County Abates Hoarder's Junk Lot

The brisk morning air was riddled with the roar of machinery and the crunch of junk under tires and treads.

Furniture, clothes, barrels, scrap metal, gates, paint cans, wood, televisions, glass fixtures, Christmas trees and lights, tents, sleeping bags, cushions, ice chests, and a shopping cart, were just a few of the identifiable objects located in the heap surrounding the dilapidated house.

[[{"fid":"1904","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default"},"type":"media","attributes":{}}]]

Rather than being disturbed by the noise, the neighbors all watched with glee as the neighborhood eyesore was crushed, loaded and trucked away.

“Everyone’s been coming out watching, just ‘thank you thank you thank you,’” said Precinct 4 Constable Randy Harris.

The small county crew worked diligently, first pulling out any dangerous items they could find, such as propane tanks, before sending the bulldozer in to crush up the junk.

“They run over it to break it up into little pieces,” said Harris, “then the front end loader scoops it up to put in the truck.”

At the time, there were four dump trucks awaiting a load with a larger one on the way after it was evident that four would not be enough.

Two full loads did not clear half of the junk just in the front yard, not including the house itself or the backyard.

“The inside is just as bad as the outside,” explained Harris.

That is a bittersweet notion for the neighboring house and two sister’s who’ve been visiting it for years.

“Great Grandaddy bought the house in 1939,” said Lynna Nixon, “ever since then it’s been in the family.”

“We [the family] kept this house as a family reunion house,” she explained. “We maintain it, pay taxes, and then it’s a place to stay.”

But reunions and vacations have been plagued by the junk next door for years.

“Last three or four years have been difficult because we couldn’t get in our driveway and there was always so much trash, and it’s horrible to look at,” said Donna Pearson, Nixon’s sister. “We come to relax, we can’t pull up in the yard. It’s not a relaxing experience.”

The ladies gave the county permission to use their front and back yard in order to have easier access for clean-up.

While they may have had sympathy for the owner of the house and junk at first, the years have eroded those feelings.

“It’s not like he didn’t have prior or advanced warning, and the last three years he had them pretty regularly,” said Pearson. “People offered to help, to get the neighborhood to help him clean it up.”

They explained that Mr. Louis did not take heed of any of the citations for public nuisance for many years, a fact that was corroborated by Constables Harris and Dickson.

“Most people make sincere efforts to comply,” said Harris. “With this guy, there was no effort made for three years.”

Mr. Louis was nowhere to be found as trucks were hauling his collection away.

“Neighbors haven’t seen him in a week,” said Constable Deen Dickson of Precinct Two.

Bystanders voiced the concern of ‘how could anyone live like this?” To which Constable Harris answered, “He hasn’t lived here in over nine months, we know he has somewhere to stay, we just don’t know where.”

According to Harris, the crew should be finished with the clearing and demolition sometime tomorrow.

As for Pearson, she plans on sitting outside and drinking wine to celebrate.

http://sanangelolive.com/news/2013-11-12/hoarders-junk-lot-be-cleared-tom-green-county-authorities