Property owner disputes allegations
To the editor:
My name is Charles M. Spaeth Jr. I am the owner of the Red Barn at Rocky Fork Lake.
My father told me when I was a young boy that if you don’t contribute something good to society that society doesn’t need you. I have been self-employed since I was released from the Army in May 1968. I have always tried to do good in business and in all things in daily life, treating everyone good. My dad was great.
I purchased the Red Barn in March 2015. With the help of my family, we moved the Murphy Hardware of Lynchburg to the Red Barn. I work at the hardware store seven days a week.
One morning when I came to work, I discovered someone dumped a large pile of trash on my property. I should have called the law, but I thought, ‘I’ll have to clean it up,’ so I started cleaning it up after a few months. Then I received a note to clean up the property from the Board of Health and also one from the prosecuting attorney’s office on July 28, 2023.
I paid a person $100 to clean up the trash. Courtney took pictures that showed the cleanup. Picture No. 1 shows the trash; picture No. 2 shows the pile cleaned up. The notice of violation deadline for cleanup was June 12, 2023, which I had it cleaned up before that date. None of the trash was my property, and I did not put it on my property.
A commissioner said in a letter that I had trash and sewerage on my property. The only sewer problem I have ever had was being overcharged $3,800 before the commissioners reduced the charges four times monthly to one month charge. I never received any credit for the $3,800, which I thought I should have.
I always felt in business that overcharging was the same as stealing. I guess the commissioners’ authority to charge for sewer service also gives them the authority to overcharge.
In a summons dated Dec. 29, 2023, it states I knowingly permitted solid waste to exist on my property. I have never put trash on my property, and the pile of trash was dumped on my property after closing hours. Doesn’t this make the court charge false?
After receiving the notice dated April 18, 2023, I paid a person $100 to clean up the trash.
I was at a Board of Health monthly meeting. There was a comment made since the commissioner submitted a letter to the Board of Health that there was trash and sewerage problems at the Red Barn. They were almost compelled to file charges on me (since the commissioners control their budget). The Clerk of Courts sent me a bill for $185.64 for filing fees for the summons. Since the property was cleaned up, the Board of Health should not have filed a charge.
Sincerely,
Charles M. Spaeth Jr.