Wednesday, April 1, 1998 | 10:09 a.m.
Finally, Bill Taylor is home.
The 78-year-old senior citizen on Tuesday was presented with a new set of door keys from Metro Police Officer Laurie Bisch, who over the past month has remodeled Taylor's single-story house that vagrants and criminals had destroyed.
It proved to be an emotional homecoming.
The more than 30 people who gathered at the Houston Street property included business owners, city workers and citizens who donated thousands of dollars' worth of building materials, supplies, furniture, appliances and other household items so that Taylor could have his home back.
Taylor offered heartfelt appreciation when he shook hands with individuals in the crowd, welcoming them in to look around at the revamped property.
A dozen "before" shots mounted on a bulletin board inside the house served as background for the visitors: 4-foot mounds of dirty clothes, bicycle tires, fast food containers, broken windows, holes punched out of walls, vagrants' bedding strewn all over the backyard.
The "after" seemed hard to believe.
Glistening white-tile counters in the kitchen and bath. New cabinets and appliances. Fresh paint, both interior and exterior. New hunter-green carpet throughout. A refurbished garage, complete with a new door. Neat brick borders around the plants outside, and a graveled backyard to keep maintenance easy for the senior citizen.
Every room has new furniture in it, much of it donated by citizens who learned of Taylor's plight after reading the SUN's March 15 edition.
Neighbors said they complained to authorities when Taylor's property began to decline over the years.
Much of the damage has been blamed on a man who Taylor let move into his garage. Taylor had recently lost his wife and said he thought some company in the house might help ease his loneliness.
Yet his new tenant had other plans. Shortly after moving in, the young man started allowing street people to move in.
The situation came to an end earlier this year, when Metro Police trailed two burglary suspects to the dilapidated property and recovered countless pieces of stolen merchandise. At least 15 people at the house were arrested on warrants for burglary, robbery, weapons possession, drug dealing and prostitution.
Inspectors ordered the property condemned and were set to demolish the house when Bisch met the owner, who had lived through the nightmare with little more than a padlock on his bedroom door to hide behind.
When not hammering, sawing or sweeping, Bisch was out seeking donations. More than a dozen business contributed to the home's restoration, and all, along with Bisch, received certificates of appreciation Tuesday from Sheriff Jerry Keller. Henry Lujan, of the city's Rapid Response team, donated personal time to the effort and also was honored by Keller.
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