Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 7, 1992 TAG: 9201070121
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
NEGLECTING SEWER HOOKUP BRINGS FINE
After having his septic system pumped and repaired, Ronnie L. Sheppard of Christiansburg was fined $1,000 - and he has to pay to hook up to the town sewer system anyway.Sheppard was convicted at a December hearing in General District Court of violating a town ordinance that says you can't flush or repair your septic system when town sewer is available.
"I never thought I was violating the law," said Sheppard, 50, who used to own and operate Dan's Grocery on Virginia 114 and Ronnie's Barbershop in Cambria. "My nerves can't take much more of this."
Sheppard had the septic tank at his 745 Peppers Ferry Road address pumped and repaired last Aug. 5, The town, however, had installed a sewer line at Sheppard's property on July 25.
Sheppard was aware of the ordinance, but said he didn't know that construction on the sewer system was finished and he could hook up to it. And when the sinks, tubs and toilets at his house backed up one day, he had it cleaned and repaired, "good enough to last me another eight or 10 years," he said Monday.
It cost him $110.
That's cheaper than connecting to town sewer, which costs $500 plus $5 a foot for the town to do the connecting.
It's not policy for the town to notify residents that they must comply with the ordinance, Town Manager John Lemley said.
"As a general rule, we don't send out letters," Lemley said. "But there have been incidences when residents that use septic tanks have been notified that before they pump they need to check and see if town sewer is in."
In Sheppard's case, a construction foreman asked Sheppard if he objected to the town's putting in a lateral line at his property. According to Lemley, Sheppard said it was all right.
"They're trying to say I did this to avoid the costs," said Sheppard, who is handicapped and out of work. "I'm not trying to be a hard-tail about this, but I feel like I been done wrong."
Lemley and Town Attorney W.R.L. Craft Jr. sent Sheppard letters notifying him that if he did not comply with the ordinance, a warrant would be issued for him.
"They're trying to make me pay for something that I don't need," Sheppard said. He has filed an appeal.