Stacey Tuell has part of his life back.
The homeless man lived in his car until it was illegally towed last summer. Last week, a Mount Juliet church stepped forward to offer a replacement.
“I know it’s just a car, but I feel like a normal person again,” Tuell said.
Tuell suffered a slow slide into homelessness after a string of misfortunes, some of his own making.
He was laid off his job as a welder about two years ago, then hit a rocky patch in his marriage. He moved out of the home where his wife and daughter still live. He couldn’t find a job. He racked up a string of misdemeanor offenses, from driving on a suspended license to possession of drug paraphernalia. He began living in his Pontiac Sunfire.
Police arrested Tuell — just as he was heading to his car — for failing to appear in court on a misdemeanor offense last summer.
Two hours later, they towed his car. It was legally parked.
A local pastor who had befriended Tuell found a volunteer lawyer who took his case to court. A judge found the car had been illegally towed and ordered it released. The lawyer, William Hunt, and Tuell went straight to the towing lot with the judge’s order in hand. But by then, it was too late. The car — and all his possessions, including a wedding band, a watch, family photographs and all his clothes — were gone.
Members of The Glade Church in Mount Juliet were among the first who stepped forward after reading about Tuell’s plight in The Tennessean last week.
The church has an “automotive ministry” — a group of about 40 men who volunteer every Monday night to tinker with used cars to get them into good working condition. Tuell’s new car, a 1998 white Ford Expedition, is the 54th they have given away since 2009…Read More
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