Andrea Macko is reporting for Porcupine Soup Rich Gavin, the owner of the Acra apartment complex, alleged by town officials to be a nuisance property, attended the Cairo Town Board meeting April 5, disputing what he called the slanderous comments about the buildings, made during the board's March meeting. Garvin said no one notified him or his wife when a letter was received by the town complaining about the property at 6047 State Route 23, the former Lang’s Grove Side. “So, anyone can just write an anonymous letter and you read it out loud?” Garvin asked. The letter was read publicly at the March 17 town board meeting by Supervisor John Coyne. It described the the building as a fire hazard, calling it unfit for habitation. Coyne declined to identify the author of the letter during the public session. Prompted by the letter, the board discussed pursuing the town’s public nuisance abatement law and how the code enforcement officer has already paid the location a visit. A board member also alleged there were drug issues at the apartments and in the surrounding neighborhood. Garvin disputed the allegations, saying the woman who wrote the letter was distraught following the death of her son who lived in one of the apartments. “This is our home… this is a showpiece,” said Garvin. “We are not slumlords.” Donald Humphrey, a tenant at the Acra apartment complex for more than four years, accompanied Gavin to the meeting. “It is not a fire hazard,” Humphrey said. “If it was, I wouldn’t live there… I am disabled.” He added that anytime something needs repair, it is fixed. “I feel very safe in that house,” Humphrey said. Read the full story at porcupine soup [dot] com.