CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Troubleshooters story that was first reported on in August 2021, a burned down house in Aransas Pass, has finally been torn down.
Nearly three years after it burned down, 503 S. Tenth St. in Aransas Pass came tumbling down today. It had been sitting there, abandoned, ever since.
The Troubleshooters first learned about the house when the Drake family reached out.
Ben Drake, his son Chance, and their family have lived next door for years. They had stories to tell about what they had seen at the house next door.
In effort to find resolution for the Drake's, the Troubleshooters asked Aransas Pass City Manager Gary Edwards to meet at the house in August 2021 to explain why demolition seemed to be taking so long.
"We have not been able to find the owners, and we can't just willy nilly take a house down. We have to work with the owners," he said.
Edwards added that the city had to do everything in it's power to find the owners, and address every legal loophole, before giving the 'go ahead' for demolition.
But there was one more hoop the city had to jump through - approval by the city's Building Board of Standards and Appeals - a civilian group that meets from time to time to make decision like this.
They approved the demolitionat their meeting on March 29.
The Troubleshooters asked Ben Drake, "What does this day mean to you ?" as he watched the demolition.
"Well, it means everything," he said "We've been looking forward to this day for 3 years."
Turner Rentals of Taft did the demolition. They told the Troubleshooters that while beginning the demolition, they found a small camper, a vehicle and a hive of angry bees in the back yard.
