By Ann Rubin
Park Hills, MO (KSDK) - She offers recovering addicts a place to stay, but now a Park Hills woman is being told she needs to stop.
City officials just found out, and say she isn't zone for this.
For seven years, Wendy Cannon has been opening her home to women with nowhere else to go. But what she considers a good deed, the City of Park Hills considers a code violation.
"They say I illegally run a halfway house," said Cannon. "I'm just a woman that tries to help people."
She has four extra beds in her Park Hills home and she says she wants to help because she knows what it's like to need it.
"I was an addict for ten years, and God changed my life, so I can't change anybody but I can give them a home and an opportunity to make changes," she said.
But according to Park Hills city code, she can't. Authorities say Cannon's home isn't zoned for a halfway house, so they're taking her to court. She's been told she needs to move it or shut it down completely.
Alternatively, she can petition the city for a zoning variance.
Cannon says she's helped more than 20 people over the years, but she has just one living with her now.
We're protecting her identity, but that woman says after her eighth time in rehab, she had nowhere else to go.
"I don't know where I'd be but it wouldn't be the safest place. I'd be on drugs again," she said.
She calls Cannon an angel in disguise.
"She has given me the opportunity to go to meetings. She provides the rides. It's a blessing just to have her," she said.
"I'm not going anywhere. If I lose my home, we'll be homeless together," said Cannon.
She hopes it won't come to that.
Many of the women she's helped have written letters on her behalf. Several neighbors too, seem ready to offer support, and Cannon has hired an attorney.
"Everybody that I've helped, it's been worth it all. I'm not going to stop," said Cannon.
Cannon plans to keep fighting. Her court date is set for January 23rd.
KSDK