Jackson Free Press

The sun beats down unusually strong on this lot of land, where dirt roads run through what looks a little like a third-world community. A rooster sounds at 11 in the morning, drowning out the faint sound of Spanish music. The Westside Trailer Park in Madison County is walking distance to the poultry processing facility, Peco Foods, where many of the tenants work.

Some of the trailers are decorated, either with crude spray-painted artwork or Christmas lights. Number 54, a white one with black spray paint indicating its number, is the trailer outside of which a man was found nearly decapitated last summer.

Most Westside Trailer Park tenants shake their heads and smile when asked if they have any problems with their living situation. The ones who answer this way know English well enough to understand the question—but they won't complain.

The trailer park, which has a large Hispanic population, contains around 100 nearly dilapidated trailers. The spray-painted numbers that differentiate them evoke Hurricane Katrina imagery. The mobile homes were, after all, first put there for relief after a tornado destroyed homes in the area in the 1970s, a long-time resident of the park told the Jackson Free Press.

The resident, an African American man who asked to be identified as C.C., said the park used to be just one line of trailers: a nice community. He's been living there since before the tornado of 1976. After U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development placed additional trailers there for displaced Canton citizens, C.C. said the area "got to be a mess."

C.C. said he doesn't speak to his neighbors much. A smile and a wave is the most they communicate due to their language barrier.

Westside is located right outside of Canton city limits, which makes it hard for Canton officials to find a solution. The park is privately owned by Albert Langford, according to county land records.

Canton Mayor Arnel Bolden, who calls the trailer park an eyesore, said the issue has been brought to the Madison County Board of Supervisors, who will be responsible for enforcing changes. "I'm optimistic that the Madison County Board of Supervisors will take some positive and aggressive action to remedy some of the concerns of our community," Bolden said.

But Bolden is unaware of any specific actions other than the county inspector saying he is in the process of making the trailer park a priority.

An October 2013 letter to Madison County Board of Supervisors President Karl Banks, from "concerned citizens of Madison County," outlines complaints about the trailer park including: "deplorable conditions of the trailers, the trash and filth surrounding the trailers, eyesore to the community, unlivable conditions, and maintenance of the property."

The letter asks for the owners of the park to be held responsible for the upkeep of the property. Banks told the JFP that an investigation about the condition of Westside has been turned over to the county's planning and zoning department.

"It's really not in good condition, but we want them to give us a good assessment. Any zoning violations, we want them to make sure they get corrected," Banks said.

The county would then be able to require the owner to make corrections to the land. Calls to zoning administrator Scott Weeks were not returned.

Kenny Wayne Jones, a state senator and Canton native, said the county and the city have not been able to come to an agreement as far as declaring the land a public nuisance or corresponding with the landlord.

"No one has ever taken the responsibility to do anything about it and we couldn't do anything about it from the city's standpoint because it's out of the city," Jones said. "It's just deplorable for them to be living in those type of conditions."

It seems everyone wants to pass the buck, which is the concern of Canton citizens and Maureen Simpson, executive director of Canton Redevelopment Authority, who believes the real issue with Westside Trailer Park is a human rights one.

Simpson reiterated how hard it is for city employees to help solve county problems, but, since the park is right next to the city-county line, "the city should have some oversight, but the city has just chosen not to do it, either," Simpson said.

It is a "sticky situation," she said, adding that the city should not displace the people who are currently living at Westside, who may be immigrants with nowhere else to go. "Some of them, we heard, are living under the trailers. How many are sleeping in a trailer? It's a big issue. It's not just the aesthetics; it's all of it," Simpson said.

The tenants may not be complaining, but that doesn't mean the conditions should be ignored. "Where they're living you might say is better than what they're used to—some of them. But that doesn't give us the right to not try to help," Simpson said. "It's just sort of like an elephant in the room that no one wants to do anything (about). But it's really a sad, sad state."

The JFP was unable to reach Albert Langford, Westside's owner. His wife told the JFP that her husband is sick and their two sons are responsible for the park and directed any questions to them. Bob Montgomery, the attorney who represents Langford, told the JFP that Langford's sons lease out the property and are currently responsible for maintaining the land.

"They do the best they can under the circumstances, but the property, no question, needs improving, and they intend to improve it," Montgomery said. "They've got some plans and stuff like that and everything, but they have not implemented those plans."

The circumstances Montgomery refers to are unclear, but the owner's wife said her husband has Alzheimer's. Randy Langford, one of the sons, did not return calls to the JFP.

C.C. owns his trailer, so he doesn't have to communicate with the landlord regarding issues with his home. He said he wouldn't be surprised, though, if Westside tenants were being taken advantage of. "They're people just like us, and they deserve to be treated with respect," C.C. said.