Page Four SCARLET AND BLACK Friday. December '0, I9" First Des Moines Rent Strike Successf I, Two Others Foilow By HENRY WILHELM This week the ilrst rent strike lupported by the Des Moines Project ended successiully when Mrs. Darlene Baker’s landlord, the Winick Realty Company, agreed to let her use the rent money that she refused to pay because of the condition of her house residence on needed repair, most of which \vere stated violations of the Des Moines housing code, and presented it to Winick. Among her complaints were: the root had been leaking for several months Causing plaster to drop off the bathroom ceiling and walls which clogged up the sink and bathtub drains, the bath- needed re- W, pairs at 1068 Eighth Street in Des Moines. _ Billy King, who is working as a community or- ganizer in Des Moines with the Eu 1) p o r t of a group of inter- ested students at Grinnell, 5 a l d that because of the success of this first strike, two other houses in the same area have also re fused to pay their rent to lh e i r landlord, the Ryan Realty Company, until necessary 1- e p a i r s are made. Mrs. B a k e r, who works at the lunch counter at t h e Greyhound Bus Terminal in Des Moines, said that she had been thinking about refusing to pay her rent for some time, even beiorevBilly talked to her about it. She said that she Come plained to her landlord repeatedly concerning the condition of her house; however, they made only promises that they would take care or things “as soon as they could," but they never did anything At the beginning of the rent strike, Mrs. Baker listed the things that $3 tn meta ' 2% THE TRAP on the kitchen sink in Mrs. Tim's house has been leaking in several months, causing the floor under it to rot and awe way. room light shorted out and had to be removed because of the water lrom the roof. the Water heater leaked gas so seriously at times that her eyes watered, there was only one wall outlet in the living room which resulted in a maze of extension cords to lights and the TV set, etc., there was almost no heat in her son's bedroom (she said that “water had frozen in there on a cold day"), and there was a hole 5" . BILLY KING and Cathy Cromielt look at an open aban- doned well near Mrs. Msrfinez's house. She is worried that one oi her children mighi tell her landl'ord to cover it. in and has repeatedly asked in the kitchen floor that resulted from water and termites and cre- ated a draft because the crawl space under the house was not ade- quately bricked up. The Des Moines Project, on be- half or Mrs. Baker, filed a com- plaint with the Des Moines Health Department requesting that they send an inspector to her house. The inspector came but did not file any condemnation notices; i stead he “went to talk to Winick.” ' Sherry Robinson, head of the En- vironmental Health Division later said that "we don’t want to get caught between any landlord and a tenant in any argument That is not our job.” As the rent grew more past due, Winick contacted Billy King and arranged a meeting with him. Mrs. Baker, and Winick’s lawyer, The meeting. which was attended by several Grinnell students who have been working on the Project. \vas held at Mrs. Baker's house and after Winick's lawyer. Mr, Kramer, looked at things and talked about the complaints, an agreement was reached that he would tell Winick that certain things ought to be repaired. Later Winick, who owns about 13% of the houses in the area, told Billy that Mrs. Baker could use all or the $5u that she withheld and $25 oi next month’s rent on re- pairs. Mrs. Baker later com- mented that she “only did It be- cause Sam (Winick) lied to me when he said that he was going to fix something.” She added, “1 work hard and my teet hurt every day and 1 hate to pay someone something that they didn’t earn.” Mrs. Baker, who is separated and lives With her teenage son, said that she was prepared to move elsewhere if evicted as Winick had originally threatened to do if she didn’t pay her rentr Barbara Martinez, who lives with her (our children at 1065 Sev- enth Street, has iniormed the Ryan Realty Company that she will with- hold rent until they repair the door latches, several clogged sink drains and pipes that leak, and cover or fill an open well located near her house. She is afraid that one of her children will fall in. She said that a drunk did {all in one AFTER REACHING AN AGREEMENT with her landlord, Mrs. Baker talks in her home with Billy King and Grinnell Itudents Dave Gibson and Jean Vandervoori. night but wasn't hurt “because he was drunk." Mrs. Martinez, who receives Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) also received help tram the Project when the Welfare Department threatened to cancel her check be- cause she was having male visitors to her house. Cathy Cromielt, a Grinnell stu- dent, visited the Welfare Depart- ment and found out that there were no restrictions concerning male visitors; however, She was informed that “some social work- ers do not like it." Billy King later had a talk with a Department of- ficial, Who pointed out that she would like to see ADC mothers re- marry, and the threat of cancella- tion was dropped. The other house on strike is the residence of Leslie Mae Tims and her husband at 1071 Seventh Street. She has complained to the Ryan RENT STRIKE— (Continued on Page 8) Take Time Out From Those Exams for CI iauni out 4th Avenue to TOWN and COUNTRY (Just east of St. Francis Hospital) 2020 4th Avenue wheie you‘ll rind as exciting a selection of gift idear from around the world that you'll find in one shop any- where! Note: Justin — earrings of wood for pierced ears! Now Open Every Night to 9:00 “RGTS OF RUCK” ON FINALS If you can't find anything to do next week we will be happy to help with your Xmas shopping.