Rails Inn evictions on hold

Last Monday, tenants at the Rails Inn, a motel on 2nd Street converted into low-income apartments, found handwritten notes from owner Jim Dewitt of Glasgow taped to their doors, telling them they were evicted and had 72 hours to vacate.

The note said that rent hadn't been paid and no insurance had been paid on the building.

That apparently meant that Havre realtor Sheila Forshee, who leased the building, had not made her payment or purchased insurance.

The note sent some of the residents in a panic and created concern at local social service agencies who wondered how they would care for the estimated 35 people in the apartment building.

"We just don't have the money to provide for that number of people," said Trina Crawford, director of the Havre Salvation Army.

City officials said they were instructed to turn off the water on Monday, and Hill County Sanitarian Clay Vincent said he is required to close the building if it is without water for 72 hours. Some tenants were going to Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods with large containers looking for water.

Forshee, who is managing the complex, brought in a water truck that pumped water into the apartment building system so people had enough water to shower.

Then at Forshee's request, an order from District Court Judge Daniel Boucher put the evictions on hold and ordered a hearing to be held May 13 so he can sort out the confusion.

He ordered Dewitt to stop evicting people and to restore utilities until the hearing.

Sharon Dewitt, Jim Dewitt's wife and partner, said she felt sorry for the tenants, but Forshee's actions left them no choice.

"It's our property, but we have no access to it," she said. "I've never seen anything like this."

She said last fall, after they closed the motel, Forshee approached them about opening an apartment complex for federally subsidized housing.

"We thought she was doing a good thing," she said. "She was trying to help these people."

But Forshee rarely paid rent and didn't pay for utilities, she said, and communicating with Forshee was difficult.

Sharon Dewitt said she and her husband could no longer afford to lose so much money on the building and could do nothing but close it.

"It's our building, and we don't have the keys," she said.

She said they felt helpless watching Forshee take control of their building while they had no say about it.

But Forshee said she is trying to do nothing but take care of the people in the apartments, and she's meeting resistance from the Dewitts.

She said the Dewitts have reneged on their agreement to winterize the apartments, and there are broken pipes in many of the rooms.

"I'm working hard for these people," she said of the tenants, while having to fight the people she is leasing the building from.

"I'm trying to fulfill a mission," she said.

Forshee said in addition to providing housing, she was working with the tenants to see that they at least try to find a job.

Some of the tenants stay for just a day or two, while others are more permanent.

Forshee said she is working to help the community, "but the more I do, the more some people try to stop me," she said.

Forshee is awaiting trial on charges including that she took donations to the Community Giveaway House and sold them in her thrift store.