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Roger Hanna unloads |
Bert Fulford of Stafford County has tried three separate trash services in the past year.
One company gave him sporadic, unreliable service. Another abruptly stopped picking up his garbage.
And last week, a third send him a letter stating that they were discontinuing routes in his area of the county.
There's only one residential trash-hauler in Stafford that Fulford hasn't tried. And that's only because he can't get in contact with the company.
That leaves only one alternative for Fulford and some of his neighbors.
"We may have to carry it on our own for a few days," he said.
More Stafford residents may have to start doing the same now that one company has dropped about 400 to 500 customers on rural pickup routes, and another two apparently have stopped picking up altogether.
It's inconvenient, Fulford said, because he doesn't have a truck and doesn't relish the idea of hauling his stinky, dirty trash in his clean, new Mazda van.
Supervisor Gary Snellings, who represents many of those affected in the Hartwood area, said earlier this week that he received a dozen calls in less than 24 hours from constituents complaining about the lack of trash service.
He said he is going to bring up the issue when the Board of Supervisors next meets, on July 13. And he's going to start by asking his colleagues to reconsider an ordinance passed in April that prohibits residential trash pickup until after 6:30 a.m.
"I think we need to get out of regulating private enterprise," Snellings said.
That ordinance is what prompted Shifflett's Trash Service to drop Fulford from its route, said the company's owner, Eugene "Bubba" Shifflett.
"We used to leave the yard at 3:30, quarter to 4 in the morning," he said. "Being out there without the traffic, you can get a whole lot more people picked up and out of the way than you can later in the morning."
Now, there is no way to get all his customers' trash picked up and dumped before the regional landfill closes at 5 p.m., so Shifflett has had to cut loose his customers in Hartwood and in the State Route 3 corridor east of Ferry Farm. The company may also have to stop service to the Hope Road area if the county's early-morning rule isn't changed, said his wife, Rita Shifflett.
The Shiffletts said they were aware that some suburban residents were complaining about the noise trash trucks make in the early-morning hours. So they met with Snellings and others earlier this year to tighten the county's ordinance governing trash pick-up.
Previously, Stafford required only that trash be picked up during daylight hours. The Shiffletts said they left their meeting with Snellings with the understanding that trash pickup could be started no earlier than 5 a.m.
That's the recommendation which supervisors received when they met to enact the ordinance in April. They batted around several different times before approving the 6:30 a.m. start. Snellings was the only one to vote against it.
When the company was notified of the change, the Shiffletts decided that getting the trash picked up on time was more important than obeying the ordinance--until sheriff's deputies began ticketing trucks for collecting too early.
Each offense is punishable by a $300 fine or even a jail sentence. Shifflett's has already been fined twice.
"You can't take a man's livelihood from him--and that's what they're doing," Bubba Shifflett said. "You are going to put a man in jail and fine him for doing an honest day's work? It just aggravates me so bad."
Making the situation even worse for some residents is the fact that two other trash companies that used to operate in Stafford apparently no longer do.
Fulford said he signed up with Shifflett's because the trash company he used previously, Reasonable Rates, stopped collecting his trash without warning or explanation.
"They didn't say nothing, whether they were going out of business or what. They have disappeared, and I can't get them on the phone," Fulford said.
Two messages that The Free Lance-Star left with the company also were not returned. Others in the Hartwood area who used the company reported the same experience.
Some Stafford residents have also reported difficulty with Cole's Trash Service, which some say hasn't picked up their trash in at least the past two weeks.
A call to the company connects you to a recording that states the company's lone trash truck has broken down, repairs are taking longer than expected, and service will resume as soon as the vehicle is running again.
"I'm sorry you are having problems with your trash being picked up," the recording says. "If you have to get somebody else, I'll understand, but Cole's is still in operation."
Leaving a message last week was impossible because a computerized voice said the firm's voice mailbox was full.
The only remaining company that still serves all of Stafford is Waste Management, a major corporation that hauls trash and runs landfills across the nation.
But many residents say what they really want is for Shifflett's service to be restored.
"They have been very dependable, and I was so upset," said Linda Tague, a loyal Shifflett's customer for years who also received notice that her service was being discontinued. "I don't know what we're going to do.
"My husband will have to haul the trash to the dump himself. But I don't like that idea of collecting trash bags in the back of the truck or the garage."
To reach RUTH FINCH: 540/720-1622 rfinch@freelancestar.com
