By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
There’s another epidemic going on in Val Verde County, Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez says – a rash of illegal dumping on private properties.
Illegal dumping on one large property is of particular concern, Martinez told The 830 Times in a recent interview.
The dumping is occurring on private property located between Lewis Drive and State Loop 79 and between Dallas Drive and State Loop 79. Both of those areas are located east of the Val Verde Park Estates Colonia.
“There are vehicles going out there with trailers dumping illegally, and the landowners are tired of it. They’ve paid to have that area cleaned up once already,” Martinez said.
The sheriff said he is aware of at least two pickup trucks hauling trailers that have recently driven onto the properties illegally and dumped construction and household debris, as well as tires and worn-out appliances.
“We’re really going to get strict with the illegal dumping. It’s couches, it’s TVs, it’s tires, refrigerators, everything and anything you can think of,” Martinez said.
Mike Hildreth, a representative of the landowners, said illegal dumping has been a problem on the property “for years and years.”
He said the owners have blocked roads entering the property, but those blockades are circumvented, and signage warning against trespassing is ignored and eventually removed.
Hildreth spoke to The 830 Times about the problem in a recent phone interview.
“When people start noticing there’s a bunch of trash in there, it creates a domino effect: everybody tries to go in there and dump trash,” Hildreth said.
He said several years ago, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality tried to fine the landowners, but when he toured the property with inspectors and showed them the problems, they provided two semi trailers to haul off the tires, if Hildreth and his team would load them.
“So we did two semi loads of tires and pretty well got everything cleaned up out there. That was back into the late 90s, and now there’s new dumpsites all over the property again,” Hildreth said.
“What’s driving it in my opinion – because if they don’t dump on that property, they’ll dump somewhere else – is when the state started charging a disposal fee for tires. So if you go to Walmart, and you want to get new tires, they add this $5-a-tire fee, or whatever it is, and the people say, ‘No, I want to keep those tires,’ that way they don’t have to pay the disposal fee, and if you take them out to the dump, the dump charges a disposal fee, but if you just take them and throw them out somewhere, you don’t pay anything. It’s a problem, I believe, all over Texas,” Hildreth said.
Martinez also encouraged residents of the area who see anyone dumping illegally to immediately contact the sheriff’s office.
—
Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
