St. Clair county - It's still an hour before sunrise as Sgt. DonCooper trudges through the underground parking lot of the St. ClairCounty Sheriff's Department to begin another day that includeskicking people out of their homes.As a process server, part of Cooper's job is to ensure thatthose who have fallen too far behind on their rent or mortgagevacate their property.In the aftermath of the U.S. housing market collapse, you mightexpect business to be booming. But Cooper isn't delivering thatmany more eviction notices than in the past, http://www.cheapfendibags.net - Fendi Online Outlet . Nor does he findhimself in fancier neighborhoods any more than usual.He says he's dealing with the same folks he has alwaysencountered during his 19 years on the job - people who areoverextended and people who always seem to be on the precipice offalling from low-income housing to living homeless."Most of those who lose their home are the kind that would losetheir home even if we were in a good economy," said Cooper as hestarted another workday last month.Record numbers of foreclosures have taken a devastating toll inthe U.S. Thousands of families have been forced from homes, andsubdivisions have turned into ghost towns. Foreclosure filingsnationwide jumped 81 percent last year, according to one survey.Illinois saw a 54 percent increase, while Missouri rose 33percent.So far, St. Clair County has fared better than many communities.The county recorded 1,740 notices of foreclosure in 2008, just a 10percent increase from the previous year.But there is one change that Cooper is seeing. He's arriving athouses, apartments and trailers to find them empty. Families don'tseem to cling to their final moments in their home like they oncedid.Cooper isn't sure why, but he wonders if it might be a lasteffort to salvage their dignity."They know it's coming," he says. "So maybe to save themselvesthe embarrassment, they move out the night or the week before soeverybody in the neighborhood doesn't see."Cooper's workday follows a routine pattern. He spends the firstfew hours trying to deliver court notices before people leave forwork.At stops in Belleville, Freeburg and Marissa, he uses the edgeof a clipboard to bang on doors like a rude woodpecker. He knocksrapidly for about 10 seconds, pauses, then starts again, http://www.guesswholesaler.com - Guess outlet online .By the time he gets involved in a foreclosure or eviction,Cooper says a resident has had plenty of chances to make thingsright. And he has little sympathy for those who bought more housethan they could afford. "Sometimes young people dive in and get allthey can rather than spending a little time working for it."During his shift last month, Cooper delivers a first-notice ofeviction. It states the resident must vacate within 48 hours. Thatrarely is enforced, http://www.guesswholesaler.com - www.guesswholesaler.com . In most instances, http://www.handbagcheapest.com - Marc By Marc Jacobs Bags , it might be several weeksbefore an eviction can be scheduled.As a courtesy, Cooper posts a small blue note on the front doorthe day before a resident will be forced out. The note states thathe will return the next day and that any property remaining will beremoved. It seldom comes to that, he says.When he does encounter someone still at the residence, he triesto be understanding. He's delayed evictions because of bad weather.He's overlooked marijuana and drug paraphernalia, figuring theresidents had enough problems to deal with."We're not there trying to browbeat people," he says, http://www.handbagcheapest.com - Marc Jacobs Purses .Still, some get angry. It's not uncommon for people to knockholes in walls, smash furniture or dump garbage throughout theresidence. Cooper lets them vent as long as they don't getphysical.After a few more stops, Cooper heads toward East St. Louis toback up another deputy handling an eviction that is growingheated.At the end of a block of aging bungalows, an upset LaJoya Pass,33, watches as a crew hired by her landlord stacks a growing pileof her family's belongings under a magnolia tree in the front yard.Her young son shoots a deflated basketball at a milk crate tied toone of the branches.Pass' boyfriend, Travis Wallace, is loading a rental truck withwhatever he can salvage from the home. He bickers with the workcrew about some perceived transgressions."It doesn't do any good to argue, you're just going to end upfighting," Cooper tells Wallace, trying to calm him. "I don't wantanybody to go to jail."Pass says she lived in the house with Wallace, her mother andher five young children since November 2007. She says she workedpart-time in a retail shop and received government assistance buthad fallen about $5,000 behind on her rent and utilities. It wasthe second time she had been evicted from the same house, she says.She planned to check into a hotel and start looking for a newplace.About an hour after Cooper arrived, the family is gone. Time tomove on to the next case."It's not something I take enjoyment in," Cooper says. "It'sjust a job."---Trying Times is an occasional series about how people in ourregion are living with the recession, http://www.handbagcheapest.com - Marc Jacobs Bags .
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