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Home My WebLink About1979 11-05 House bby side of road a deathtrap, couple say ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS d y t a :w 3v� ae } ` z f N ilitilitillileit • eYdc, �, .:'ire �, �^` ay:t y:. 1,...1;!!! {4 �ift f �, �a i � �� 'T'+ ;W. e twilirt • • 11 � � �c x.� �>y%;?:�% '�.0 `'¢' �,. 4 'Yfg�'Y:,( �,�y h"'� ;y ,n Y 37' '� � lnkv �� ' � Sk�y.. ttifiligtiiiiiliglitii .111ii:;:"Iliii: !'" ,-:"...7.'1',:i':.::;,.-,.:,,i--:,'..,':.:::::'-'; '.1-,,..illi.:.i,'''':.0! 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ByLindaOwen the lack of a guard rail have convinced The Hurleys intend to sue the govern- Staff Writer the Hurleys that some night, a car or ments, but their lawyer has not filed truck will plow through their fence, hit the lawsuit yet. State Rep. Dick Kos- Patt Hurley's house at 925 Parkway their house and kill them. tohryz has promised to submit a claim` The curtains in the front of Jerry and They are as certain of that as they for them in the next legislative session. Drive are always drawn these days. The young Maplewood couple say are of being trapped in their former CITY,COUNTY and state officials said dream house. they sympathize with the Hurleys, but they've been living in a fishbowl since a new four-lane roadway was completed said. 1 ust I hate t want to burn it," Mrs. Hurley claim there is nothing they can do now. in August in what they previously had Maplewood City Attorney Don Lais The assumed to be their front yard. ticularli hard dilemma has been par- said even if the city had withdrawn its The Hurleys, who bought their Y on , who was recov- approval for the project, contracts al- $70,000 house in 1978, learned belated- ering from cancer surgery when they ready had been awarded and it was un- movedly that the land under the new road has into the house.During the three likely it could have been stopped. belonged to Ramsey County since the month construction period,Hurley said, Maplewood has the power to con- 1930s. The real estate agent who sold her health broke down and she was hos- demn land for public purposes, Lais them the house had told them their Pitalized twice. said. "But there's no money," he said property extended to within five feet of The doctors tell us to get out but we "and I'd be hard pressed to show a pub- the old curb,they said. can't," he said. "Who would buy this lic purpose in purchasing the house. It's THIS SUMMER, intersection of house now?" The couple cannot afford still a habitable house." Parkway Drive and theiHighway 61 to pay rent and keep up the house pay- The state and county have no plans to nearby g Y ments, he said, and the house is not in acquire the house,officials said. was rebuilt and"squared"because of a rentale condiion. hhigh accident rate. Ramsey County Engineer Ken Now the Hurleys fear they will be- THE HURLEYS had abandoned a Weltzin pointed out that several accom- come the intersection's next accident half-finished Iiving room remodeling modations were made before the road statistic. project when the road construction construction started.The Hurleys never started. And, Hurley said, the daily use have asked him about a guard rail, he Parkway Drive passes 18 feet from the Hurleys'house, and a 40-mph curve of a wrecking ball by construction said, but he believes a rail wouldbe just beyond their bedroom gave them crews has so damaged the finished dangerous there anyway. many sleepless nights. (A new 30 mph work that it will have to be redone. The need for driveway openings speed limit sign was posted late last Also during the highway project, he would mean a car could hit the rail week.) said, seams cracked in all the house's slide through the opening and strike the "We get woke out of our sleep three sheetrock, nails popped through the next section of rail, which might pierce plaster and cracks appeared in the the passengercompartment, Weltzin trines a night minimum," Hurley said. "People run the yellow light and they foundation, which let in mice. One con- said. come into the curve too fast." tractor has estimated repairs will cost Bob McDonald, state deputy trans- "The light turns yellow,"Mrs.Hurley $17,000,Hurley said. portation commisioner, said it is up to said. "You hear the screech (of tires) The Hurleys continue to blame the the county to install guard rails. and you see the lights go through your state and county, but particularly the Lais suggested Hurley's blame of bedroom window . . . and you hope they city of Maplewood, for their predica- Maplewood is misplaced. "His real keep going." ment. The city declined to take back its complaint is against the real estate THE COUPLE SHOWED a reporter approval of the highway project, al- agent and the guy that sold him the P though officials did get the state to house, Lais said. "He's looking for a black tire marks on the new concrete move Parkway Drive 4 feet farther whole lot of people to bail him out." curbing and tread marks that run onto away from the house. the grass. "And there isn't even anyLais and other Maplewood officials snoweady said. "Why won't the city condemn the believe the intersection improvement The curve, speeding drivers, the house?" Mrs. Hurley asked. "Nobody was needed badly. "We've been sitting doThhillbanking the roadway and wants to help us. They just say, `We'll there with a whole lot of people getting see you in court.'" killed," he said.