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Article Courtesy of The TCPalm
By Eve Samples
Published August 19, 2009
STUART
— Mitzy is the unassuming type.
She spends much of her day sitting sentry
at her Stuart condo, green eyes peering out the screen door.
The rest of her time is for padding at the
feet of Bea Garza, her 87-year-old owner.
To Bea, who is diagnosed with dementia and
depression, the cat is a conduit to reality. Her doctor says so.
To the condo association at Vista Pines,
she is a violation of rules. She has to go.
A law firm representing the association
sent a letter last week to Bea and her husband, Ron, warning them that
they had 48 hours to “remove the illegal cat” from their home.
| The rationale:
Vista Pines, a three-decade-old complex off East Ocean
Boulevard, does not allow pets — except for “service
or assistance” animals for people with disabilities.
Bea’s psychiatrist, Dr.
Frank Trovato of Stuart, says having a cat helps Bea’s
memory. It makes it easier for her to cope with the loss
of friends and neighbors — which, at age 87, is a
not-uncommon occurrence.
The constant presence of a
pet could even prolong her independence, Trovato wrote in
an affidavit the Garzas provided to Vista Pines’ lawyers
in May.
“In somebody who’s
losing their mind and becoming demented … it helps
maintain their hold on reality, as tenuous as it is,”
Trovato told me.
That’s not enough for
Vista Pines.
The
association’s law firm, Becker & Poliakoff of West
Palm Beach, says the Garzas have failed to |
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Ron
and Bea Garza give a treat to their cat Mitzy at their home in Vista
Pines in Stuart on Monday. With their doctor's recommendation, Ron
Graza adopted Mitzy from the Humane Society several months ago to
help with Bea's dementia. Because Vista Pines doesn't allow pets,
and someone reported they had one, the Garza's are now in a legal
battle with the home owners association to keep Mitzy.
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that Bea’s activities have been “substantially impaired by (her) alleged
disability, and how the cat will ameliorate the effects of the
disability.”
If the Garzas don’t get rid of the cat, the
firm “will proceed with legal action” — potentially leaving them on
the hook for lawyer fees and other costs.
But Ron and Bea are standing their ground. As
of Monday — six days after Becker & Poliakoff sent its latest letter
— Mitzy remained safely at home.
“It’s time to change the rules for the
people who need it, not everybody,” Ron said.
The couple got the cat in November —
without permission from the association — in an effort to improve Bea’s
condition. She has battled dementia for about two years, Ron said.
“It got to where I figured, hey, I’ve got
to do something. So we went to the animal shelter, and we got her a
4-month-old cat,” he said.
The Garzas are among a growing class of pet owners who
believe their animals provide emotional support, even if they’re not
trained service animals such as guide dogs.
Last year, the federal government took steps to
protect such animals. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
issued a rule in October eliminating the requirement that support animals be
trained and certified in order to get protection — possibly giving teeth
to arguments like the Garzas’.
Richard Brown, an attorney in Vero Beach, said Florida
law typically backs the homeowner in cases like this, too. He recently
represented a woman with dementia whose condo association wanted to take
away her support dog. He got involved, and the association backed down.
“It’s like saying to a person, ‘You can’t have
your prescription drugs in your house,’” Brown said.
Vista Pines didn’t have much to say about the Garzas’
plight.
The on-site property manager and the association
president pointed me to the law firm for further comment. Becker Poliakoff
lawyer Marty Platts could not be reached for comment.
As for Bea, she doesn’t talk much about the medical
reasons for having Mitzy. In her mind, the benefits are simple.
“I’m not alone,” she said.
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