GREENSBORO, N.C. — Ask Debra Henderson about her home, and she smiles. The longtime Greensboro resident takes a lot of pride in it and doesn’t even refer to it as a house.
“This is a home; it’s not a house — it’s a home,” Henderson said.
Henderson and her husband moved into the home back in 1990. Back then, her home was nothing like it is now.
“It was a box, just a box; year after year, we have done this and that and made it a home,” Henderson said.
One of Henderson's points of pride is keeping the yard mowed and looking nice. About 10 years ago, Henderson was in the backyard and noticed that a small home had been developed by the back fence.
“We started to find holes in the backyard, had no idea (what reason was), so we just put a brick on it and didn’t think any more of it,” Henderson said.
As time went by, the holes kept getting bigger and bigger, deeper and deeper. At one point, Henderson put large boards over the holes so the dog wouldn’t get hurt or fall in.
“They started small but then started collapsing. I was scared they were sinkholes,” Henderson said.
Upon further inspection, the couple noticed some utility or cable-type lines running along the bottom of some holes. Henderson contacted several companies and entities but couldn’t figure out who the lines belonged to.
“I looked and looked and searched and searched, and it was a dead end, dead end, and that’s when I remembered 2 Wants to Know,” Henderson said.
After they contacted us and explained the situation, we made several calls to see if we could figure out who the utility lines belonged to and if they were part of the problem.
It took a week or two, but we eventually figured out which company installed the lines. The company sent someone out to investigate, and a few days later,, a crew came out to fill in the holes.
“They did a great job,” Henderson said. “You can walk on it; it is solid.”
The work crew filled in all the holes and covered them with straw. Henderson said the crew was great and did a wonderful job. She also had a few nice things to say about our Call for Action Team.
“The way (WFMY News 2) helped me was phenomenal. (I) couldn’t have done it without you,” Henderson said.