No jail on birthday for evicted woman
Now 94-year-old wonders where she’ll live
TAVARES — Juanita Fitzgerald woke up on Friday, her 94th birthday, in an $80-a-night motel wearing the same clothes she had on when she was arrested three days ago.
Fitzgerald spent two nights in the Lake County Jail after being evicted from her home and refusing to leave, and now she sits in her motel room and wonders where she will live.
“I don’t care if it’s just one little room,” Fitzgerald said, as long as she can plant some pickled beets.
She has bruises and scratches on her ankles, which she says she got from the shackles she wore in jail. A spokesman for the jail said he doesn’t know if Fitzgerald was shackled, but it is protocol for inmates to wear restraints.
FItzgerald says she’s overwhelmed by the media attention.
“My daughter said, ‘My God, mother, you’re all over the world!’ ” Fitzgerald said.
Advocates with the Mid Florida Homeless Coalition met with Fitzgerald on Friday to make plans for where she will stay the
“I’m tired. But God takes care of me.” Juanita Fitzgerald
next few nights, until they can agree on a more suitable place for her.
“We’re working with her to try to accommodate her as soon as possible,” the organization’s board member B.E. Thompson said.
The Eustis independent living community where she’s lived since April 2011, according to court documents, argues that the eviction is the result of months of litigation that began with safety concerns. A spokeswoman for Franklin House, Karen Twinem, did not say what those safety concerns were.
But Fitzgerald says her relationship with management at Franklin House had soured long before the arrest.
Fitzgerald said she would occasionally call authorities and complain to management about other residents. She thinks the practice made her neighbors resentful, and she would be blamed every time something went wrong. She claims her unpopularity strained her relationship with the property manager.
In a conversation with a consumer analyst for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office in late summer, Fitzgerald said she became concerned about being evicted after having a conversation with the property manager, who she alleged was “holding up a closed fist.”
Twinem said the complex “had worked unsuccessfully for months to try to get her to agree to get more help so she could live in a situation that was more suitable” for her and her neighbors.
The decision to evict Fitzgerald was “based on her refusal to pay rent,” Twinem said, after declining to issue a complete payment about three months ago. Fitzgerald argues that she tried to pay rent in October, but the property manager did not want to accept her payment. Twinem said that Franklin House rejected her payment because Fitzgerald only offered half of what she owed.
According to court documents, Fitzgerald was given a 10-day notice to pay $161 she owed in rent on Oct. 19, which would terminate her lease agreement by Nov. 2.
“She had the opportunity to pay the rent for months including during the court process,” Twinem said.
Nicole Lett, who is a subcontracted caregiver at Franklin House, met Fitzgerald through one of her patients about six months ago and picked her up at the jail on Thursday when she was released on her own recognizance. Lett took her to the motel.
“Both the manager and Juanita didn’t like each other… but it could’ve gone a different route,” said Lett, who added that even though she wants to, she’s unable to house Fitzgerald at the moment.
Fitzgerald has a 76-year-old son and a 70-year-old daughter who both live in Tennessee. She has been in contact with her daughter but they both have their own health problems and she doesn’t want to get them involved.
She prides herself on her independence and her fiery spirit. She doesn’t know what made her a fighter — but said maybe her upbringing in Kentucky or her faith in God.
“I’m tired,” Fitzgerald said. “But God takes care of me.”