CAMERON—Milam County Commissioners, meeting Monday in regular session, heard County Judge Steve Young outline the procedure to clean up a notorious piece of property in Rockdale.
The county, and City of Rockdale, have been involved in years of legal wrangling over the property at 1300 and 1328 East Cameron (US 79).
Owner Ira Richard “Richie” Thrasher Jr., 43, was arrested last week and is being held on $60,000 bond in the county jail.
He is charged with bond forfeiture on an illegal dumping charge and 13 counts of bond surrender on charges of keeping a junkyard.
Young said the county will have to look at items on the property, remove them and “sell the scrap to try and get our money back.”
The county became involved in the situation in April when it gave Thrasher 30 days to clean up the site. That happened on the same week in which a grand jury indicted him for illegal dumping.
City Manager Chris Whittaker said through the 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 on the site.
HOSPITAL MOVE—
Young reported on efforts to move Milam County offices from downtown to the former Little River-Cameron Hospital, which closed in a bankruptcy.
Young has proposed the move as a cost-saving and efficiency measure. See County Judge’s column, page 5A.
He said banks involved in the situation want the Milam Appraisal District (AD) to be involved in the move. The AD board has resisted the move.
Expressing support for the idea Monday were former County Judge, also former Cameron Mayor, Dave Barkemeyer, and Ginger Watkins, executive director of the Cameron Industrial Foundation.
Commissioners okayed an $18,000 annual membership with a helicopter medical service after Susan Reinders, emergency management coordinator, noted such a membership would cover post-insurance costs for Milam citizens.
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