Jun. 17--CHELMSFORD -- It was something straight out of a nightmare. Except Debbie Voisine was wide awake.

The clock read 1 a.m. on May 19 when Voisine awoke to a horrible smell. Her mobile home was dark. She climbed out of bed and walked toward the bathroom. When she entered the room, Voisine says she slipped and landed in a couple of inches of raw sewage.

"The toilet was overflowing, the shower was overflowing, and it was coming out of the heating duct," she said. "It made me sick."

When park maintenance showed up, Voisine said they used duct tape to fix the pipe and seal her heating vent, then used her garden rake to pull toilet paper from under the trailer.

Voisine isn't the only resident at the Chelmsford Mobile Home Park who has complained about sewage problems.

"One thing we did find, there's an awful lot of improper connections in between the mobile homes and the connection in the ground," said Chelmsford Health Director Richard Day. "We found every Mickey Mouse connection you can think of -- flexible pipe, elbows and duct tape -- most of them are wrong and not conducive to working well."

For residents at the park on Route 110, the problem is knowing just who is responsible for damages and repairs caused by shoddy connections.

Both sides have different interpretations of the law. Residents say that according to state law, the park owner is responsible. But the park rule book, which was approved by the state Attorney General's

Office, states that it's the tenant's responsibility.

Voisine, who suffers from lupus, an autoimmune disease, was forced to vacate her trailer last Wednesday after being evicted for owing $7,000 in back rent. Voisine said she believes that's why the park did not thoroughly clean or fix her home.

"I've had personal hardships that have prevented me from making my rent payments," she said. "But that shouldn't be a reason to force a mother and her child to live in filth and unsanitary conditions."

The park owner, Carl Decotis, did not return phone calls yesterday.

Phil Hailer, a spokesman for the state Department of Housing and Community Development, said the department's Mobile Homes Commission found the tenants' interpretation of the law to be correct.

"Anything leading up to the unit (mobile home) is the park owner's responsibility," Hailer said.