CYPRESS : Opportunity Knocks on Wood a Little Late

When Leo Black left the City Council meeting this week, he realized that he had no choice but to abandon his dream of building a log cabin in the country and instead sell the 275 logs stacked in his driveway.

Neighbors had complained, city ordinances had been broken, and council members Monday night rejected his final effort to delay the city’s removal order until January.

In his efforts to sell the woodpile, his faith in his fellow man has been rekindled--albeit a little too late.

Out of about 55 callers by late Thursday, Black said one man offered to haul the logs to Northern California, where they could sit until he had a chance to find some property and build the cabin. Another man was ready to give him some free land, he said.

“I couldn’t believe the message I heard,” Black, 34, a single father of three children, said of one message he found on his telephone answering machine. “To hear the message he left--it took my breath away. He’s really just a beautiful person.”

Rod Stumhofer, a television engineer from Laguna Niguel who owns 20 acres in Kern County, said he read of Black’s plight and “went right to the phone to call him.”

“I felt the Lord moved me to do it,” said Stumhofer, 47, who was ready to give Black a few acres. “I’ve been wanting to build a house on (the property) for the past 20 years, but I haven’t been able to do it. I never had the time.”

Unfortunately, Black sold the logs to the first bidder Wednesday morning, taking about $800 in losses. Black said he paid $3,500 for the logs 2 1/2 years ago, and about $500 for the heavy duty chains needed to secure the stacked logs in his driveway. He sold it all for $3,200.

“(The buyer) had a check in his hand,” Black explained.

While he can’t renege on the deal, Black said, “I wish I wouldn’t have gotten rid of (the logs) so quick.

“But I guess it makes my neighbors and the city happy.”