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Jan
Member
08-01-2000
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 10:49 am
and I wondered about TAXES!!! where was she to get the money to pay all the taxes on all the cars/truck, hay, home improvements etc. Or is that what the $60,000 collected at the benefit is for? I also wondered why we didn't see Glenn's parents since it was his family farm..or did I miss that part since I only watched during cold case comm'ls??
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 3:18 pm
I think I'm missing something here and I'm not exactly sure how to articulate it.
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Hippyt
Member
06-15-2001
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 3:34 pm
I don't get it either,what point are they trying to make? This show does great things for people in bad situations. What "news" is it that things are not all laid out for everyone to see. It's tv for cripey's sake.
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Egbok
Member
07-13-2000
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 3:42 pm
Wow Annie, that's quite a find you posted! I think I'll stick to watching Survivor and TAR and BB. Thanks for sharing your find!
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 3:45 pm
Ok it's the granmother who owns everything, not the wife/mother? So the mom doesn't own a thing and lived in the shack while the grandmother lived in a 'regular' home?
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 4:17 pm
I couldn't get to the original article, you had to join the paper's website, so maybe there was more detail. It sounds like things were not quite as dire as portrayed.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 6:10 pm
Well the mom and kids lived in a shack. It appeared as though there was only her to work the farm that she doesn't own.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 6:20 pm
Well I registered to get the full article. It's my opinion that the grandmother and sil have sour grapes but that's just me. Here's the article: ----------------------------------------- Reality TV? Not exactly, says family 'Extreme Makeover' may have embellished a bit in story of Bakersfield farm By STEVEN MAYER, Californian staff writer e-mail: smayer@bakersfield.com Posted: Saturday November 20th, 2004, 9:30 PM Last Updated: Sunday November 21st, 2004, 9:03 PM It was only last month that a south Bakersfield family received what very well may be the most extreme of extreme home makeovers. Tonight, residents of the southern valley and viewers across the country can watch the weeklong transformation of the Elcano home and farm on an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." The reality TV show airs at 8 p.m. on Channel 23. The episode will chronicle Bakersfield's mid-October Cinderella story: A dilapidated farmhouse on South Union Avenue is demolished and magically replaced by a magnificent new home. Included is a new barn stacked to the roof with thousands of hay bales, a swimming pool, a luxury air-conditioned playhouse with a flat-screen TV and a miniature train to carry Jennifer Elcano's children -- Michael, 11, and Ashley, 6 -- around their new Disneyland-like back yard. The Emmy-nominated series has become one of ABC's most popular shows by arranging extravagant home remodelings for deserving families. Past projects have included rebuilding a house for eight children who lost both parents in an accident, and remodeling the living space of a young wheelchair user by adding an elevator and other improvements. But Linda Elcano, Jennifer's mother-in-law and grandmother to Michael and Ashley, wants to set the record straight on a few facts that don't quite square with the direction the TV show's storyline appears to be headed. "It's kind of a touchy subject," she said. "I don't want to sour things." Indeed. Few would want to rain on such an incredible parade of good deeds that included the volunteer efforts of dozens of local companies and hundreds of area residents. It was mostly local folks who provided the planning, materials, expertise and good old-fashioned sweat to complete the project in less than a week. Some estimate the makeover would cost nearly $2 million in the real world. But local businesses, tradespeople and volunteers did it for free. Throughout the process, the focus has been on Jennifer Elcano and her children, whose story touched thousands of Kern residents after her husband, Glen, was killed in a traffic accident in June. The show's producers and Ty Pennington, the on-camera "team leader," said they wanted to ensure that the family would never have to worry about losing the farm again. The problem with that sentiment, according to Linda Elcano and her daughter, Deanna Elcano Blaise, is that the property south of Bakersfield is actually owned by Linda, not Jennifer. All of the new irrigation systems, all of the improvements on the Elcano farm -- including the new house and barn -- are owned by the family matriarch, not Glen Elcano's widow. "I own the property out here," Linda Elcano said. "The work done ... it's improvements to my property." The elder Elcano is quick to point out that Jennifer is family and Michael and Ashley are cherished grandchildren. They can live in the new house for as long as they wish. But she owns the land outright, so it's in no danger of being lost to creditors or corporate interests. "The show has complicated things," Blaise said. "How do you make people understand the legality of this? When the property tax is reassessed, the bill is going to come to my mother." Several calls to the show's producers were not returned. All of this raises questions. If the farm is sold, does the profit made on the house, barn and improved land go to Linda? Probably. But Linda Elcano says she has no intention of selling the 20 acres. If Linda dies or Jennifer remarries, how will that affect the situation? Linda said her grandchildren will likely one day receive a section of the farm that would otherwise have gone to Glen. "We don't want to take anything away from the community," Blaise said. "It's amazing what people can do when they come together like that." Linda and Jennifer Elcano and Blaise each said the show's producers were completely aware of the ownership details. Jennifer said talk of saving the farm was a reference to the hay-growing business she and Glen operated, not the 20 acres of land, which Glen leased from his mother. "That was our business," she said of the hay enterprise. "In reality, they (the show's producers) didn't do anything wrong." And what about the thousands of area residents who volunteered to help, or simply cheered the effort from the sidelines? Did they believe the house and barn was going to Jennifer and her kids? Were they misled in the interest of creating a tidy story made for TV? Kristin Sweaney of Sweaney Construction, the main contractor for the home-building project, said everyone in the company was fully aware of the ownership details from day one. "I don't think anybody really cares," she said. "It doesn't matter to me who owns the land." Most everyone involved said they were just happy to be part of the effort. For that rainy week in October, the incentive for profit was essentially pushed aside by feelings of goodwill and an amazing level of cooperation between those involved, said John Cohrs, the Bakersfield architect who designed the new home. "It was a huge community effort," said Cohrs, who works for Ordiz-Melby Architects of Bakersfield. "I don't think I heard one local person say, 'Sorry, I don't think I want to help out.'" Jeff Freeborn of Black Oak Nursery in Bakersfield said he also was happy to be part of the project. But he said he was initially under the impression that Jennifer Elcano owned the farm -- until after the work was done, when he learned differently. He also noted that Linda Elcano's modest home, which is adjacent to the new house, was hidden by dozens of hay bales stacked up by the TV crew. Apparently they didn't want it showing on camera. "Typical Hollywood," he said. "They call it reality TV, but it's not reality at all."
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Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 7:05 pm
Sounds like ABC had a story they wanted to tell, and told it. I hope the grandmother can pay all the taxes on the improvements. Actually, I'ved wondered about that. Here, those improvements would cause a huge increase in your property taxes. What happens to those people who can't pay them? They also still have their mortgages don't they?
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Hereiam
Member
03-29-2002
| Monday, November 22, 2004 - 8:01 pm
Click http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articles/story.php?s=2552 to find out how they have been handling the tax situation so that families are not paying. It will be interesting to find out if it continues to work or if tax code will be changed.
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Jan
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 9:41 am
Very interesting, HereIAm. Note this paragraph from your linked article: "Newsweek reports that one recipient of an "extreme home makeover," who was deployed in Iraq at the time of the show, was extremely dissatisfied with the quality of the work, which was estimated to be worth up to $250,000, but he was unwilling to complain as long as it was all free. However, if he is audited and assessed additional taxes, he plans to sue Endemol USA. Considering the current turmoil at Endemol, we might advise him not to wait until the last minute to sue...."
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 9:57 am
Geez...considering how run down and cruddy most of these houses are you would think these people would be more appreciative of what has been done for them...at the very least the appliances and furniture they are given are worth more than their original houses.
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Blender
Member
11-16-2004
| Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 4:47 pm
I agree that the value of the furniture and appliances is high. But what I think gets to homeowners is that their new home won't stay new for very long. Things will start to fall apart and repairs will be needed sooner than later. They probably didn't bargain for that.
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Justalittlebean
Member
08-15-2003
| Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 6:19 am
Was the family of the husband (Glen) on the show? I must have missed that part. I saw Jennifer's Mother and Dad. I really love the show but now I wonder if what we are seeing is the entire truth. I would think a person would have to "own" the house to be on the show. Here is Glen's death notice and I see he had a sister and brother which were never mentioned on the show. Now I'm to to sure about this show. I hope my feelings are wrong. http://www.bakersfield.com/06-08-2004/obits/story/4738808p-4787293c.html
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Wednesday, November 24, 2004 - 8:25 am
But the houses were ALREADY falling apart when the team got there - I really don't think they could make them worse. All homes need maintenance and repair.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Sunday, November 28, 2004 - 7:51 pm
i tried to get to the article and had to register. after i registered it told me an email was being sent 'right now' so i could click on it and start using my account; however, i never got an email. when i tried to sign up again, it told me my email address was already taken by a registered person. uh, that would be me...i hate stuff like this. i also hate bakersfield. no offense to those who live there, but it's a scary place!
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Monday, November 29, 2004 - 9:19 am
I know, Laci Peterson, Chandra Levy, that creepy Congressman or whatever...Bakersfield has gotten a lot of bad publicity lately... Just a thought...just because the m-i-l owns the property perhaps she deeded a section of it to her son (they only mentioned 20 acres - I just got around to watching this show last night) and since the m/i/l was not shown on the show perhaps relations with her and the homeowner are not the best...believe it or not sometimes d-i-l and m-i-l don't always get along (can you believe it?). The house was certainly in poor shape. Two vehicles though? I thought that was a bit over the top. Loved this week's show. That little boy truly was a sweetheart. What a hard thing to deal with for that family.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Monday, November 29, 2004 - 11:39 am
laci, chandra and condit are from modesto! but what i don't care for about bakersfield is there seemed to be a lot of kids wearing goth and nazi-type clothing in the area i visited!
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Monday, November 29, 2004 - 11:44 am
OoPS...just failed my geography lesson. I guess I just think of a dusty sounding California town and assume they are all the same. YIKES.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Wednesday, December 01, 2004 - 8:15 pm
roxip, LOL, you would hate my dusty sounding california town...and yep, they are a lot alike! at least **mine is a smaller one than fresno or modesto or bakersfield, although we are close enough to modesto that laci's stepfather was head of construction on our newest shopping areas. i live in **los banos, which for the priests doing the missions meant "warm spring baths", but is now mostly translated as "the toilets"!
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Thursday, December 02, 2004 - 9:49 am
What a shame...because warm spring baths sounds so nice, doesn't it? I can't talk because I live in a little town in a neighborhood that basically used to be a cotton field that they just flattened and put houses on...no trees, weird soil diseases so that grass sometimes dies unexpectedly...and an ugly name to boot (Crandall - YECK). I like my little town but it doesn't have much to put it on the map.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Friday, December 10, 2004 - 11:30 pm
Anonymous Outsider article related to EM: Home Edition. Scroll down to near the bottom "Wife of IRS Commissioner...." The writer refers to her as a "scumstress". I don't know -- or do I? I got a shock this evening while listening to 20/20. A name caught my attention. I googled "Mark Everson IRS". Yep, it is him and her. I'm a retired legal secretary in Chicago. I worked for "Mrs. Commissioner" 1989-1990. We parted company after a year. Just didn't see eye-to-eye, etc., etc. Maybe it really was her and not me?
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Monday, December 27, 2004 - 8:16 pm
color, you can bet it was her and not you!
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Zeno39
Member
11-09-2002
| Tuesday, January 04, 2005 - 8:06 pm
I like this show, and I think they do a great service for people who are really deserving. And when I heard that one homeowner was dissatisfied, my blood began to boil! How ungrateful can one be? I would be on my knees thanking them, instead of finding fault! Some people are just unworthy of anything. My all time favorite was the family with the deaf parents and the autistic child. The older brother amazed me so much. What a sweet and caring young man! He deserves a front seat in Heaven!! I hope that Ty can keep this going, and a big THANKS to him for being so caring himself.
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Justalittlebean
Member
08-15-2003
| Monday, January 10, 2005 - 5:51 am
Regarding last night's (Jan.9th) show.... http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/207234_makeover10.html 
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