ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997 TAG: 9703100066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: APPOMATTOX
SOURCE: CYNTHIA T. PEGRAM THE NEWS & DAILY ADVANCE
The old woman stayed on, even as the walls fell down around her. Finally, she was relegated to two downstairs rooms.
The house looks like a place abandoned even by memories, but an 86-year-old woman has called it home for more than 20 years.
The house has no electricity, no water, no gas, no insulation, gaping holes in the roof and no bathroom. The wood stove vents into a blocked chimney.
A guardianship hearing last week was the final step in a long effort by authorities to protect the woman. Mental health professionals say she has dementia.
A loophole in regulations allowed a state hospital worker to drop her off alone at the empty house last week, her belongings in a paper bag. The woman said that's where she wanted to go.
To Eva Moore, Appomattox County social work supervisor, returning the woman to the house ``borders on criminal neglect.''
After the hearing Monday, Moore, accompanied by two sheriff's deputies, stepped onto the debris-filled porch and knocked at the door. Moore had a court order to take the woman to an adult home, a step approved by the newly appointed guardian.
A commotion followed - the woman brandishing her temper; the state, its determination. When Moore and the deputies emerged, the woman, dressed in green, seemed calm and went with the social worker.
When neighbors learned that the woman had been moved to an adult home, they were relieved.
``We're thankful she has someone to take care of her. She is not able to take care of herself,'' said Helen Routon, who lives just down the rural highway.
Gary Tanner, in his 30s, has known the woman since he was a teen-ager. He's seen a change in her in recent months.
``My hope and prayer for her is that she will adjust. She's only known this life of solitude for the last 20 years,'' Tanner said. ``And she loved her cats.''
The house where she lived is open to the elements. The back of the house caught fire in 1976. The electricity was cut off after the fire. The woman's husband died in 1979. The property was sold, and the new owner said she could live there for as long as she wanted to.
So she stayed in two rooms downstairs. Over time, the roof fell in, the windows broke, the chimney clogged. But she wouldn't leave.
Even though people wanted to help, nothing could be done because she had not been judged incompetent.
She has a small income and no car. She would hitch rides. People tell of her flagging down cars by standing in the center of the road.
She'd buy groceries, talk to folks for awhile. Someone at the store would take her home. ``She's tough,'' said Tanner.
In January, she showed up at the store with singed hair and a burn on her face. She had been trying to get warm from the open flame of her wood stove.
That led to a complaint to Adult Protective Services.
According to her psychiatric evaluation, the woman ``was not able to live independently in the future. She is unable to take care of her basic needs and is a danger to herself and others.''
She spent about 2 1/2 weeks at Piedmont Geriatric Hospital in Burkeville. But based on its evaluation, Piedmont Geriatric decided to release her, and she was dropped off at her house.
Someone had kicked the door in while she was gone.
Last weekend, Tanner was feeding her cats and was startled to hear a noise behind him. ``There she was. She was back,'' he said.
She was thirsty and said she hadn't eaten since the day before, he said, though there were canned foods in the house.
At her guardianship hearing, Judge Richard Blanton said the evidence was ``clear and convincing that she is mentally incapable.''
If her mental status improves to the point that she no longer needs a guardian, she can return to the house.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. This ramshackle house was the home ofby CNBan 86-year-old Appomattox County woman until last week, when she was
placed in a nursing home.