CAMERON—Milam County commissioners, meeting Monday in regular session, learned the price tag for cleaning up the notorious East Cameron Avenue “junkyard” in Rockdale might cost between $200,000 and $300,000.
On April 21, commissioners decided to send the property’s owner—Ira Richard Thrasher, 43, of Rockdale—a letter giving him 30 days to clean up the property at 1300 and 1328 East Cameron (US 79) or the commissioners court would remove and dispose of the litter and assess costs against the property owner.
The 30th day was Monday.
In April, Assistant County Attorney Kyle Nuttall said the county had authority to take out a lien-plus 10 percent—on the property, to cover costs to the county and could then go out for bids on the property.
SAGA—Condition of the property has been a longtime saga as the City of Rockdale and Milam County have attempted to get the owner to clean it up.
Last year he was found guilty of six charges of maintaining a junkyard and fined.
On March 19, Thrasher was found guilty in a bench trial in Rockdale Municipal Court of 13 more cases of the same offense and was fined $43,400, with other costs bringing the total to $47,612.
Thrasher was arrested April 26 on a charge of illegal dumping. He was released the next day after posting $5,000 bond.
Rockdale City Manager Chris Whittaker said over a number of years the city has raised numerous legal issues and has also notified the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) about fears of substances leaking from vehicles into the ground in the area.
On March 3, 2017, an adjacent house burned and two firefighters were injured while fighting the blaze.
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