Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning … 

ST. PAUL: Seifert tops GOP straw poll. State Reps. Marty Seifert and Tom Emmer and former state auditor Pat Anderson are the state party’s preferred global-warming deniers for governor. [ECM Publishers]

WINONA: A town hall on Afghanistan. U.S. Rep. Tim Walz will host it Friday. [Winona Daily News]

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: Somalia prez speaks. Sharing the stage with Sharif Sheik Ahmed at Northrop Auditorium were U.S. Sen. Al Franken, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and state House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher. [Minnesota Daily]

MINNEAPOLIS: Nazis go home. “Triumph of the Will” it was not, as counter-protesters made the Midway YWCA safe for a seminar about white privilege. [Twin Cities Daily Planet]

TWIN CITIES: St. Paul Pioneer Press congratulates Star Tribune with full page ad. Because Hallmark doesn’t sell “Getting out of bankruptcy” cards. [Minnesota Public Radio]

MINNEAPOLIS: Rosemary Williams is D.C.-bound. She’ll bring her foreclosure protest to a demonstration outside the National Building Museum today for World Habitat Day. [Minnesota Public Radio]

When none of those offers were accepted, GMAC took steps to have Williams removed from the property. The company gave her a check for $5,000 to help with relocation costs.

“GMAC Mortgage sincerely sympathizes with Rosemary Williams and the financial difficulties she is facing,” said Jeannine Bruin, executive director of GMAC Mortgage Communications, in a statement. “Friday’s actions were very difficult, and a regrettable end to 18 months of seeking a solution with Ms. Williams, with local non-profits and with the mortgage investor to keep her in the home on Clinton Avenue. Unfortunately, Ms. Williams was chronically unable to meet her payment commitments under the adjustable rate mortgage she originated with BNC Mortgage, Inc.

Here’s the entire statement from Bruin:

GMAC Mortgage sincerely sympathizes with Rosemary Williams and the financial difficulties she is facing. Friday’s actions were very difficult, and a regrettable end to 18 months of seeking a solution with Ms. Williams, with local non-profits and with the mortgage investor to keep her in the home on Clinton Avenue.

Unfortunately, Ms. Williams was chronically unable to meet her payment commitments under the adjustable rate mortgage she originated with BNC Mortgage, Inc.

Since December 2007, we have repeatedly extended options to Ms. Williams to reach an affordable, reasonable payment solution, while balancing our contractual obligations to the mortgage servicer and mortgage investor, Aurora Services and Lehman Brothers Holdings, respectively.

Our efforts included:

o Multiple loan modification offers to reduce her monthly payment by 30% and fix her interest rate.
o Two offers to purchase the property for as low as 48% of her unpaid mortgage balance.
o Two offers to lease the property for $850 per month, a 60% reduction in her monthly payment. One offer included a purchase option at 48% of her unpaid mortgage balance.
o Three offers of cash relocation assistance of $5,000, including a check payable to Rosemary Williams that was given to her Friday.
o Two rounds of negotiations with local non-profits to reach a purchase and lease agreement on Ms. Williams’ behalf.

As custodian of the property at 3138 Clinton Avenue, we were concerned about the breach of security and its potential impact on public safety and the integrity of the property. At our request, local authorities are enforcing the writ of eviction served on August 7 and removing all trespassers from the property, both now and in the future.

We stand by our actions knowing that we have consistently acted in good faith to find a solution for Ms. Williams, and have repeatedly tried to ensure that she has funding sufficient to secure temporary housing.

Rosemary Williams (left) refuses to leave the South Minneapolis home she's lived in for 26 years. Photo: Paul Demko, Minnesota Independent

Rosemary Williams is, technically, a squatter. On August 7, Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputies showed up to evict her from a residence in the 3100 block of Clinton Avenue South. But within 10 minutes, by Williams’ own account, she was back in the home that she’s lived in for nearly three decades.

“Somebody found an open entrance, so we went back in and unlocked the door,” Williams recalls.

Since then Williams and a rotating cast of allies have been living at the home in defiance of the law. They’re seeking a new, affordable mortgage for the 60-year-old grandmother. In addition, they want a federal moratorium on foreclosures so that more families don’t end up on the streets.

Williams’ house went into foreclosure after her monthly mortgage payment increased from $1,200 to $2,200 and she could no longer afford to pay the bills. The property was sold at a sheriff’s auction last September and Williams was ordered to vacate the premises by March 30. Instead she’s vowed to stay put. According to Williams, GMAC Mortgage, the company that now owns the property, recently offered her $5,000 to vacate the premises.

“Sell my soul to the devil for $5,000?” she asks rhetorically. “This isn’t about $5,000 and me going away. This is a movement. We’ve got to keep it going until homeowners are treated right and justly.”

There doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm among law-enforcement officials to force a showdown with Williams. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office believes it’s already handled its obligations in the matter and is deferring to the judgment of the Minneapolis Police Department.

“It’s our understanding that it’s their responsibility to remove her from the home if that’s what the current owner of the property is wanting to happen,” says Lisa Kiava, communications director for the sheriff’s department. “That’s what we’ve determined in this case.”

But the MPD doesn’t seem enthusiastic about forcibly removing Williams from the property.

“At this point we don’t feel it’s an appropriate use of police resources to address the issue,” says Sgt. William Palmer, an MPD spokesman. “We don’t want to become the issue. This is an issue that’s much larger than the police department or even the city.”

Williams says she’s not surprised that the cops aren’t willing to roust her from the home permanently.

“Law enforcement are human beings,” she says. “They know people who are being evicted. People are real sympathetic to this cause.”

On Monday afternoon, roughly three dozen supporters of Williams gathered in her front yard to protest the ongoing wave of foreclosures and evictions. Another rally is slated for Thursday.

“This is one of the first people in the nation taking a stand to stop foreclosures and stop evictions and make sure that we can save our neighborhoods across the country,” said Linden Gawboy, an activist with the Minnesota Coalition for the People’s Bailout. “It’s a great honor to be here in support of Rosemary.”

The foreclosure crisis is evident on nearly every block of the Twin Cities. Notices marking condemned properties and signs announcing foreclosure auctions have become ubiquitous. Roughly 5.4 million homeowners nationwide — or nearly 12 percent of the total — are either behind on payments or in foreclosure proceedings, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

But at least one South Minneapolis homeowner is refusing to give up her home of more than two decades without a fight. Rosemary Williams has been in foreclosure proceedings since September, after she says the monthly payment on her adjustable-rate mortgage suddenly jumped from $1,200 to $2,200 and she could no longer keep up with the bills.

Monday marked the first date on which Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputies could evict her from the residence. To mark this inauspicious occasion, Williams was joined by social justice activists vowing to help her resist the seizure of her home.

MnIndy spoke with Williams and some of her supporters today at her house on the 3100 block of Clinton Avenue South: