June 21, 2006

On June 6, Donald Wayne LaRue, Jr., owner and operator of L & L Auto Salvage located in Antwerp Township, pled guilty to scrap tire violations in the 7th District Court in Van Buren County. Under terms of a plea agreement that was reached, Judge Robert Hentchel ordered that LaRue be placed on probation for one year during which time all scrap tires must be properly removed from the site.

A criminal investigation was initiated by the Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Criminal Investigations when DEQ staff determined that LaRue had improperly accumulated an estimated 20,000 scrap tires and was operating an unregistered scrap tire collection site without the required bonding. These misdemeanor offenses carry a potential penalty of 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

Scrap tires not only pose a threat to the environment, but also serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes, largely because of the standing rain water and snow melt that collects in whole tires. These mosquitoes can carry and transmit numerous diseases, including West Nile Virus.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

“Protecting Michigan’s Environment, Ensuring Michigan’s Future”

Revised June 21, 2006 by Pat Watson