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WOMAN'S PATIENCE GOES UP IN FLAMES OVER INSURANCE A woman is camping outside her burned-out home to protest her insurance company's
refusal to pay for many home repairs. Her house was damaged in a fire set by her husband
after he beat her unconscious. The ordeal started two years ago, when her then 55-year-old husband, Brent Smeltzer, beat her and choked her, leaving her unconscious on the kitchen floor. He then poured gasoline around the house and set it afire. She escaped, but their 17-year-old poodle, Che, died. Brent Smeltzer was convicted in February on several charges including arson, reckless endangerment and cruelty to animals, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. In the meantime, Diana Smeltzer had been battling with Farmers Insurance Group to get her house rebuilt and for compensation for her personal possessions. When the company finally agreed to pay her in April, it was for $42,257.22, half of the lowest bid quoted for her home. ``That did not include plumbing, electricity, heating and air conditioning and
landscaping,'' she noted. Diana Smeltzer says it would cost more than $100,000 to rebuild
her house, ``I'm not trying to damage Farmers,'' she said. ``I've been patient with them for 511 days (since the fire). Farmers has been making me invisible. I am doing this to get my voice back, to get control and to get my life back.''
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