HADLEY — More than a dozen cats are being removed and relocated to area animal shelters after living in a Hadley home with no electricity, heat or running water.
The owner of the home at 64 North Maple St., Ronald Nester, has also moved to an area hotel until the residence can be made habitable.
On Wednesday, Hadley police, joined by a representative from Clinical & Support Options, were back inside the residence in an effort to find the remaining cats, a process that began when a Housing Court judge ruled that the house, considered to be in a state of squalor, be vacated until sanitary code violations are corrected and it is again safe for human habitation.
The town obtained the order Jan. 13 from Judge Fairlie A. Dalton in the Western Division of Housing Court as a result of a December response to the home that Nester says has been his domicile for 50 years.
Police officers and health inspectors showed up on Dec. 21, Nester said.
“I call it the Christmas condemnation,” Nester said, speaking from outside the Old Navy store at Mountain Farms Mall, where one of his hobbies is being a street musician, playing street beats using his drum sticks, a cymbal and a tile. “I thought it suspicious they came at this time, they came in and looked around, which I think is kind of illegal, even though I invited them in.”
Nester, 73, contends the primitive lifestyle is his choice. Describing himself as the “eccentric existentialist,” Nester said his life has been upended by being forced to stay in a room at the Howard Johnson hotel at the town’s expense, accompanied by two of his cats.
Town Administrator Carolyn Brennan said the response to the situation was coordinated by several town departments, which responded initially after getting a complaint alleging that there was a safety concern at 64 North Maple.
“The Board of Health, Fire Department, Police Department, the co-response clinical supervisor for the Hadley Police Department, the Council on Aging, Building Department and Animal Control worked collectively to ensure the resident’s safety,” Brennan said.
In the meantime, she said, the town is also guaranteeing Nester has shelter and that no animals are harmed. Brennan also noted the town has issued no fines to Nester.
“We continue to work with Mr. Nester toward the end goal of ultimately making the house safe to reside in again,” Brennan said.
Nester said even as he is troubled by the actions, he set up a GoFundMe that seeks to raise $50,000 to correct the problems, but he can’t do the necessary repairs and clean the house if it is boarded up and he’s not allowed inside. Still, he argues the government shouldn’t dictate a person’s lifestyle.
“They are primarily focused on sanitation issues,” Nester said. “That doesn’t bother me because I live by myself with a bunch of cats.”
Though he is a musician and has made community access programs for Amherst Media, Nester said he doesn’t watch television or do any cooking, instead eating out most of the time, such as his daily excursion to McDonald’s for a Sausage McMuffin.
“I don’t know why I should be required to have electricity,” Nester said.
Brennan, though, notes that the state code does require electricity.
Nester said he had three cats at one time, but has added to the family by taking in cats that were on his property and others given to him by a friend in Leeds.
Anna Zina, who runs In Honey’s Memory in Huntington, a no-kill and cage-free shelter, said she is handling the well-being of six of Nester’s cats.
Observing that Nester is “a sweetheart of a man,” she said the health of the animals is going to be questionable based on the lack of fresh air and food they have been getting.
“He needs to provide more than love for his animals,” Zina said.
Nester said he had nine litter boxes in the house, four in the kitchen, two in the bathroom and three in the basement. At least four more cats remain in the home and he planned to buy sardines to lure them to traps and cages so they can get to a safer place.
Nester contends that the home has been in a state of construction since his father began building it before his death in the early 1970s.
He cited a recent segment he had heard on National Public Radio that asked a question.
“The question was how long can a person live in a fixer-upper,” Nester said. “My answer: 50 years.”
While Nester isn’t sure what the outcome will be, his dream is to return to his witch’s chair, where he can again be surrounded by his feline companions.
“The hope is that I can return to my basement to live with my cats,” Nester said. “I would like to live at the house with my family.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
