SARATOGA SPRINGS — Some legal experts say Linda Dexter didn't have to move. She could have stood her ground and insisted on living in the house she and her husband agreed to lease before he left for Iraq last February with the 1457th Engineering Battalion.
But the landlords needed the house back. They raised the rent $450 a month and sent a constable with a summons the day before Thanksgiving.
"I signed a paper saying I'd get out by the evening of the 15th," Dexter said. "If I did that, they wouldn't sue me for damages."
So Saturday was moving day — and she had plenty of help.
Two roads in her neighborhood were almost completely blocked about 9 a.m. by a convoy of trucks, trailers and troops assisting Dexter's move into another home in the same area.
"I've never seen anything like this," she said.
More than 40 young single adults from the Cottonwood 17th LDS Ward — marshaled by their Young Single Adult leader, Kevin Watts — left Salt Lake City at 8 a.m. to help. A host of neighbors and friends were busily boxing up toys, packing dishes and directing traffic. And soldiers from the Regional Training Institute at Camp Williams military installation came to heft boxes, lift furniture and show their support.
"This just shows, you don't mess with the military," said Karla Hardcastle, Dexter's friend and president of the local family support chapter, surveying the organized commotion.
Dexter is moving despite the fact that military officials and others say she's protected by the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940 — an act that is designed to hold all legal actions such as divorce proceedings and evictions until the soldier can return home to defend himself.
"You can't expect a soldier to leave his foxhole and be coming in from Baghdad to make an appearance," said Col. Lawrence Schmidt, an officer with the Judge Advocate General's office. Schmidt said he feels the exorbitant raise in rent was purposefully done to skirt the limit of $1,200 in the Civil Relief Act. Language in the 63-year-old law says as long as the rent is below $1,200, the protection against eviction exists for military families.
The Dexters had been paying $1,050 to rent the three-bedroom home.
"Who raises the rent from $1,050 to $1,500?" Schmidt said. "The reason it matters here is because of the $1,200 threshold."
The homeowners, Justin and April Summers, said the Dexters have known about the increase since September. They have said tight finances of their own prompted the rent increase.
Schmidt said the judge ought to have recognized the Civil Relief Act and derailed the attempt to evict Dexter.
There's some confusion and disagreement between the JAG office and Fourth District Judge Derek Pullan's office as to when Pullan became aware of Dexter's military status.
Nancy Volmer, representing the Administrative Office of the Courts, said Pullan did not have official notification until Dec. 1. The eviction process was initiated with the judge's signature on a five-day summons Nov. 14.
Schmidt said he called and informed clerks during early and mid-November of Dexter's deployment. Schmidt said he also sent along copies of Dexter's orders and made the judge's staff aware of the Civil Relief Act.
On Dec. 1, as per a clerk's request, he put it in writing.
"We cannot take the word of someone on the phone. You can see that, can't you?" said Volmer. She also said Pullan cannot comment specifically on the situation because it's a pending case.
Dexter now has the money to pay the higher rent, thanks to strangers who read about her plight and sent cash to a local credit union fund to help. In addition, lawyers have offered to represent her at no cost. Real estate agents said they would find her a new place for a reduced fee, and many have urged her to fight to stay in the home.
But she doesn't want any more trouble. She's ill. She has a new baby to care for — a 4-month-old boy born prematurely — and three other young children. She wants to be able to live in peace in the same area where her children are comfortable and have friends.
She just hopes her story motivates others to see that soldiers' families aren't as protected as they assume, that the Civil Relief Act needs updating and that officials across the nation are made aware that it exists.
"I'm just very grateful for the potential for good," Dexter said. "I'm telling those who offer to help me to write a senator, adopt a Guard family. Any extra money I receive will go to help others in the same situation."
She said her husband is generally aware of the publicity surrounding the family and sends his and his unit's support via e-mail.
"All right, way to go! The soldiers out here are proud of you," he told her.
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com