Aug 23, 2006 06:39 PM EDT
 

 
(PORT ROYAL, Ky.) -- A young mother and her daughter first made the news after the girl was accidentally shot at a friend's home. Now contractor problems have forced them out of their Henry County home. WAVE 3 Troubleshooter Charla Young has the story.
 
Charlotte Rose's life changed forever on June 21st, when she got a frantic call about her daughter, Sarah, who had been shot in the mouth by another child during a game of cops and robbers.
 
"It looked like someone had just smashed her mouth," Charlotte said. "It clipped her lip and then went through her throat and came out of her shoulder."
 
The bullet came with centimeters of severing a major artery. Sarah survived, but still has many surgeries in her future.
 
But now the family has another big problem: their house is.
 
Charlotte bought the property in rural Henry County about four years ago for $40,000. She then took out a $50,000 loan to remodel it.
 
She says the first contractor hired took $6,000 from her but didn't do much work. So Charlotte hired Thomas Paul of Homes Plus in Eminence, Ky. to finish the job.
 
"There is mud and water constantly in the basement," Charlotte says. "If it rains, it goes straight into the basement."
 
Charlotte says contractor was "supposed to repair the basement before they worked on the house, but he's actually made it ten times worse."
 
Charlotte complains the siding is falling off, the roof leaks, and drywall is cracking -- and mold and moisture is everywhere.
 
"She doesn't need to be living in a house like that," Charlotte says. "There's so much moisture in the house that if you buy crackers or vanilla wafers or cookies, they don't even last."
 
Builder Thomas Paul says there's more to the story. "I've been doing this work for 25 years," he told us by phone. I've worked all over Kentucky, Mississippi, and everywhere, and this has never happened to me."
Paul says he did extra work to address the sewage issue and the gutters, and that money is still owed to him.
"I went down there two or three times, and I've told her, 'Charlotte, what can I do to get you happy?' And she wouldn't let us do anything."
 
Farm Credit Services' Office of Inspection and Insurance signed off on Paul's work. But, Charlotte says that left her and Sarah in danger with no place to stay, and now Charlotte feels she's at the end of her rope.
 
"I just can't take it anymore. It seems like when I get up, I can't get anywhere."
 
We did contact farm credit services to find out the circumstances under which they signed off on the work done on Charlotte's home. They are investigating, and will update us on their position in this case.
 
Thomas Paul says Charlotte is suing his company, Homes Plus, for $79,000. He has hired an attorney to defend this case.
 
http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=5318435&nav=0RZF

 

 

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