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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) Todd Hendricks (front) adds his armful of debris while Mike Cifu tosses a board onto an over-growing stack of junk wood during Saturday’s Navy volunteer effort to clear James Deming’s property of junk.   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Land's cleared, but anger remains 8/29/07   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, August 13, 2007 Junky yard in Silvana cleaned up By Jeff Switzer, Herald Writer SILVANA - The old tires are gone. So are the dead trucks and the motor home. James Deming's property - declared a dangerous junkyard by Snohomish County officials - got a reluctant cleanup this weekend with the help of volunteers from Everett's Navy base. Deming spent days sifting through his prized possessions - much of it rusty equipment and castoffs - under orders that he clean up. Otherwise, he faced $10,000 in fines and a threat the county might clean up the mess itself. "I hope it never happens to anybody else," said a frustrated Deming, 79. A hearing on Deming's case is scheduled for Aug. 23. Deming can keep 300 square feet of junk, but anything more triggers county intervention, officials said. In dramatic fashion, more than a dozen Navy personnel filled two huge donated containers with tons of refuse and steel. Robert Sandvig sped the pace of work with his front-end loader. A Honey Bucket also was donated for the effort. Once brush was cleared, volunteers discovered Deming had more junk than they expected. More refuse containers are expected this week. Visitors no longer have to wend their way through Deming's cluttered and treacherous driveway to reach his front door. The pace of the cleanup is encouraging, county officials said. "From the county's standpoint, we're very, very pleased people stepped up to the plate and helped him," McCrary said. "If we go out there Monday and the property's in compliance, we would have no reason to proceed to a hearing. We would pull it back and close the file and there would be no fines." Deming has lived on the property since 1968. Since then he has accumulated piles of wood, steel and castoffs that most would send to the landfill. Deming confesses he is a packrat who sees potential in his vast collection. He ran afoul of the county after some neighbors complained about the mess. Some said they accepted Deming's junk, but mostly feared that a squatter would move into the vacant motor home on his land. With the motor home now gone, some neighbors are feeling better. The remaining mess is tolerable, next-door neighbor Susan Enquist said. "As far as I'm concerned, the county can stop right now," she said. Neighbors have tried to help Deming over the years, said Chris Cecchetto. Sometimes Deming has accepted help; sometimes he has stubbornly refused. Neighbors feel wrongly criticized for not doing enough to help Deming, Cecchetto said. "I feel bad," she said. "We look out for elderly neighbors." People have tried to get Deming food to eat, but he prefers to drink a gallon of milk mixed with strawberry Quik each day, she said. "Let the public know that he has been looked for his whole life there by the community," Cecchetto said. "Much of his situation he has chosen. As adults, we cannot force other people to do our bidding and no one can force him to change who he is." Deming had a hard time letting go of stuff he bought or salvaged over 40 years. "He's really attached to everything; he wants to save everything but he can't," said Tim Leghorn, a friend who sometimes sleeps in a car on Deming's property. Volunteers say they hope to help Deming repair and paint his withered home and clear impassable hallways and rooms inside, said Jerry Barbour of Camano Island. He was in awe at the cadre of Navy volunteers. "They single-handedly did this, kids from all over the country," Barbour said. Jerry Rainford, a Navy chief, helped organize the work party from Naval Station Everett after reading about Deming's dispute with the county. "I figured someone should help him, help his community and help the county. He can't do it himself," Rainford said. "More people should get involved. Don't just read the paper. Be there when people need you, so when your time comes, you'll get the help." Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.

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