Udall's Bill May Save Woman's Park Home
 
 
 
June 13, 2005
 

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Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado (CBS4) - The Department of Interior may force an 83-year-old grandmother out of her home in Rocky Mountain National Park. 
 
Betty Dick lives in a cabin near Grand Lake just off highway 34. Her land dispute dates more than 30 years.
 
Years ago, Betty and her husband reluctantly signed papers giving them a 25-year settlement at the property. The couple never expected to live that long. But Betty did, and now she doesn't want to leave.
 
Some Colorado Congressmen are now pushing a bill to allow Betty to stay at the national park until her death.
 
The beauty of Betty Dick's back yard can take your breath away. Her cabin is surrounded on three sides by the Continental Divide, and the source of the Colorado River runs right by her front door.
 
"It's beautiful property," said Dick, who has not only shared the property with her family, but has opened it to the community and people from all over the world.
 
"Her heart is with this place," said Clara Rini, a family friend.
 
The Department of the Interior, though, is scheduled to evict Dick in just five weeks.
 
"I hope to stay here and I plan to stay here," she said.
 
Rini defended her friend's right to stay on the property.
 
"This is her home, this is her home," she said. "She's 83 -- let her live the rest of her life in her home."
 
Dick said she is not going down without a fight.
 
"There have been attempts to get to someone in the Interior Department and we are not able to do that," Dick said. "And until I am able to talk someone, I am going to stay here."
 
On Dick's side in the dispute are some well-known names in Colorado politics and many members of the general public.
 
Congressman Mark Udall told Dick: "We are going to win this thing." Udall and Sen. Ken Salazar are pushing a bill that would let Dick live out her life on the public land.
 
Dick is hopeful. She said she can make better use of this land as long as she's alive.
 
"They [Dept. of Interior officials] don't have the money to maintain it; they don't have the money to tear it down," she said.
 
"This is a piece of heaven on earth and hope we are able to continue to share that for the rest of Betty's life," Rini said.
 
Government officials have said they don't want Udall's bill to become law because they fear others who lease property on national park land would try to extend their stay, similar to Dick.
 

Copyright 2005, CBS.