THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 20, 1994 TAG: 9412200353
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
The president of a property owners association has fired back at Councilman Herbert M. Collins for critical comments he made about Park Place landlords after a family of four died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Sanford Kreisler, president of the Park Place Police and Property Owners' Association, challenged Collins' allegations that the neighborhood's landlords take advantage of renters.
Kreisler said Collins' statements were an ``insult to those landlords and property owners who are working to restore Park Place's position as a safe, friendly and affordable community.''
In a letter to The Virginian-Pilot, Kreisler accused Collins of playing politics with the tragedy by joining forces with ``those who want to paint all landlords, whether absentee or otherwise, as greedy, amoral businessmen.''
Collins' comments, Kreisler said, represent ``inflammatory political posturing that is simply wrong and, unfortunately, typical of Mr. Collins' shoot-from-the-hip-and-ask-questions-later behavior.''
Kreisler, who said during an interview Monday that his group represents 30 landlords, also laid part of the blame for last week's tragedy on the victims.
``It is sad that a family has been wiped out, but does that mean that their tragedy erases their moral commitment to themselves and their children?'' Kreisler wrote in his letter. ``The reality is that the tenant has the option of contacting a city occupancy inspector to register a complaint.''
Julia Dempsey, 38, and her fiance, 41-year-old William E. Staton, died in the accident at their rented home at 208 W. 30th St. The couple's 5-year-old son, William E. Dempsey, and Julia Dempsey's 15-year-old daughter, Lakisha, also were killed.
Investigators blamed a faulty gas-fueled furnace. They said a chimney that vented carbon monoxide exhaust fumes was blocked with fallen bricks and soot, which allowed the poisonous, odorless gas to back up into the house.
The family members' bodies were found Dec. 12 when Mashauna Dempsey, Julia's 17-year-old daughter, returned home to celebrate her birthday. Investigators, however, believe the bodies might have been in the house since Dec. 10, the last day any member of the family was seen alive.
Since the accident, Virginia Natural Gas has confirmed that the furnace was ``red-tagged'' and shut off 20 months ago by inspectors who discovered the back-draft problem. The ``red-tag'' designation requires that the appliance be repaired before it is used again. There is no record of whether the furnace was repaired before someone turned the gas back on.
Family members claimed that Julia Dempsey repeatedly complained to the landlord, Suzanne Marshall of Virginia Beach, about the furnace and a smell of gas in the house. They also said that Marshall refused to do anything. Marshall has not returned telephone calls.
The city was never notified of the ``red-tag'' warning. A Virginia Natural Gas spokesman said that about 12 years ago Norfolk officials requested that the gas company quit notifying city inspectors about all but the most serious ``red-taggings.''
At the funeral for the Dempsey family Friday, Collins pledged to find out where the city bureaucracy, which allowed the furnace to be turned back on without an inspection, had failed. He said the matter would be discussed at tonight's City Council meeting.
Kreisler said his organization does not represent all Park Place landlords but is trying ``to reach out to people like Marshall.'' He said Marshall is not a member of his group.
Kreisler, who lives on 34th Street in Park Place, is fixing up 25 structures in Park Place and building two new ones. He said he always puts in new chimneys when rehabilitating a structure.
Collins conceded Monday that Kreisler is ``one example of someone who is doing something positive'' in Park Place, but the councilman refused to back off from his statements about Park Place landlords.
``I stand by what I said, and I think the statistics and the facts will bear out what I said,'' Collins said.
The Dempsey tragedy has created a heightened awareness of the carbon monoxide threat, Kreisler said. He said that he has checked all the chimneys in his Park Place holdings since the poisonings and that other landlords have done the same.
``We are desperately trying to change the face of Park Place,'' Kreisler said. ILLUSTRATION: Collins
Point: City Councilman Herbert M. Collins, after four died of
carbon monoxide poisoning in a Park Place home, said the
neighborhood's landlords take advantage of renters.
Counterpoint: Collins' statement, says a leader of property
owners, is ``inflammatory political posturing that is simply
wrong.''
by CNB