bed and breakfast for disabled veterans :Mendenhall

Sgt. Stanford Mendenhall’s bones are as brittle as a man’s twice his age. He takes about 20 different types of medication each day to combat everything from congestive heart failure to full-body seizures. But he never complains. Mendenhall thanks the Lord for each day he spends with his wife, Linda. Because after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq a few years ago, doctors told him his exposure to depleted uranium would soon claim his life.

In April 2006, Mendenhall purchased a house in Camden so he could spend his last days on Earth with his mother. Then, he received a second lease on life. After attending a mass spiritual healing in France with thousands of other disabled troops, Mendenhall’s health took a turn for the better. He decided it was time to make a difference. So Mendenhall began converting the house he bought at 213 Clifton St. into a bed and breakfast for disabled veterans and their families. He and his wife envisioned a place where people could come and relax while becoming acclimated to living in the country again. Stanford wanted his fellow veterans to experience the town where he grew up. “We feel that there is a need for it, and we feel that they could heal here,” Linda said. The couple contacted the Alabama Bed and Breakfast Association and obtained a business license from the state. All they needed was approval from Camden’s Adjustment Board to open a business in a residential zone. According to local ordinances, a bed and breakfast qualifies as a special exception to opening a business in a residential zone. Soon, the neighbors that the Mendenhalls had shared drinks with on front porches and waved at across the sleepy, tree-lined street became stiff opposition to the bed and breakfast. In fact, opposition grew so much that the board held a hearing on March 31 so residents from the neighborhood could voice their concerns. The Mendenhalls could not attend this hearing due to a previous commitment. The couple did plead their case at another hearing Tuesday night in Camden, and Ken Crosswhite, who lives across the street from the proposed bed and breakfast, spoke on behalf of the opposition.

For further details visit at www.selmatimesjournal.com/news/2009/apr/15/bed-and-breakfast-may-be-blocked/