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Dear Editor,

Virginia Beach had Mount Trashmore, Northern Virginia had a tire mountain burn for a decade or more, and Buckingham County has Mount Tiremore. When the barn doors on Patti Road opened about a year and a half ago, hundreds of stored tires spilled out and landed less than five feet from the road edge.

Complaints by neighbors were made to the magistrates and servants of the county. Both the Board of Supervisors and the “at or near the vicinity of” phony address crowd known as the Planning Commission would not hear or would just plain ignore the complaints.

Mount Tiremore, separate but close by from the undisturbed tire barn count, has grown by hundreds of tires and has birthed another mountain. Like a volcano, complete with smoke fumes and tire burning pile, seen when passing by. The mountains and barn have perhaps a thousand or more tires highly visible from the road.

Recent excuses by “City Hall” include “we are looking into this” (a year and a half now), “DEQ has been here”, “can’t find a responsible person”, and the best, “we are unable to do anything”. The county zoning ordinance states in “plain English” the limited number of tire storage on a per property basis. They still refuse to bring such health hazards and eyesores as this Mount Tiremore into compliance.

Finally, who is giving or paying for tires to go to these mountain makers? We have possibly three or more tire sellers in the county. Are they not properly disposing of the tires as required by law? I am told that there is a properly licensed EPA disposal business in Appomattox, next door to Buckingham.

Nelson Bailey
Buckingham County