Cardone cleanup now complete

Aerial photo courtesy of Doug Hazlett
BIRD’S EYE VIEW — This aerial photograph taken in December 2010 shows how Jerry Cardone’s property looked prior to the two-part clean-up project at his 314 Military St. location. Much of the clutter was either hauled away or burned by the town.
Local artist billed $56,038 to cover costs
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — A 10-year saga to clean up a four-acre parcel of land on top of Drake’s Hill has come to a conclusion, at least from the town’s perspective.
    Houlton Town Manager Doug Hazlett said Monday that the clean-up project at Jerry Cardone’s residence at 314 Military St. has been completed, per a court order, and that Cardone has been sent a bill for the clean-up costs in the amount of $56,038.
    If the bill is not paid, Hazlett said a lien would be placed upon the four-acre property. His land was previously reported to be 10 acres, but that figure was not accurate, Hazlett said. On Friday, Cardone said he has no means to pay such a high bill.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
SURVEYING THE SCENE — Jerry Cardone inspects a portion of his property Friday afternoon after the town of Houlton completed its cleanup of the land. Cardone was sent a bill of $56,038 for the project.
    Cardone, who is also known as Jerry Cardona, contends that not only did the town destroy several pieces of his artwork, they also left his property in worse shape than before the clean up began. He said he goes by either Cardone or Cardona, but actually prefers to be known as “The Dinosaur Man” for his collection of self-made artwork featuring dinosaurs, aliens and other creatures.
    The town became involved in the property long before Hazlett took over as town manager.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
STILL STANDING — Jerry Cardone checks on one of his larger sculpture to see if there is any damage while surveying his land Friday. The massive dinosaur is one of Cardone’s most known pieces of art.
    “There were a series of complaints from residents and a number of notices of violations against Cardone over many years,” Hazlett said. “All of those notices resulted in no action, which left us with no option other than going through the court system.
    The property was deemed a “public nuisance” under Houlton’s town code and the town met with Cardone, whose name is listed as Jerry Cardona on all court and town documents in the case, and his attorney to remedy the situation, but no action ever came of the mediation sessions so the town went back to court.
    Aroostook County Superior Court Justice E. Allen Hunter, who toured the property on several occasions, ruled in a Nov. 15, 2010 judgment that Cardone’s property was a public nuisance under town ordinances and was also an automobile graveyard, without a permit, since October, 2007. He was ordered to remove the vehicles and was also fined $2,500, along with $7,939 in attorney fees in the case.
    “Our viewpoint, was we wanted to find a solution to the singular biggest issues there, which were the health hazard issues from trash and the public safety issue in terms of a fire,” Hazlett said. “There were acres of [stockpiled] wood and burnable material that we would never be able to fight if a fire broke out.”
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
ARTWORK — This alien sculpture is but one of many that can be found at Jerry Cardone’s property atop Drake’s Hill in Houlton.
    He added that the only issue the town had with the items in front of his property were that they were too far into the town’s right of way and dangerously close to the road.
    “It isn’t about look or art,” he said. “It was only about those items out front being in the right of way. In the back, it was more of cleaning up for the health hazard and public safety issues.”
    Hazlett said the vehicles were removed, with the exception of one RV, while massive amounts of rotten wood and garbage was either burned or hauled away.
    “We didn’t want to go in with a bulldozer and scrape the property clean,” Hazlett said. “Instead, we took a much more surgical approach. The approach to clean up came with directions for what we could and couldn’t do. There was a clear direction for everyone who was on the property.”
    Those instructions included: no animals were to be harmed or removed from the property; no buildings were to be damaged or destroyed; all reasonable steps were to be taken to preserve and protect works of art; and no materials were to be removed from the site or sold for personal gain.
    Cardone’s artwork features mostly wooden structures, and includes all sorts of oddities. Among the pieces of art found on his property are sculptures of Bigfoot, palm trees, dinosaurs, aliens, UFOs and Santa Claus.
    His artwork was featured by Maine photographer Tonee Harbert in a book and exhibit titled “Off the Grid,” featured at the Blue Moon Gallery in Houlton and the University of Southern Maine’s Gorham campus
    Cardone maintains that all he was ever told was that he needed to get the junk cars out, which he did.
    Last week, Cardone was hospitalized for anxiety and heart concerns, which he claims were brought on by the second round of cleanup that was recently completed and the receipt of the $56,000 bill from the town. Cardone claims he was not aware that he was going to be billed for the clean-up work, but Hazlett stated the town’s intentions were made perfectly clear on a number of occasions.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
CLEANUP — A sculpture of Santa Claus stands untouched in a corner of Jerry Cardone’s property atop Drake’s Hill in Houlton.
    What bothers Cardone even more, though, is that some of his artwork was damaged or destroyed during the clean-up process.
    “A lot of the art was broken,” Cardone said. “I got stressed out by it. I’ve worked on this project for 20 years and somebody comes and busts it up. I just wanted to make a museum for the kids so when I die, I’ve left something behind.”
    Cardone said he has seen a number of doctors in recent years because of the anxiety brought on by the town coming onto his property. He’s suffered from pneumonia and heart issues, as well as mental issues, which prompted him to seek help at the Acadia Hospital in Bangor for a time.
    “I had lots of health problems, but when I got better, I was sent back to Acadia,” he said. “They had to put me in a dark room because I started seeing demons. The demons were the people from the town and the judge and lawyers. They were all coming to get me.”
    Cardone said he feels discriminated against and that the town is suppressing his ability to create artwork by taking away the materials he had collected over the years.
    Hazlett counters that the only material taken off site was rotten wood that simply would not burn because it was so far gone.
    On Friday, Cardone was out of the hospital and back on his property surveying the work that had been done. He said he no longer lives at the site. By his own admission, Cardone said he did have a lot of items on his property.
A mobile home shows signs of damage after the town finished its cleanup of the Cardone property. Cardone no longer lives on site.
    “It takes a lot of stuff to do what I was doing,” he said. “I don’t make small things. My art is big.”
    The massive “Seven Wonders of God’s Creations” enclave still looms over the entrance to his property and some of the items outside the fence, near the roadway have been either moved closer to the fence or taken inside the property.
    Cardone said he couldn’t understand, if the town performed a clean-up operation, why so many items were left behind.
    “Look at this, it’s a piece of junk, but they left that, I wonder why?” he said. “They took a lot of my palm trees out and broke them. They took all the best wood and left me the crap. Does this look like a clean-up job to you?”
    Three large geese and a number of cats continue to roam the property. Cardone said he had a nesting area for the geese, but the town smashed those houses, leaving the animals with no place to seek shelter. He also had several homes for cats in an area dubbed “The Cat Colony,” but many of those were also ruined.
    At one time, Cardone had a radio station set up on the property, but all of the antennas for that station have been destroyed or hauled away.
    “I had a lot of stuff because I had dreams of doing stuff big,” he said. “Every penny I had went into this project and they [the town] broke me. Physically, mentally and financially, they broke me.”