Georgia carpenter ‘stripped of his dignity’ by cruel officials who demolished his house without any warning

A skilled carpenter’s home in Georgia was unexpectedly demolished, without any warning or compensation from the county.

Eric Arnold, from New Jersey, decided to pack up and move to Georgia to live where his mother grew up. He took on several renovation projects, including the property in Macon-Bibb County.

He bought the house in 2022 for $15,000 and began improving it to make it a home for his children and grandchildren in the future.

But his plans were disrupted when a neighbor called Arnold and asked about a dumpster that had been placed on his property.

Arnold has filed a lawsuit against the county, claiming it was unconstitutional to demolish his home

He told the Institute for Justice: ‘I had a bad feeling, I felt something was wrong, and I felt it with all my soul.

‘Then all hell broke loose.’

After two months of confusion and conflicting signals from government officials, Arnold’s house was demolished on November 15, 2023.

He filed a lawsuit against the county, claiming that the demolition of his home was unconstitutional.

He told the Institute for Justice: “When you knock something like that down and destroy families, he just destroyed my entire generation. Now I have nothing.”

Arnold’s neighbor alerted him to a dumpster outside his house in September 2023

Arnold has been cleaning and renovating the building for years

“When I arrived and saw the house was demolished, I was devastated. My heart started racing, I was crying, I started sweating.”

Macon-Bibb County is struggling with a problem of urban decay, but instead of working with residents to find a solution or communicating their plans, they are simply demolishing homes.

According to the Center for Community Progress, neglected properties are properties that are considered a nuisance to the environment.

Arnold claimed that he was in the process of repairing the house. He had completely transformed it from its original state.

The region prides itself on its efforts to combat decay and has destroyed 800 homes

According to the indictment, more than 800 homes have been destroyed in the region in the past three years.

Over the past five years, Macon-Bibb County has taken several anti-dilapidation measures, including demolition and increased taxes on neglected properties.

According to Arnold’s lawyers, he is not the only victim of home demolition in the region.

He told WMAZ-TV: “They took my dignity from me, as if I wasn’t even a person. They took my dignity from me, as if I wasn’t even a person.”

According to the court, at least nine other lawsuits have been filed against the province for similar situations. Atlanta Black Star.

Macon-Bibb County officials said The Macon Telegraph that Arnold, despite his claims, had been notified of the demolition well in advance.

The devastated homeowner holds up a photo of what his property looked like before it was demolished

But a source of confusion can be that the house was registered in the name of a previous owner.

The lawsuit also states that Assistant District Attorney Frank Howard told Arnold he could go to jail for renovating his home without a permit and then insultingly asked, “What are you going to do? Make Macon black again?”

Other officials contradicted Howard, saying Arnold did not need a permit to renovate the house.