Meth Destroys!!!!!!!!

Bill and I married in May 2002. At the time he lived in the house he owned with his first wife, Sandra, who passed away with cancer. Our plan was for us to move to somewhere in Morgan County since I had a job as a school counselor at Petros Joyner Elementary School and Wartburg Central Middle School. Bill was completing his teaching internship at Oneida High School. For the school year 02/03 I drove to Wartburg from Oneida daily. The next year, Bill got a job at Rockwood High School. We were both driving during the beginning of the school year. We stayed some with my parents who still lived in Wartburg. After several attempts to sell the house, all failed attempts to get a contract, we were approached by a couple from West Tennessee about leasing the house. We felt this was a gift from God. We had found a home in Harriman that we absolutely loved and actually agreed on. So we purchased the home in Harriman, and continued to make the payments on the house in Oneida with the lease money.

Over the past 4 years, the couple living in our house in Oneida divorced. The renter was paying the rent on time and even had a girlfriend who was easy to work with as well. In December 08, our renter was involved in a shooting incident in Oneida. The link to the news article is below:
http://www.ihoneida.com/news/2008/121108meth.html

Our home was placed under quarantine. We as the owners of the house were required to contact an approved Certified Industrial Hygienist from the TN state website to come and test the house for signs of meth. More information about this entire process:
http://www.state.tn.us/environment/dor/meth/

According to our renters’ lawyer, the drug related charges were dropped due to a problem with the search warrant conducted by the Scott Co. Sherriff’s Department. Therefore we can not have charges brought against our renter in regard to the drug issues and our house. We can file a civil suit against him to hopefully recoup the money we are out.

We paid $2400 for someone to come and test our home. The gentleman, who tested our house, took 16 samples. The results came back and 10 of the 16 samples tested positive for meth. Now we get to pay someone (a state certified individual) to come and clean up the house, and someone to re-test the house before the quarantine will be lifted and we can enter the house. Then we get to fix up the house and hopefully be able to sell it at some point.

During all of this time, I have felt like we had no rights and our renter seemed to be protected and had more rights than us. He is currently serving time for the attempted assault charges. It has been one of my worst nightmares. I do know that we will get through this, but only by the grace of God. I’m thankful that I have a very loving family and a group of truly caring friends that are praying for us as we endure this ordeal.