Orange County NC Website
DECEMBER 20, 1992 <br /> • A3• <br /> m victims <br /> •P � loans <br /> � �pass . up <br /> ■By LEE WEISBECKER ' L, ET ,(1'... <br /> .,.. <br /> Staff Writer ,. <br /> ' HILLSBOROUGH—Businessman William L.Bow- <br /> man looked out over a pile of twisted metal that once <br /> formed the shape of a mobile home he intended to <br /> market as a rental unit . <br /> The Nov. 23 tornado that killed two persons here, <br /> and left•scores homeless had treated Bowman's trailer <br /> with no more respect than a toddler treats a toy,lifting <br /> • it off its moorings and flinging it to the ground. . <br /> "It's-a mess," Bowman said Friday.• "Can't do <br /> anything with it now. <br /> : Bowman,who owns and rents several mobile homes <br /> in the tornado-hit neighborhoods northwest'of Hill- <br /> sborough)has applied to the federal Small.Businessf• <br /> Administration for a loan to help recoup his losses.:_.; ''• <br /> -;.But what has tornado relief officials confused is why <br /> more victims don't join him making similar applica- ' <br /> Lions to the SBA i° .!.° .! <br /> Field representatives of the federa agency spent a • <br /> week in Hillsborough expecting to receive more thin.' . <br /> I00 applications from'victims of the'storm. When they <br /> left town last'week,they'd received only 16 completed <br /> forms: .... -. . <br /> "We just don't understand it,"said Tara Fikes of the <br /> Orange County Housing Authority. "The SBA being <br /> here represented a great opportunity to help people <br /> get back on their feet.But why they didn't show up is a <br /> phenomenon we just can't explain." <br /> Up to 165 homes were damaged or destroyed by the <br /> twister. • <br /> SBA offers 4 per cent loans of.up to $100,000 to <br /> rebuild them. The agency also offers loans of up to <br /> $20,000 to replace personal property(clothes,cars and <br /> furniture) claimed by the twister. • ' • • _ <br /> No other relief agency has a similar amount of <br /> wherewithal to promote recovery. .. <br /> Red Cross,which has paid out over$60,000'to meet <br /> victims' immediate needs, has no money for perma- <br /> nent housing...,, ' • <br /> Victims applying to the Oran a Housin Authority <br /> for a permanent e will be referred to private banks <br /> and savings and loan institutions,which won't be able ' <br /> to match the.4'per cent interest rate. -. <br /> We just can't explain the low turnout out,'one <br /> recovery official said. ' - ' f' <br /> The SBA' will continue taking'applications from <br /> Orange County tornado victims until Feb. 1, 1993.The <br /> agency can beep reached at 1-800T.;-=.244,-659-2955. - <br /> t T tievs2u0H icri s j --- 27,--,'A.1---.!::4, <br />