New management seeks clean slate at troubled Fayetteville home for female vets

Jubilee House was built on Langdon Street in 2011 for the ABC reality show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Cumberland County deputies escorted Barbara Sumney Marshall off the property last week after the nonprofit's board voted to keep her away.

Marshall, who resigned from the nonprofit after the vote, initially agreed to discuss the situation Monday but then backed out of an interview.

The North Carolina Attorney General's Office and the Secretary of State's Office last summer accused Marshall of soliciting charitable contributions without a license and other violations of state law.

Officials began looking into the nonprofit's license after homeless advocates complained that Marshall turned women away from Jubilee House. She was jailed briefly in late 2013 for refusing to turn over documents to state investigators.

During the past several months, the lights at Jubilee House had been cut off because power bills weren't paid. The lights are back on now, however, and members of the new board said they are committed to keeping the home open for female veterans and their children.

"We're trying to set this up where we can invite more veterans to come, but right now, we want to straighten this out and completely clear the slate where Mrs. Marshall has kind of confused things," said Barbara Spigner, a Fayetteville businesswoman who heads the board.

Five women and one man are living in Jubilee House now. One of them, Mercy Hubbard, isn't a veteran but said she's encouraged by the new board's efforts to help vets.

"I think that's all great stuff, and I think that it needs to be able to be put in the hands of somebody who's actually able to and willing to ask for the help to keep it running," said Hubbard, who said she turned to Jubilee House while she looked for work after moving from California and said Marshall had tried to evict her.