Our next story is about Dawn Jourgenson, a UDP supporter who lives in the Mesopotamia area. She and her siblings inherited a piece of land in the Caribbean Shores Area form the mother. The land which is on I Street had been in the family for decades but it was always a lease. When her mother died, it was transferred to her brother’s name. He left for the states three years ago and she took up responsibility for it – paying the property tax and securing permission to purchase the land.
And up to July of this year she says she paid a little towards it – but then in August – the lease was cancelled when Area Representative for Caribbean Shores Carlos Perdomo approved transfer of the land to another individual – who ahs since gotten full title for it. But Dawn Jourgenson – who had plans to build a house on the land – was never informed. She today told us how she found out.
Dawn Jourgenson, GOB Took Her Land
“I think I still have rights because if I didn’t have rights, they should have told me that oh the lease expired but they continued to take my money which I the pay fi property tax and to pay lil bit lil to purchase the land. I mean I nuh rich, I am a poor person. I work and have to pay my bills, I have to pay for my son’s schooling and stuff like that.”
Jules Vasquez,
“So but in 2005 you got a permission to purchase the land?”
Dawn Jourgenson,
“Yes we did.”
Jules Vasquez,
“And you have been paying towards it, you’ve been putting something towards it?”
Dawn Jourgenson,
“Yes I’ve been trying. The last payment I made was the 28th
or the 29th of July 2009.”
Jules Vasquez,
“And you have also been paying the property tax?”
Dawn Jourgenson,
“Yes sir.”
Jules Vasquez,
“So now you don’t live in Caribbean Shores, you want to live there, so you went to the Caribbean Shores Area Rep. to ask for some assistance.”
Dawn Jourgenson,
“Yes I did and he told me that they cancel my lot. I said well how can they cancel my lot and I have been paying property tax and paying to purchase the land. He said well he can’t do nothing about that, they done tek it back.”
Jules Vasquez,
“The Area Representative told you this?”
Dawn Jourgenson,
“Yes Minister Perdomo, Carlos Perdomo.”
Jules Vasquez,
“How did you feel when he told you? You couldn’t have been expecting that, you went to ask for a little help.”
Dawn Jourgenson,
“I have been a UDP voter for years, I don’t expect this from my party. I don’t expect this. I was upset, I was in tears because my mother worked hard, she was a poor woman and I am trying myself. I have a nine year old son soon to be ten this month and I am trying to set an example for him.”
Dawn Jorgensen said she has not yet told her son what happened to the land. And while Jourgenson is heartbroken about what happened, area representative Carlos Perdomo said that it is simply a case where her brother – who holds the lease - had failed to live up to the terms of a leaseholder.
Perdomo told us the land had been abandoned for a while and when he did his research they had not made any payments so they hadn’t been keeping up to the conditions of the lease. So, he arranged for it to be transferred to someone who will develop it. As for her claim that she paid as recently as July 29th. Perdomo said he did his research before that when the land had been long abandoned.
