Letter to the editor: Abandoned homes disgrace to city

Abandoned homes disgrace to city

Keep Clovis beautiful.

Do we really need reminders for that?

Keep weeds cut and debris picked up. Really?

We have abandoned houses throughout this town that attract rats, cockroaches, undesirable behavior, and yes, even an occasional dead body.

Should these property owners not be made to clean up those properties and keep those houses appropriate or get rid of them?

If owners of these run down, boarded-up houses do not choose to clean them up, they should be fined.

These owners may be able donate those properties to the Clovis Fire Department for training purposes. Let them (firefighters) burn these houses so they can keep their skills sharp.

On 14th Street between Mitchell and Thornton streets there are seven abandoned, boarded-up houses. Do people not care that these houses are near an elementary school exposing our children to diseases that rats and cockroaches carry? Do they not care people can use these houses for methamphetamine  labs that can explode and kill?

Those seven houses are only a small part of the problem.

Come on Clovis, stand up and say enough. Property owners of abandoned, boarded-up houses should take responsibility and clean them up or get rid of them.

Bill Quackenbush

Clovis