Resident Says Pack Rack Poole's 20-Year Hold on City Needs to End

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[An angry Doug Toney, a resident of North Linden Street in Du Quoin, came to Monday night's city council meeting to tell them all he's had it with the city and with a local woman whose gamesmanship and knowledge of property maintenance law has held the city at bay for 20 years.

Joyce Poole's lives the life of a pack rat, saving every shopping bag, every trash bag, every unopened purchase from Wal-Mart and stores most of it in a stable of abandoned cars that are all now sitting on property she has an incomplete interest in on North Linden. Poole has appealed the city's condemnation action and the city is writing an $8,000 check for legal fees to fight in in the appellate court. City attorney Aaron Atkins held up an 8-inch folder at the Monday meeting which chronicles the city's fight against the woman. Mayor Rednour was livid at the lack of progress in the case. Atkins warned the city is at risk of a civil action if it removes the vehicles without proper authority.

Atkins told the newspaper this morning he is working on a legal scenario that might solve the issue, but doesn't want to tip his hand until he tests it.