Snidely Whiplash As Played By Clayton Pullins

Since the day she was born, Dolores Pittman has lived in the same house. She knows it well, every nook and cranny, the number of steps from her door to the places she needs to go. It's the number of steps, and the locations of things, that are so important to her because she is blind.

The land on which her home stands was owned by a church that rented ground space to the Pittman family. The Pittmans owned the house itself. The rent was next to nothing, and Dolores kept up the payments long after her mother passed away. She kept up the payments after the land went into receivership and the county took over, the local government that accepted her check without question.

Or warning. Or even a notice that the land was going to be sold for back taxes and she could bid on it if she wanted. They must have been too busy in Cedar Lake, Indiana, to take a few minutes to explain how the process worked. There's just so much going on in the tiny town. Like, sitting around drinking coffee and cashing Ms. Pittman's rent checks.

The land was sold at auction for back taxes, but no one bothered to tell Ms. Pittman. For the sum of $43, she could have bought up the property under her floor and been well set for the rest of her days. She was getting by on her small pension. She was comfortable with her house and her cats and the security of knowing exactly where everything was.

Clayton Pullins bought the parcel and promply issued an eviction notice to an old blind woman.

One of the vulnerable in our society, Ms. Pittman has no choice but to leave what she knows and find someplace else. At her age, she will have to learn a new lay-out, find her way to her favorite stores and church by different routes, and all because Clayton Pullins doesn't give a flying fuck about her hardship.

It's his property now. It's too bad for Ms. Pittman that she wasn't reading the tax auction notices. Yes, and it's too bad she's blind so she couldn't read them if she even knew about them. It's all too bad, but the land in Cedar Lake, Indiana, is valuable and cold-hearted Clayton Pullins has every intention of realizing that value as soon as possible.

On this Thanksgiving day, let us give thanks that we are not in Ms. Pittman's position, forced out of our homes because we have no advocates to look after our interests when we are disabled. Let us thank God that we are not blind and poor. And let us thank God that our families are not cursed with someone like Clayton Pullins to bring shame to the family name, an individual so heartless that we would be embarrassed to acknowledge kinship.

Friends of Dolores Pittman are holding fundraisers to pull together enough cash to help her out as she searches for a new home. Donations are being accepted at the DeMotte State Bank, 10119 W. 133rd Ave., PO Box 683, Cedar Lake, IN 46303.