Standing outside his dilapidated trailer in the community of Chatmire, outside Dunnellon, 40-year-old Gary cannot tell you his street address despite having lived there for almost a decade. He is uncertain what his Social Security number is, how to spell Chatmire or Dunnellon. He has long ago forgotten most of his fifth-grade education. What little the disabled man can remember is not nearly enough to allow him to read his mail. Uncertain of the letters, the words are all a jumble.

This month, Gary added another uncertainly to the long list he already carries with him - where he soon will live. His home is on the county's list of properties to be auctioned off for non-payment of taxes.

Gary, or "Peewee" as his Chatmire friends and family have called him most of his life, does not own the trailer he lives in, nor the 0.23-acre lot the trailer sits on. His monthly $600 Social Security disability check is sent to his mother, Ella Gary, who lives a few houses down the street, and not Michael Gary's home at 19785 S.W. 107th Lane.

Ella Gary, 59, also receives a monthly disability check of her own. With his money, Ella Gary said she buys his groceries, gives him some pocket money and pays his utility bills.

The property is in her name as well as the 19795 S.W. 107th Lane property where she lives with three of her adult children and three grandchildren. Her 19795 S.W. 107th Lane property was assessed at $18,740 in 2005, according to property appraiser records.

She claims homestead exemption on her home and pays $222.19 in annual fire service and landfill fees, but cannot claim homestead where Michael Gary lives. The property where he lives was assessed at $20,866.

"God blessed me with this land and now the devil is going to take it away from me," he said. "I can't come up with that much money. I only get one check a month."

"I couldn't keep up his taxes and mine," she said. "And I don't have any more room at my place for him. I don't know where he's going to go."

Since 2000, the county has auctioned off 46 properties in Chatmire for non-payment of taxes, according to Marion County Clerk of the Circuit Court records. More are scheduled to be sold later this year. There are 267 parcels in the Chatmire area.

But most of those who bought auctioned parcels live outside the Chatmire area and often are not familiar with the community, other than the fact that it rests off U.S. 41, which is a growing commercial strip that includes a new Wal-Mart Supercenter.

And since the lots are covered in trees and vegetation, Churaman said he had no plans to maintain the property or ensure trash did not collect there.

Of the 267 Chatmire parcels, 120 have homes on them, according to property appraiser records. Of the 120 homes, only 61 have homestead exemptions, suggesting half of those property owners do not live there.

Marion County Tax Collector George Albright said poor communities like Chatmire were caught in the cross-hairs of the Florida real estate boom and technology that made tax auctions easier for investors.

Until about 18 months ago, when the county acquired land and houses in poor neighborhoods because owners failed to pay taxes, no one was interested in buying the property.

"It was all just sitting there and [county officials] never even checked to see if anyone was still living on the lot," Albright said. "Because no one cared . . . from a real estate perspective."

Although poor property owners lost their homes, most continued to stay put and live in their former homes, and as long as they continued to pay utility bills and no one wanted to buy their properties, the county never evicted them, Albright said.

Edwards grew up in Chatmire but dug his way out of the poverty there by joining the U.S. Navy in 1972. A few months ago he returned to Chatmire to take care of his ailing mother.

Chatmire had always been poor, but Edwards was surprised how many properties were no longer owned by people living there and the number of neglected lots.

The property is owned by a Wellington resident and is being sold through Maverick Real Estate. The house is dilapidated, barely visible through years of unchecked vegetative growth. The sales price is $34,900. It is assessed at $13,401, according to County Property Appraiser records.

The group's few members clean streets of trash, they petition the county for new traffic signs and offer residents help in maintaining property.

"But we're losing this battle," he said. "In 25 years Chatmire will be a state-of-the-art shopping center or an extension of the Rainbow River Golf Course."

Citing Dunnellon's growth situated between the Withlacoochee and Rainbow rivers, Edwards said, "We own five boats in Chatmire and two of them leak."

Michael Gary's lawn is a testament to that. Trash is piled on the dirt yard. Some of it is scorched from where he has tried to burn it. Beer bottles and empty TV dinners escaped the fire.

"If this was a white neighborhood, this wouldn't happen," she said. "To the county we're an eyesore. They would do something about helping with the taxes. But they see us all as one people. To them, we're all the same.

"Change has to come from within," Payton said. "There have been many attempts to help the community get on its feet, but it hasn't helped in the past."

And while a few in Chatmire want to improve their neighborhood, "there isn't a significant number of people who want to make a change," he said.

As for those who neglected paying property taxes for several years, Payton said it would be unfair (to ignore their tax violations) while many of those who pay their property taxes have to sacrifice to meet their bills.

Clerk officials say there could be an error regarding his trailer. Since it was never claimed as a stationary structure, the owners perhaps should have gotten vehicle permits for the trailer rather than pay property taxes.

Albright said Florida law allowed him to collect for unpaid trailer permits stickers dating back seven years. Trailer permit stickers are issued like vehicle tags.

Michael Gary knows that another official-looking letter will soon come from tax collectors. Michael Gary will not know what the words in the letter mean, but they will be menacing enough to his unsophisticated mind.

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