Financial woes kill Christmas spirit of Clark family

By Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer

CLARK December 20, 2008 08:37 pm

— Toni and Bob Besser make a “huge deal” of Christmas.
“We’re big on tradition,” Mrs. Besser said, noting that selecting a live tree and baking cookies are all part of the annual festivities with their three boys, ages 9, 6 and 4.
“I want that to be something they’d remember,” she said of Christmas.
But, two members of the house have had a hard time exhibiting much Christmas spirit this year: the parents.
The Bessers are drowning in debt, they fear they could lose their house – although their bank has not foreclosed, the couple filed for bankruptcy as a preemptive measure – and they can’t catch a break. Many of the decisions they have made that they hoped would provide for a better future have backfired.
“Thank God for these kids,” Mrs. Besser said. “Without them, I might have given up on everything.”
The Bessers have bought no Christmas gifts for their boys, but were able to get them some presents through Sharpsville schools. Besser used the $50 he was going to spend on a Christmas gift for his wife on a veterinarian bill.
The Bessers don’t think they are different from many other people in the area facing hard times in a down economy, and know there are some who are worse off than them. Mrs. Besser said she donated food to a food drive and a single mother with children for that reason.
But, the mood is far from festive as they sit around their kitchen table and tell their story.
“It’s just depressing,” Besser said. “Everything around here is depressing.”
The mood worsens when Besser, a self-proclaimed “newshound,” flicks on Fox News or CNN and learns the latest about government bailouts, executives in private jets, and money going to banks that use it to buy other banks instead of helping people having trouble paying their mortgages.
The Bessers have been married for 10 years and live in the house Besser grew up in, on two acres in the eastern part of Clark, with corn fields for neighbors. There’s lots of open space for three growing boys to run around, and the Bessers hope some day to be able to turn over the property to one of their sons.
Up until recently, both worked, he as a mill worker and she as a phlebotomist. Now, only Mrs. Besser is employed.
Besser was hired in 1994, but the mill work became “inconsistent” with a change of owners. He was laid off much more frequently and shifted from shop to shop, sometimes doing “back-breaking” work that was more physically strenuous than he liked, he said.
During a layoff this summer, Besser got a job at another mill.
“We were so happy when he got the job there because we thought he wouldn’t have to get laid off again,” Mrs. Besser said.
In mid-October, about 1è months after Besser started his new job, he was laid off.
Tired of being laid off, Besser cashed in his 401(k) retirement account – paying a substantial amount in taxes – and enrolled at a trade school to get his commercial driver’s license so he could drive a truck for a living.
“I want a career,” said Besser, who graduated Dec. 3. “I don’t want just a job.”
A local trucking company hired him and was about to send him to training when it told him there was a hiring freeze and he wouldn’t be working. Other job inquiries have led to no offers. Besser said he’s been told that trucking companies are not willing to take a chance on drivers with no experience.
Mrs. Besser would like to attend nursing school, and has been accepted to a one-year program, but has not been able to pay the $150 to hold her seat for classes that start in July and doesn’t know if she will be able to attend anyway.
“I don’t know how I could afford to attend the school and not work,” she said.
Mrs. Besser got a second job after her husband was laid off over the summer, but neither wants her to do that again.
“I told her, ‘You gotta quit,’ ’’ Besser said, noting she was working 80 hours a week. “It wasn’t worth it. She was a zombie.”
Besser is getting some unemployment money, but he called the amount “pathetic” and said it goes to utilities. The Bessers have gotten behind on their electricity and heating oil bills, and payment plans haven’t relieved the financial pressure, Mrs. Besser said.
Mrs. Besser’s income is the family’s main source of financial support, but her take-home pay is far short of what they need. According to their bankruptcy petition, the Bessers’ expenses outpace income by $1,000 a month.
“Try supporting a family of five making $9 an hour,” she said. “It’s not easy.”
In their case, it has been impossible. The big monkey on their back has been their two mortgages, which cost them about $920 a month. They took out the first mortgage in 2006 for Besser to build a garage. They took out the second in January to consolidate some debt, including credit card bills and her father’s funeral expenses.
The couple said they have asked the bank that holds their mortgages to restructure the deals by refinancing for a better rate or extending the term to bring down the payments, but with no success.
They added that they went to another bank about refinancing, but the bank wasn’t interested.
Fearing they would lose their house, they filed for bankruptcy, which froze their bank accounts and rendered them unable to touch some of their money.
Those accounts were frozen the same day Mrs. Besser learned she needed surgery to correct a painful jaw condition that makes eating difficult and renders her unable to fully open her mouth. Her health insurance won’t cover the surgery – although it has been covering the costs of tests, doctor visits and pain pills – and the Bessers can’t afford to pay for it.
The Bessers have downsized, but it hasn’t been enough. Two vehicles were repossessed, they sold two all-terrain vehicles and found new homes for a dog and three cats. They still have a 2003 Dodge Durango, an unreliable 1995 Buick Century, two ATVs and three cats.
They cut their satellite and Internet services to the minimum, and no longer use credit cards. They consider their cellular telephones and Internet connection essential for Besser’s job search.
“We don’t go anywhere,” Besser said, noting that a son could not wrestle at school because they couldn’t afford the cost of gas getting him to and from practices and meets.
“We don’t spend no more on anything we don’t absolutely have to have,” said Mrs. Besser, who is trying to sell her porcelain doll collection on eBay.
The couple said they have tried to keep their woes from their kids, but their oldest boy has overheard them talking and learned more than they wanted him to know. The boy became sick and his doctor said his symptoms were stress-related.
“That just tore me up,” Mrs. Besser said. “I felt guilty because, obviously, I’m not shielding them enough from this.”
The couple acknowledge they probably have made mistakes in how they have managed their money, and are not trying to get out from paying their obligations. They said they just want a job for Besser and some help from their bank in making their payments manageable.
Besser said he doesn’t understand why his uncle was able to get a restructured mortgage – he didn’t know what bank holds his uncle’s mortgage – and he couldn’t.
“Without a job, you can’t pay it,” he said of his mortgage.
“We’ve always worked,” Mrs. Besser said. “We’re not the type to expect things for free. I just assumed when you fell in times like this, there would be some help.”

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