JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 For 81-year-old Henry Cue, the modest house he has called home for over half a century is his \u201cpride and joy.\u201d But for the Vietnam veteran, who is missing an arm and struggles with mobility, the simple act of maintaining his home had become increasingly difficult throughout the years. <\/p>\n
The City Municipal Code Compliance Division issued a 60-days to clean the property or face a staggering fine of $50 per day. <\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cA big question mark over our head,\u201d Cue said, describing the uncertainty that loomed as thick as the overgrown grass and a massive tree that had collapsed onto his roof in the back yard. <\/p>\n The veteran caught the attention of Ron Armstrong during a recent code enforcement hearing. Armstrong, currently looking to become Jacksonville Mayor, witnessed Cue and his wife leave the hearing in despair. <\/p>\n \u201cBasically, what the city said was they had 60 days to repair their home, from cutting the grass to dealing with a huge tree on the house,\u201d Armstrong said. \u201cI just felt my heart break for that couple. They walked out with their heads down, just kind of hopeless.\u201d <\/p>\n Refusing to let a veteran be fined , Armstrong issued a call for help on social media. The community\u2019s response was swift and decisive. <\/p>\n On Wednesday morning, a team of 15 volunteers arrived at the Cue residence, armed with chainsaws, mowers, and a sense of duty. Among them was next-door neighbor Brandon Gage, who had witnessed the property\u2019s decline. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not gonna lie, before today\u2019s cleanup, it was very bad,\u201d Gage said as he worked. \u201cWe had a whole tree on the man\u2019s house, multiple limbs, and rats running across the yard.\u201d <\/p>\n The operation grew as local businesses stepped in, donating equipment and labor to haul away three dump trailers full of yard waste and heavy debris. Volunteer Christian Smith urged others to follow suit: \u201cHelp your veterans, help out your community. Try to get people together and do what you can.\u201d <\/p>\n By the afternoon, the fallen tree was cleared from the roof and the lawn was restored. While Mr. Cue and his wife preferred to stay out of the spotlight, their relief was palpable. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are truly, truly grateful and appreciate his god-fearing act,\u201d Cue\u2019s wife said of the community effort. \u201cWe will never forget this action.\u201d <\/p>\n Thanks to a morning of hard work by neighbors and strangers alike, the \u201cquestion mark\u201d over the Cue household has finally been replaced with peace of mind. <\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 For 81-year-old Henry Cue, the modest house he has called home for over half a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[94684,94681,45403,969,116,118,117,50955,6489,634,94682,94683,1932,27974],"class_list":["post-206956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-armstrong","tag-henry_hu","tag-hughes","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jessica_salina","tag-jessica_salinas","tag-local","tag-municipal_code_compliance_division","tag-ron_armstrong","tag-vietnam","tag-vietnam_war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}