Adults-Only Park Gives Mother Time

A San Marcos woman who was threatened with eviction from her adults-only mobile home park after the birth of her daughter has been given a reprieve.

The attorney for the owners of Palomar Estates East has told Sue Hornor that he will not proceed with the formal eviction process as long as she continues to show good faith in trying to sell her coach and voluntarily move.

“We are willing to cooperate with you in allowing you sufficient time to sell your mobile home but ask in exchange that you cooperate with us and do everything reasonable to sell your mobile home as soon as possible,” attorney James Elliott Fitzsimmons wrote.

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The change of heart came after a flurry of media publicity over Hornor’s plight, but Fitzsimmons said Wednesday that the park owners decided to give the woman some breathing room after they became convinced she was actively trying to move out of the park on her own.

“Since she has been attempting (to) and continues to attempt to sell the coach, we figured that the eviction proceeding was not necessary,” Fitzsimmons said. “It was timely, costly and unduly burdensome to all parties.”

He said park officials only recently found out that Hornor has retained a real estate salesman.

“Now, we have confidence she is making all efforts to sell her home and will do everything reasonable to comply with the park’s rules and regulations.”

Hornor said she is “very grateful they’re going to leave me alone and give me some time to sell my home. That’s all I wanted from the beginning.”

Hornor, 39 and single, moved into the park more than a year ago. When she learned she had become pregnant, and would not likely lose her child during pregnancy, she retained a real estate representative last July--two months before the baby’s premature birth.

But Hornor said there has been virtually no interest in her coach, which she is trying to sell for $42,856. Among the factors working against her, she said, are increasing space rents at the park and uncertainty over additional rent increases.

Her baby, Samantha Jacklyn, was born in September--six weeks premature, and with a birth defect that causes the infant to lapse into periods where her body literally forgets to breathe. She is constantly monitored with an alarm that sounds when her heart or respiration rates fall.

Last month, the park officially notified Hornor that she would be evicted from the adults-only park because, with her child, she no longer qualified for residence there.

Hornor’s life became more stressful--stress that was transferred to her baby, who began experiencing more breathing difficulties, she said. She said that she wanted to move, but there were no nibbles, and she feared the prospect of being kicked out by court order would further traumatize Samantha.

Hornor said that after Fitzsimmons dropped the eviction threat, her daughter’s monitor has not sounded as often and the baby is generally more restful.

“I’m thankful for their compassion,” Hornor said, “but I wonder if I got lucky that I had a sick child.”