Residents at 221 S. High St. have been without heat since last Tuesday and Janie Rager says, “This just isn’t right. We are grateful that the weather wasn’t too bad up until Saturday night, but as you know it is getting really cold really fast.”

The 7-unit apartment building is now owned by Bowen Center, a transition that, according to Rager, happened in August without notice. “It was owned by Gene Frye before that and there were no problems,” she says.

Although Rager does not reside in the apartment building, she does have a family friend there who, at 70 years old, is not able to tolerate the cold.

“Bowen Center did give him two space heaters to use, but they aren’t big enough to heat his whole apartment,” she explains, “and there’s also the question of safety. What are some of the residents doing to heat their apartments? Plus, it’s not safe to leave these on all night.”

The heaters provided by Bowen Center, in fact, only keep the front room warm and the apartment is roughly 800 square feet. The kitchen, a hallway leading to the back bedroom and bathroom, are at about 50 degrees.

Lester Wright, also a family friend of 70-year-old “Jim,” told StaceyPageOnline.com, “He called us last Tuesday to say he didn’t have any heat. I told him to call us if it got too bad and we’d come get him. On Thursday morning, he called us shivering so we came down and took him home with us.”

The apartment building has 7 units, but two of them are vacant. Rhoda Wright says when she has called Bowen Center to try to get answers on when the heat will be fixed, she is told they are trying to get a part for the boiler from somewhere in New Jersey. They say Bowen Center has not given them any time frame for fixing the heat.

We called Connie Harmon, Jim’s contact for Bowen Center, but she declined to answer any questions regarding the situation. She referred our inquiry to Rich Hoffman, facilities manager for Bowen Center.

“Jim is on a fixed income and does not have the financial stability to move somewhere else,” adds Rager. “He is current with his rent and he is always on time.  We don’t understand why there isn’t a more sense of urgency to get this fixed. Nine times out of 10 when you call them, you get the voicemail.”

But rent is yet another issue the Wrights have for their friend. Jim’s rent is due the 7th of each month. According to them, when The Bowen Center took over ownership they told the residents they would have someone come each month to collect the rent checks. Jim has had his check written out and affixed to his refrigerator since Jan. 4. “No one has been by to pick it up yet,” Rager explains. “That makes us wonder what they are doing, and they threatened him with delinquent fees. They picked up the other checks on time, so we don’t know what is going on.”

This morning, the Wrights and Rager were at Jim’s apartment to put plastic on the windows in an effort to conserve what little heat is available from the small space heaters. “We’re not letting him stay here, he’s going home with us,” said Lester, “but it’s a burden on all of us. We live in North Webster and are running from there to get him, he pays for cable but can’t be here to use it. It’s time they get that part over nighted and get this problem fixed.”

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