Local contractor sent to demolish house, but it's the wrong one
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“I said, ‘you got to be kidding me, I’ll come down there,’” said Byrd, a Carrollton native who now lives in Atlanta.
On the way, he contacted the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and was accompanied to the house by Deputy T. Cook. By the time he and the deputy got there, his 2,200-square-foot house and a barn, valued at $200,000, had been reduced to debris and dumped into four huge Dumpsters. The backhoe and crane were still in the yard.
Some of the neighbors said the house had been demolished around 3 p.m. Monday, Byrd said.
No one was living in the house at the time of the demolition.
“My dad built this house with his own hands in 1950,” Byrd said. “Maple Street School burned down and he bought those bricks and they cleared off the old mortar and built this house for his 10 kids, he and my mom and his brothers.”
He was raised in the house. His older sisters were married there. It was the center of their family. His grandmother’s dining room set and china were in the house. So was the family Bible.
“This was more than just a house,” Byrd said. “This was a whole history.”
According to the sheriff’s report, the demolition was ordered by Forestar Real Estate Group Inc. Forestar called Southern Environmental Services based in Marietta to inspect the house and contract with someone to tear down the residence. The report states that Larry Watts of Southern Environmental said his company contacted North Georgia Container in Franklin to do the demolition work.
Brandon Hannah of North Georgia Container said he called Southern Environmental when he arrived at the house and described it on the phone to confirm he was at the correct house, according to the report.
Byrd said he and Deputy Whitlock met with Larry Watts and Brandon Hannah at the site of the demolished house the next morning.
“Larry Watts came down and apologized,” Byrd said. “(He) said he was just given GP coordinates and they lined up to my property.”
Byrd has since heard that the house intended for demolition is across the street and up the road about 150 yards.
He has contacted an attorney to handle the matter for him, but has made no decisions yet.
“As it stands now, we’ll assume it was a mistake, but I don’t know,” Byrd said.
Mistake or not, it’s a blow to Byrd’s family. The family heirlooms in the home are irreplaceable. He’s still in shock about the loss.
“All of us have fond memories and long-lasting memories of this place,” Byrd said. “To just tear it down, it’s unconscionable.”
My best friend's parents have a cabin by a lake in WI. They go up north for family reunions and vacations durring the summer. And they don't take everything out of the cabin at the end of the summer. That cabin is 'vacant' durring the fall, winter, and the spring.
Just because no one was living there at the time it dosn't mean that the house wasn't being used or that the outside of the house looked trashed.
The city had to know the family who owned that house, the darn street was named after them.
I feel bad for Mr. Byrd and his family. If the same thing happened to my mother-in-law, it would have killed her. She has a bad heart and if she saw all the heirlooms that her got from her parents (who both died when she was 16)gone, she would most likey have a heart attack and die.
We come in this world with nothing and we all will leave this world with nothing but while we are here the things we have and the memories they invoak are improtant.
Mr.Byrd,
Good luck, to you and your family. Go and make new memories.
LJS
But what concerns me is the mean things people are posting, especially this Bigledwarf /Blademan who sound like the same person. How cruel to assume the things you said. How inhumane to add to their grief and stress by posting such venom. Shame on you!
this is the only sensible comment all day
I've read on here people making snide, racial comments about Mr. B. Where does it matter what color Mr. B is? His color is irrelevant, Mr. B did not deserve this..no one does!! And the people involved should pay dearly for what they have done. I can't help but wonder about the property they took out of his home before they destroyed it. I would like to think that they have it in them to do the right thing and return it to him, but truth be told, I have my doubts.
To Mr. B, I offer my condolences to you and your family. We lost our family home due to a fire last year, so while I don't completely know how your loss feels, I can most definitely empathize with it. I wish you well and hope that you find the answers you so badly need. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Blessed Be.
Im so sorry that u had to endure life this way. My heart tore for u an your family upon reading your story. My stomach was in a knot. No life will never be the same for u an your family but please Cry out to JESUS cause he will hear u . An look to him to pull you through . HE WILL
I had a similar very dangerous close call experience when an extremely valuable load was coming, sensitive to keeping balanced not to be ruined. Driver was a licensed pro and had been here once a few years before. We mutally verified very explicit directions for entering Owosso MI to bypass a steep hill entering town, instead at the town entrance take a right onto a more flat route, not only more safe, but ending closer to destination. He phoned enroute about a delay, so I stayed up all night, at a phone in the destination. When driver got to Lansing, he pasted my large drawn map of the town entrance in front of him but also consulted the computer device. In the dark when he got there, he thought he wasn't at the entrance to town yet and mistakenly proceeded straight ahead down the steep hill, had another to climb, worried, lost, phoned me enroute, couldn't read street signs in the dark, not even tell me what direction he was headed-in, houses everywere until he described a building I recognized, then could direct each turn, then watch for our building in sight on his right. He yelped. He'd seen it before, and turned into our parking lot, tried the door. It was locked. He knocked. I was still on the phone directing him. I hung up the phone to get up the stairs to the door. He had to examine each of the shipments on theinterior to proved all were safe, and he didn't have enough time before catching a plane reservation out. I called our two nearest members to come help. They did. Athird was already scheduled to be there shortly. They all proved to be safe. What a hair-breadth narrow escape!!! They were specially made, could not be replaced and were vital in our next ongoing massive project. The driver was twenty-nine year friend and member, Philip Klusendorf. I took him acoss the street in tired work clothes to meet Gordon Pennington for three minutes by the watch, and had to be on our way to get Philip to the Lansing Airport. Days later I phoned him, "I forgot to say 'hello.'" - Don Schneider
As we worked on one house, the owner talked how proud her great grandparents, who's parents were slaves, were that they were able to buy the property on which this home was setting. They too, had built the home from the ground up by hand. That home represented more than just the structure itself. It represented their freedom, and the ability to own something of their own.
All of the families we helped in Biloxi wanted to salvage as many items as we could, even when they seemed to be of little value to the rest of us, because they contained memories.
In a number of cases, where we had to demolish the house and rebuild from the ground up, when we were done, the new house often contained items that, even though they were damaged, held memories which the owners proudly shared with us.
This man has lost far more than those of us who have never suffered such a loss can even come close to imagining.
Regardless of the legal and financial outcome of all of this, I hope he goes through what is left, salvages as much as possible, and rebuilds. He can then continue the long history of that property.
You just can not replace this with a dollar amount.
they were related. Oliver Hardy was originaly from Georgia.They're luckuy they were not shot dead at the scene buy some hilbillie family.That poor man. I feel so sorry for him.I hope he sues them for all he can get.Vinny Capobianco