with foreclosure eviction papers.
Robert Dillon, Polk's longtime neighbor, was one of the few visitors the woman al
lowed on Friday. He said Polk's condition was good and she was resting well.
It was Dillon who climbed through a window of Polk's LaCroix Avenue home and found the widow lying in bed bleeding. A small-caliber gun was next to her.
''She said it was a crazy thing to do, now that she's had time to think about it,'' said Dillon, her neighbor for 38 years. ''You know, the good Lord works in different ways. Maybe what's happened to her will help a lot of other seniors in this country.''
Court and property records show that Polk took sole ownership of the home in 1995, when her husband, Robert, died. They had bought the 1,200-square-foot house in 1970 for $10,000. It was paid off in 1982.
In 1997, Polk took out a $21,000 mortgage; in 2001, she paid off the original loan with a $46,400 mortgage. She refinanced again in 2004, taking a 30-year mortgage for $45,620 from Countrywide Home Loans.
Fannie Mae assumed the Countrywide loan after it filed foreclosure action against Polk in September 2007. She ignored the lawsuit and notices left at her home.
The home was sold to Fannie Mae at a sheriff's auction in June. Deputies were to escort Polk from her home Wednesday when gunshots were heard inside.
Brian Faith, a Fannie Mae spokesman, said the case came to the company's attention after publicity about Polk's apparent suicide attempt and Kucinich's statements about the case in Washington.
''Just given the circumstances, we think it's appropriate,'' Faith said. ''It certainly made our radar screen.''
'Human face' on crisis
Kucinich said he read about what happened to Polk in the Akron Beacon Journal and rushed onto the House floor to relay the story to his colleagues.
He said he is frustrated that the country's $700 billion financial bailout plan doesn't provide help to people like Polk.
''It doesn't address the problem of millions of Americans on the verge of foreclosures,'' he said. ''People need to hear this story. This is a human face for a great national tragedy.''
Polk's longtime friend DeWitt Herring remembered how excited the Polks were when they moved into the LaCroix Avenue home. Robert Polk was retired from Goodrich Tire in Akron. Mrs. Polk has no children of her own.
Herring said he and his wife often picked Polk up for dinner.
''We had her over the house a few months ago. She didn't let on she was having any problem. She kept her business very much to herself,'' he said.
The only hint that Polk was having financial problems came in a conversation Robert Dillon's wife had with her neighbor.
''A couple years ago, she complained about inflation eating away at her husband's pension. But that was it,'' Dillon said.
Pastor unaware of issues
Polk also never mentioned her problems to friends at the Akron church she attends every week. The Rev. David Dodson, pastor at Antioch Baptist Church, said he had no idea that Polk was in distress.
''She is the most pleasant individual that I've ever met. . . . She is very proud, very independent and pretty much a loner. She has never complained about anything,'' Dodson said. ''If we had known, if I had known, this would never had occurred. We would have rescued her.''
Dodson said that in his more than four years as pastor, the church has helped at least two other members stop foreclosures.
Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville said he intends to work with county officials to better help those facing foreclosure.
He said foreclosures are rampant in Akron. On the east side, he said 99 foreclosures were filed in one recent month.
One concept he is proposing would be written notification of available services to everyone who is served with foreclosure papers.
''The bottom line is there are a lot of other people out there that need help too,'' he said. ''And we have to find a way to help people and make sure they are not driven to taking drastic measures to get attention to their serious problem.''
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