Sherriff Stopped By Occupy Cleveland From Evicting Foreclosure Family, Cleveland Jobs With Justice Wants Corporations To Buy Back House To Donate Back

Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason

Cleveland Ward 16 Councilman Jay Westbrook

Cleveland Ward 14 Councilman Brian Cummins

Occupy Cleveland Member Leatrice Tolls (center)

Debbie Kline, Executive Director of Cleveland Jobs With Justice

Occupy Cleveland Member Erin McCardle

Occupy Cleveland protesters at a rally in front of Cleveland City Hall last month

From the Metro Desk of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com
(www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com) (Kathy Coleman) and Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.clevelandurbannews.com)

Occupy Cleveland stepped up its community activism this week, making camp in the backyard of a White family on Cleveland's west side torn by foreclosure that was moments from being homeless and on the streets during changing weather and a fast approaching holiday season.

Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid, who had sold the family's home at a foreclosure sheriff's sale in Aug. to Fannie Mae for roughly $15 thousand, had promised an eviction on Nov. 15, the day of the backyard camp out. But a judicial order came down hours before the slated visit by the sheriff and his armed deputies, halting the scheduled move out.

And the activists that staged the camp out as a means to recue the family said they were more than ready for a non-violent showdown had a judge not intervened to stop the sheriff's threats to put the family on the curbside with its belongings.

"We are camping out in the family's back yard to stop the eviction," said Occupy Cleveland Member Erin McCardle on the Monday before the scheduled eviction.

Another member of Occupy Cleveland said the family of three is grateful for now, and is regrouping.

"The family of a mother and two young children has gotten a 30 day extension of the eviction from the court," said Occupy Cleveland Member Leatrice Tolls Tuesday evening of Elizabeth Sommerer, an unemployed mother of a boy and girl, 9 and 7 years old, whose husband Mark Sommerer allegedly deserted the family following stress around the foreclosure ordeal.

Guided by Occupy Cleveland, and with the help of west side councilmen Jay Westbrook and Brian Cummins, and the office of U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-10), a Cleveland Democrat, Sommerer convinced Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason to back off the eviction and of throwing the family out of its W. 94th St. home just two weeks before the Thanksgiving Holiday, and as breaking winter temperatures strike and the traditional snow season emerges.

The judge gave the woman and her children, victims of an economic recession that has nearly crippled the nation and has hit blue collar states like Ohio the hardest, until Dec. 15 to get out.

Tolls called for more support from City Hall.

"Mayor Jackson lost when he sued the banks and mortgage companies over foreclosures and he should be helping us," she said.

Westbrook and Cummins, that say they support Occupy Cleveland, did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Kucinich's office acknowledged its participation on behalf of the Sommerer family, and its support of the Occupy Cleveland movement also.

Tolls boarded an airplane to New York City on Wed. to visit her 22-year-old activist son, who had been sprayed with tear gas and arrested as he peacefully took part in an Occupy Wall Street protest last week that turned violent for others, though he was released from jail on Thurs. With all things certain she is scheduled to return to the Cleveland next week as Occupy Cleveland continues its weekly events, protesting each week on an issue of public concern to drive its message home of corporate destruction that group members believe has caused devastating community decay, including heightened foreclosures and increasing unemployment rates.

Community advocate groups that support the mission of Occupy Cleveland want corporate leaders that have a stake in the major metropolitan city to step up and help out in times of need, such as an innocent family struck by poverty and about to be forced onto the road ways as a symbol of the economic strife that plagues working and middle class families nationwide, and across racial and ethic lines. They want corporate leaders that do business with the city and their companies to donate the foreclose house for a good cause by buying it back for the Sommerers at the bargain price tag that Fannie Mae purchased it for at the sheriff's sale.

"We support Occupy Cleveland and the notion for corporate entities of our community to give back in this situation by buying the foreclosed home for the Soomerers, said Debbie Kline, executive director of Cleveland Jobs With Justice, an issue-based grassroots organization linked to some 62 area unions that has prominent board members like Harriet Applegate, executive secretary of the North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor. "'We thank Judge Mason for the 30 day extension."

According to RealTrac. Inc., a foreclosure listing firm, Ohio has the 11th highest foreclosure rate in the country with one in some 500 households facing foreclosure. Data on Cleveland's foreclosure rates are conflicting , though a research foreclosure listing group dubbed Foreclosure. Com says it is 10th in the nation in foreclosures.

Ohio's unemployment rate reportedly harbors at 8.8 percent, slightly below the national average of 9.2 percent.

Reach Journalist Kathy Wray Coleman at www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com,ktcoleman8@aol.com and phone number: 216-932-3114.