Citizen alerts Warren County, Front Royal to illegal dumping

Furniture, mattresses and more were discovered lying about on Warren County property recently.

Not one word. Bentonville resident Kristie Sours Atwood said that she was shocked and disappointed that after sending over four dozen photographs  of what appeared to be illegal dumping on county-owned property to the Warren County Board of Supervisors, as well as County Administrator Doug Stanley, Warren County Building Official David Beahm and Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Brian Madden, that not one of those officials responded to her email.

In fact, Ms. Atwood said, Linda Glavis, who represents the South River District in which she lives, actually “unfriended” her on social media.

Discarded street signs litter the ground in an area of Gertrude Miller Park.

It wasn’t until Atwood posted those same photographs of the property in question –50 Stadium Drive and 700 Crosby Lane, located at the end of Stadium Drive behind the pool complex and Champions Field and adjacent to the Parks and Recreation Maintenance Facility –with construction debris, old furniture and mattresses, rotting deer carcasses spilling out of garbage bags and other debris at the site, on local Facebook group pages that Front Royal Mayor Hollis Tharpe and recently-elected Town Councilwoman LeTasha Thompson reached out to her. In fact, both Tharpe and Thompson brought the matter to Front Royal Town Manager Joe Waltz, who immediately began addressing the situation.

Waltz noted that the social media posts went up around the weekend before Christmas concerning possible illegal dumping involving the County or County business on Town property. He said by the time he got out to view the property on December 26, the County was already engaged in a clean up there.

“The County was notified – they were tagged in the social media posts – and the County acted to correct the situation. They became aware and had the site cleaned up in two days. Since the County was handling it I saw no reason for the Town to get involved,” the town manager said Wednesday of clean-up activities.

“It was a valid complaint on that property. There are two issues – correcting the situation and preventing it from recurring,” Waltz observed.

However, Waltz toured the site on Thursday, and observed that some tires remained. County workers were also on site, attempting to mitigate the mess.

County Administrator Doug Stanley responded via email to inquiries related to the trash found at the site.

He wrote, “In review of the complaint, I completely agree that the pile was both unsightly and included materials other than what would be allowed in a brush burn pile. It was also apparent that much of the material in the pile was not generated from the County and/or its operations.

“Parks and Recreation Maintenance Supervisor Junior Kisner, who oversees the Maintenance Department and the pile, was immediately directed to contact the Warren County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the pile and, once cleared, to have staff remove the trash and debris from the pile that should not be there.

“As of today (Wednesday), staff has completed the removal of such material (loaded into open top dumpsters and hauled to the landfill) and the brush pile will be inspected by the Fire Marshal and the pile burned when conditions allow.”

A number of  discarded tires were over a deep embankment and had not been removed as of Thursday morning. Attempts to reach Junior Kisner Thursday were unsuccessful. It is also unclear if Mark Kisner, who name was seen on a discarded shipping carton lying amongst the garbage, is related to Junior Kisner.

A discarded shipping box bore a label addressed to Mark Kisner, owner of Asplundh Tree Expert Co. in Front Royal. 

Above, a box that was shipped to Front Royal businessman Mark Kisner was part of garbage discovered on a county lot in late December. Below, an invoice addressed to Kisner’s business.

Royal Examiner has filed a Freedom of Information Request with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office for documents related to the incident report and investigation of the pile.

It is not known if the deer carcasses were tested for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a slow, progressive neurological (brain and nervous system) disease found in deer, elk, and moose in North America. The disease ultimately results in death of all infected animals, according to the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF).

Deer carcasses were found discarded carelessly among other garbage.

Fred Frenzel, District Biologist with VDGIF, said previously that 40 deer have been discovered with CWD in the northern Shenandoah Valley since 2009.

The VDGIF website informs hunters that leftover parts of a deer should be buried or double-bagged and placed in a trash receptacle for home pick-up or discarded at a landfill or compactor site.

Atwood said she was grateful that Mayor Tharpe and Ms. Thompson were quick to act regarding what she deemed “a real mess” and praised Town Manager Waltz for taking initiative so quickly. She said she was worried  that Happy Creek may have become contaminated by the deer carcasses or other illegally-dumped items.

Click here to see all photographs of the site.

Roger Bianchini contributed to this article.