After spending 99 days in jail, his life savings and the better part of four years fighting City Hall, Andrew Wordes is no longer angry, he's desperate.
Wordes, 53, faces eviction this week after lenders foreclosed on his home on Alpine Drive while he sat in jail late last year for violating various property codes.
"I never in my life thought I'd end up homeless," Wordes said Tuesday at his home of 20 years. "Short of finding an attorney or an agency that's willing to help and do what's right, I'm expecting the marshal to show up."
Wordes spent most of the fall in jail while his property of nearly 1 acre traveled through the bankruptcy court. He said he was notified last week that he had seven days to vacate.
The travails of Roswell's "Chicken Man" began about three years ago when the city cited him for raising livestock after a neighbor filed a complaint. The case attracted the attention of former Gov. Roy Barnes, who successfully represented Wordes in court.
A redrafted ordinance was passed allowing Wordes six birds on his 0.97-acre plot, but his yard has held as many as 100 animals -- including chickens and turkeys, but also pot-bellied pigs and rabbits -- at one time.
A network of friends adopted out the animals when Wordes went to jail last year. After his release in November, he recovered a few of the animals, but now they're gone.
"I had to give up my pig yesterday," he said. "He was named ‘Miracle' because I didn't expect him to live when he was born."
Wordes blames the city for his troubles. The house was a casualty of the September 2010 floods, and he holds the city responsible because it allowed development to outpace stormwater capacity.
He offered to sell the property to the city, but it declined. Since then, the property has deteriorated despite some of Wordes' efforts. He was cited in 2010 for grading backfill without a permit and for having too many vehicles on his property.
Wordes called it a continuation of a pattern of harassment. The city called it enforcing the law.
"He had code violations that were called in by his neighbors," Roswell spokeswoman Julie Brechbill said. "He was in violation of the ordinance, and he was asked to come into compliance like any other citizen."
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