Tenants take legal actions for filthy conditions

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Story Published: Feb 15, 2008 at 5:37 PM PST

By Meghan Kalkstein

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COTTAGE GROVE - 16 tenants of a Cottage Grove apartment complex say they're fed up with the filth. We first told you about the problems at Westwind complex in October, now we have an update.

The tenants say they've now filed a lawsuit because they were tired of living in un-habitable conditions

"All he did was put a band-aid on it," said tenant Sandra Mollenkopf.

Rip off the band aid, and Mollenkopf said you'll find the same old problem, cockroaches. "We still see them coming back now periodically," she said.

Back in October, they crawled in Mollenkopf's Westwind apartment, now she said "the cockroaches have diminished somewhat."

Thanks to managing landlord and co-owner Doug Perky. "He baited for cockroaches, one time," said Mollenkopf.

But ask her what didn't get fixed? The carpet, the mold, the tiles, and the door. "There's no way to secure the door," showed Mollenkopf.

But it's not just her unit. Scott Strye says he was told his carpets were wet because of water. "Come to find out a couple months after we moved in that it was not water, but sewage," he said.

Fed up with the conditions, 16 current and former tenants are suing for $292,000 in back rent and damages.

"We've named all the owners of the building and Bohemia Realty. Bohemia Realty is involved because Doug Perky is a real estate broker for Bohemia," explained tenant Cheryl Saunders.

We tried to talk to Perky, a former Cottage Grove city councilor, he said he has not been served with a lawsuit. We also tried to talk to former Mayor Darrel Williams at his home.

But we were able to catch up with him at a restaurant that Williams owns. He wouldn't give us a comment but says he also has not been served.

Meanwhile these tenants say they'll fight this until the end. "We're not going away if they think we're going away, we're not," says Mollenkopf.

We were unable to reach the other co-owners. The tenants expect the lawsuit will be served next week.

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