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Longtime Syringa residents on the move

Moscow-Pullman Daily News - 3/24/2018

March 24--Army veteran Bob Gates and his wife, Margaret, have lived at Syringa Mobile Home Park outside of Moscow for 32 years.

Come June, they will no longer be welcome at the park.

After years of water and sewer problems at Syringa -- located on Robinson Park Road about 3 miles outside of Moscow -- the entire mobile home community is being forced to leave the park they call home by June 5.

While packing up their belongings Wednesday, the Gates said they plan to move their light brown double-wide trailer to another Moscow location.

Bob, 76, said the secluded countryside trailer park was beautiful when he arrived in 1986 and it contained a recreation center and a swimming pool.

Now, the streets are in disrepair, and residents have experienced sewer backups, unaddressed raw sewage throughout the park, water contaminated with fecal coliform bacteria and, at times, have had no potable water.

Bob, a Moscow native, shared many Syringa residents' sentiments, saying he was angry when he learned last year the park was going to close. He said he was given about seven months to move out.

"How do I put this nicely?" Bob said. "You work all your life trying to build a good nest egg, get something going. We bought this place brand new, and then somebody comes up and, with just flick of a pen, takes it all away from us, and you have no say."

Following a lawsuit, Magar E. Magar, owner of the park, will pay $282,000 to some current and former park residents for enduring 93 days without clean water from 2013 to early 2014, as well as other damages residents sustained in recent years.

A settlement was reached in November with Magar's daughter, Shelley Magar, who is effectively in control of the park. Latah County Judge John Stegner approved that settlement last month at a fairness hearing.

Bob said he and his wife plan to move into an apartment in the Spokane area until they find a location in Moscow. He said their daughter lives in Spokane and is helping them locate a new residence.

Bob, who served in the Army from 1963 to 1966, said much of his time was spent as a radio operator in Germany.

When he returned home from the service, he continued to be involved with radio and earned a degree in radio/TV production from the University of Idaho. Bob put his degree to use by landing a job with a Pullman radio station, where he worked for about four years.

He then worked about five years as news director for a radio station in Sandpoint.

He said the last 21 years of his career were spent as a custodian at Washington State University before retiring about 12 years ago.

While he did not stay in radio, Bob said, "it's where my heart was at all the time."

He said he enjoyed speaking to listeners on the radio.

"You're able to reach out to the people that are listening, and you kind of build up a rapport with them," he said. "If you do something wrong, they'll be the first to tell you about it."

Guardians Foundation volunteers assisted the couple's move Wednesday by boxing up their belongings. They also planned to move the couple's trailer. The nonprofit organization based in Post Falls assists military veterans and their families.

The volunteers could be seen all week on the sidewalk just west of the U.S. Highway 95-State Highway 8 intersection in Moscow asking stopped drivers to place donations in camouflage nets. Some of the money went toward helping Syringa veterans and their families, such as the Gates.

"They're a godsend when we needed them," Bob said.

Margaret called the volunteers "angels."

"Praise the Lord for the Guardians Foundation," she said.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.

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(c)2018 the Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Moscow, Idaho)

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