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Article Courtesy of The
Bradenton Herald
By Mark Young
Published March 23, 2019
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Bradenton -- A painting of the Virgin Mary on the front of an elderly woman’s
trailer at the Tropical Palms Mobile Home Park in Bradenton that her landlord
wanted taken down, will remain right where it is after the two sides settled
their dispute.
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The terms of the settlement were not
disclosed and all sides have gone silent, an indication that
some type of gag order was placed on the parties involved,
which is not unusual in such cases.
Attorney Bryan Levine, of Knox Levine, represented the
Tropical Palms Mobile Home Park’s board of directors in
trying to force 85-year-old Millie Francis, a devout
Catholic, to remove the painting. Levine declined to answer
whether a gag order was preventing comment about a possible
deal.
However, a letter to the state obtained by the Bradenton
Herald states that a settlement has been reached. The letter
was dated March 8 and sent to the Department of Business and
Professional Regulation, which oversees arbitration cases
for the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and
Mobile Homes.
“Please be advised that I am in the process of finalizing an
acceptable settlement to the referenced matter and do not
anticipate having to participate in arbitration,” the letter
signed by Francis notes. “It is my understanding that you
have received a similar notice from Knox Levine.”
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The Virgin Mary painting on the front of an elderly
Bradenton woman’s trailer will stay after the two sides reached a
settlement agreement.
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Francis concludes the letter with, “I’m quite pleased
with the outcome.”
At Francis’s trailer on Thursday, the only visible change was that a new
awning had been installed to help protect the painting from weather. While
Francis has not spoken to the Bradenton Herald since a settlement was
proposed, she had previously said she planned on putting up an awning from
the beginning of the controversy.
L.A. “Tony” Kovach, a manufactured home expert with 25 years in the industry
and publisher of two trade publications, has been following the issue
closely.
“Days prior to what is an apparently confidential settlement agreement,
Millie Francis told MHLivingNews, ‘Don’t mess with the virgin,’ Kovach said
in an email to the Herald. “Mrs. Francis did not go into details or
elaborate on the meaning of the statement when I called her.”
The saga began in October when Francis wanted to replace her front window
because security personnel were shining flashlights into her home late at
night. Francis received permission to do the work and after replacing the
window was inspired while at church to commission an artist to paint Our
Lady of Guadalupe, one of Mary’s many titles, on the space.
By early November, the park’s manager tried to force Francis to take the
painting down, to which she replied, “They’ll have to kill me first.”
The park’s law firm got involved the next month and by January it had filed
paperwork with the state announcing Francis “has been sued in this
proceeding.”
Francis remained defiant and with some outside help began to mediate the
case, which has now been resolved.
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