toledoblade.com --

LORAIN - Vicki Steele, a 42-year-old home day provider, lost the home she hoped to live in with her two children.

Tony Miller, a 27-year-old former baseball player, helped buy his mother a home, only to see it put into foreclosure.

Both told their stories of alleged predatory lending on the stage yesterday at Admiral King High School as part of Sen. Hillary Clinton's "town hall" meeting in this steel and car-making town.

Mrs. Clinton has made Ohio's home foreclosure crisis a centerpiece of her effort to win the state in Tuesday's primary election - something her surrogates have said is critical to keeping her presidential ambitions alive against Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama. She said 150,000 homes have gone into foreclosure in Ohio because of people's inability keep up the mortgage payments.

Mrs. Clinton is proposing to set a 90-day freeze on foreclosures to allow owners a chance to work out a payment plan, a five-year freeze on subprime interest rates charged to people with poor credit, and to create a fund to let state governors help people negotiate with lenders.

Mr. Miller, who attended the University of Toledo until he was drafted by Major League Baseball to play for the Colorado Rockies in 2001, now works for the Lorain County commissioners helping train youths for jobs. All three of his bosses were present in yesterday's event to announce their support for Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Miller said he helped his mother with the down payment. She fell behind in the payments and turned to a lender for help, but landed a mortgage she couldn't afford.

"I'm trying to figure out a way to sell it but the mortgage companies don't want to help me with any solutions," Mr. Miller said.

Ms. Steele said she decided to become a homeowner when she got a job and was no longer eligible for federally subsidized housing. She said she fell behind the payments when the interest rate went up from 8.8 percent to 11.5 percent, pushing her monthly payment from $853 to $1,300.

"They think there's a sucker born every minute and I looked like a sucker," she said of her lender. "I tried something for the benefit of my family but it didn't work."

About 1,500 filled the high school gym in this community about 90 miles east of Toledo on Lake Erie. Lorain Mayor Tony Krasienko said he's backing Mrs. Clinton because she has the "grit" to address the economic issues that have sapped Lorain of jobs over the years.

Questions to Mrs. Clinton from the audience involved lost homes, unpayable medical bills, and the war in Iraq.

She vowed to end what she called "the unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind," and said if elected she would have a plan to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within 60 days.

She said she would amend the North American Free Trade Agreement that her husband implemented.

Mrs. Clinton alluded to her rival during the discussions of health care. The major difference between them is that Senator Obama says he would offer government-subsidized health insurance, but would not require people to buy insurance. He claims Mrs. Clinton's plan would force people to buy insurance that some of them won't be able to afford.

Mrs. Clinton has accused Mr. Obama of distributing campaign brochure about her plan that is not accurate.

"I got a little hot over the weekend down in Cincinnati," Mrs. Clinton told the crowd. "I don't mind having the debate. But I really mind it when Senator Obama sends you literature in the mail that is false, misleading, and has been discredited."

Contact Tom Troy at:
tomtroy@theblade.com
or 419-724-6058.

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