The city of Cape Girardeau is unfairly enforcing its dangerous building ordinance, said two men who pleaded not guilty Tuesday to violating that ordinance.

Both men said they were making efforts to fix up their unoccupied houses. The city issued summonses Sept. 8 to Charles Garmon of Cairo, Ill., for a house at 136 S. Henderson and Dennis Singleton of 628 Olive St. for a house at 603 Walnut St.

The city condemned Garmon and Singleton's houses in 1995 in an effort to get the owners to make them livable, but neither complied, said Steve Williams, housing assistance coordinator for the city, at the time of the summonses.

Singleton said he bought the house on Walnut when it was in a state of disrepair with the intent of making it "state of the art." However, after he started working on it, his employer fired him, and he didn't have the money to continue.

Indeed, the house shows signs of work. Its front door and some windows are brand new. Singleton has had to replace some new windows broken by neighborhood children and brought receipts totalling more than $400 for windows to court.

"I'm not a slumlord," Singleton said. "I refuse to rent the house until it is fixed up."

A fire damaged Garmon's house in 1995. He now lives in Cairo. He said he is slowly fixing up the house so he can move back in.

The oven and stove and some doorways still look charred from the fire. However, the house seems solid, and Garmon has new electrical fixtures and sockets, a new kitchen floor and some newly painted rooms.

Inspectors approved the house's wiring, he said, so Union Electric has hooked up the electricity. Garmon is still rebuilding the heating system.

The city enforces the dangerous buildings ordinance "to remove blight from the neighborhood," Williams said. However, except for the plywood covering Singleton's picture window, neither home looks worse than its neighbors.

Williams declined to comment today, and referred questions to assistant city attorney Deborah Menz. Menz did not return a phone call.