Losing a home and marking a homecoming

Reporting from Bend, Ore.—
For months, since he knew his son Aaron would be coming home for two weeks' leave from Iraq, Tim Collette has been desperate to make sure there would be a home to come back to.

But on Tuesday, two things happened. First, a foreclosure auctioneer with a blue clipboard stood on the steps of the Deschutes County Courthouse, as Collette watched in silence a few steps below, and transferred the house back to the bank.

Two hours later, Collette waited in baggage claim at nearby Redmond Airport as a thin young man walked in, wearing Army camouflage, sandy suede boots, and then, a wide smile. A phalanx of grizzled military veterans waved flags.

That Collette would lose his house and celebrate a homecoming on the same day was dismal coincidence. But the 59-year-old kitchen-and-flooring contractor, who has become an expert at testifying before legislative committees, giving television interviews and mobilizing public ire at the banking industry, is determined that, unlike the thousands of foreclosure stories playing out in quiet misery across America, this one will not end quietly.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-foreclosure-soldier-20110811,0,6278791.story

;-)