Everett, Wash. Published: Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Land's cleared, but anger remains
Under protest, a Silvana man allowed junk to be removed from his property. Now he's replaced it with a "No Trespassing" sign.
By Jeff Switzer Herald Writer
SILVANA — A new notice is posted on James Deming's once-littered property.
"No Trespassing."
"In other words, the county can't come back on my property and harass me for what I'm doing," said Deming, 79.
The Silvana man put the sign up late last week as a message to Snohomish County officials and as his final stroke in a battle of wills.
Deming was cited this spring for having too much junk on his land. He faced more than $10,000 in fines for spurning orders to clean up.
Deming said he didn't have the money, the strength or the inclination to part with his 40-year collection of steel, scrap wood and odds and ends.
County officials held fast to their threats: Clean up or the county might do it for you, charge fines and put a lien on the property.
So Deming reluctantly agreed to a volunteer cleanup effort two weeks ago. Four huge containers of garbage and recyclable steel were filled with help from Everett's Navy base and carted off with donated services from haulers.
Deming's once-expansive sea of hardware and machinery has been reduced to a 10-foot by 30-foot pile, as per county rules.
He's peeved.
"That's too small," Deming said.
He suffered the sound of a mantra during the cleanup.
"'Everything had to go. Everything had to go.' Phooey. I think it's an invasion of privacy," Deming said.
A carefully measured big pile of stuff looks worse than the dispersed castoffs that were once hidden by waist-high grass, that Deming called his hay field.
Among the prizes kept by the self-confessed pack rat: Hundreds of feet of rolled barbed wire, even though he hates the stuff; rusty tool boxes; rusty steel shipping frames for tractors; a gurney; a blue swimming pool liner that would make a good dog kennel; radiator tubes from the back of a refrigerator because it would make a good sifter; and a pair of super-soft red boxing gloves.
Some neighbors first complained to the county about a motor home on Deming's land, fearing a transient would move in. Officials investigating went further and ordered a massive cleanup.
After visiting the property early last week, the county withdrew all citations against Deming, said Mike McCrary, county inspection services and enforcement manager.
Case closed, McCrary said.
"He's in compliance," McCrary said. "Everything looked great. We're finished with this as far as we're concerned."
A hearing was canceled, erasing the possibility of fines.
County officials received flak for prosecuting Deming, who makes about $800 a month on Social Security and an Army pension.
"I do believe that we are understanding and compassionate, but we do have to be firm," McCrary said.
Even so, the whole thing left a foul taste in Deming's mouth. He said he had to kiss goodbye 40 years of possessions, some good, some bad.
Should Deming drift back to his old ways and amass a new collection, McCrary said the county won't do anything unless it receives a complaint.
"We're not going to be monitoring his property," McCrary said. "We've explained what the code allows."
Deming said he's ready. His sign warns visitors they need a warrant or an appointment before coming on his land.
"It's posted," he said. The whole chain of events shows a county crackdown can happen to anyone, he said.
"I didn't really need all that harassment," Deming said. "The good ol' days you could do whatever you wanted on your property. You were king."
