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Tax protester evicted from home By Chris Bristol A partially paralyzed tax protester who publicly warned he would violently resist eviction has been ousted from his 16-year home in east Medford without incident or injury. Paul Sarkozy alarmed local authorities two weeks ago when he appeared before the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and warned he would defend his Hillcrest home to the death if sheriff�s deputies tried to serve a court-ordered eviction. The eviction was carried out Saturday afternoon. Sheriff�s officials said neither Sarkozy nor his brother and caretaker, Frank, offered any resistance. They had at least one gun but no ammunition. "This was about the best we could have hoped for," Lt. Dewey Patten said. "We didn�t want to create a big donnybrook with those guys." The brothers, natives of Romania, were the subject of an unusual arrangement that began when Paul Sarkozy, who is paralyzed from the waist down, stopped paying taxes in the early 1990s in a feud with the county over his property tax assessments. The county finally foreclosed on the property in 1999 (when the bill was more than $20,000 in arrears) but let the brothers continue living there. They became squatters on the property, which has a view of the Rogue Valley Country Club. The arrangement was never a formal one, and it ended last month when the county sold the sprawling but dilapidated house at public auction for $140,000. The new owners immediately went to court to evict the brothers. Sarkozy, 56, has said he bought the house outright in 1984 for $165,000. Under state law, foreclosure proceeds are carved up as a windfall among the county and other taxing districts owed back taxes. Patten said a deputy who had the house under surveillance Saturday was able to get into the fenced property when Frank unlocked the back gate for some visitors. Other deputies soon arrived. "The deputy accompanied Frank back into the house and contacted the more radical brother," Patten said. "There were no hassles, no firearms � not hardly even any cross words. It was a real peaceful thing." Patten said neither brother brandished firearms, although at least one rifle was "secured" for safety purposes. Paul Sarkozy denied to police prior claims that he owned a pistol; Patten said deputies didn�t search for one. For now, the brothers are staying at an Ashland motel at the direction of the state Senior and Disabled Services Division. A spokeswoman for the agency said that confidentiality rules prevent her from commenting without the brothers� permission. The new owners of the property, retired attorney Sidney Ainsworth and Central Point real estate agent Clyde Severson, did not return phone calls Monday seeking comment on the outcome of the eviction and their plans for the property. Reach reporter Chris Bristol at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.