RAPID CITY - The owner of Eastbrooke Mobile Home Park, who told residents in October they must leave by Dec. 1, has now offered to give homeowners $500 and to forgive their November rent if they are gone by the deadline.

If they are not gone, according to a letter from his attorney that residents received Friday, there will be no $500, they will still owe November rent, and owner Mark Mollers will start eviction proceedings against them.

The Salvation Army, which has been assisting the residents, praised the offer as generous. But some residents are skeptical.

Chris Glenn, 23, and several of his friends were giving his mobile home a fresh coat of paint Saturday so the home would be accepted into a new park.

Glenn said he believes that Mollers decided to help the residents because the issue had been covered in the news media and addressed at city and county meetings.

"He's trying to push us out. 'Here, just get out,'" Glenn said. "If we didn't get the help from the city or The Salvation Army, we would not have thought about leaving. Five hundred is not enough."

He said he would have to find the money to install new windows or he wouldn't be allowed in the new park he'd found.

Glenn was still angry about being told to move.

"It's wrong," he said. "We don't really deserve this."

A neighbor, Dwanna Oldson, doubted that residents would get their $250 lot deposits back when they left, although she said Mollers told her he would mail the deposit to her new address.

The letter they received read, "This offer is expressly conditioned upon you moving your trailer and personal effects from Eastbrooke Mobile Home Park by December 1."

Messages left at Mollers' home Saturday were not immediately returned.

Mark Kirkeby, director of development for The Salvation Army, said the agency has had some discussions with Mollers but that Mollers decided on his own to give the money, and Kirkeby wasn't sure why.

"We're tickled," Kirkeby said Saturday. "Maybe it's the holidays or what have you; I don't know why."

He said the residents he has spoken with are "thrilled" about the $500 and the November rent waiver, which amounts to an additional $230.

"Mollers absolutely legally did not have to do this," Kirkeby said. "They gave the legal requirements to vacate. It was just a wonderful gesture on their part to help out their tenants."

Kirkeby said it will cost the average mobile-home owner more than $1,500 to move a trailer, plus more money to pay a deposit on a new lot and to hook up utilities.

"So this is a substantial contribution toward those moving costs," Kirkeby said.

Kirkeby said some residents are still in limbo, but most have made plans for how to relocate. A few are moving out of town, but most are moving into a new mobile-home park or an apartment.

How to help

The Salvation Army is still accepting donations for Eastbrooke residents. Mail checks to P.O. Box 3269, Rapid City, SD 57709 with "Eastbrooke" in the memo line.