Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 3, 1993 TAG: 9301030135
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAY TAYLOR CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LEXINGTON LENGTH: Medium
ON THIS STREET, THEY JUST DON'T CALL CITY HALL
Political alienation seems to be a way of life for Linda Floyd and her neighbors around Houston Street.They have neither political savvy nor connections. To them, government is there for driver's licenses and tax forms, not for help against powerful corporations.
At least, that is what they believe.
Floyd's 3-year-old Lexington home has cracks in the basement, and she is convinced that blasts from the Charles W. Barger & Son quarry caused them.
"We've got a big crack right down the front wall of our basement, and I feel sure it's due to the fact that they do so much blasting," she said recently. "The whole house shakes. Stuff falls off the walls."
But Floyd has not called Chuck Barger, the company president, to complain. First of all, she doesn't believe Barger would deal in good faith. "They are not to going to repair damages unless they are made to," she said. "My husband and I don't have the insurance to repair the damage or go to court against Barger to have them repair it," she said.
Besides, her neighbors are unhappy with the repairs Barger has done, she said.
Barger says he responds to all complaints, whether he believes his company caused them or not.
Why hasn't she called someone on City Council? "I just never really thought about doing it," she said. "I wouldn't know who to contact. . . . I don't know that that would really do any good."
Rob Reid, a neighbor, feels the same way. "You can't fight money," he said. "We've never been to council. All those people know Mr. Barger. He's got the money."
Deborah Hostetter lives off Houston Street, too. "I think it's something that one person, or two people, or a block of people can't fight," she said. "If everybody would get together and stick together, it might make a difference."
But sometimes, it turns out, a call might make the difference. The day before Floyd talked with the Roanoke Times & World-News, the man whom she says is ruining her home was taking great pains to petition the City Council.
Barger made a strong pitch to members for their support in his controversial rezoning bid. Barger wants Rockbridge County to let him mine a 112-acre tract in the county for limestone and to consolidate his construction, concrete and rock-crushing operations in a pit he currently is mining.
The council's opinions could be crucial in the outcome, because city residents live near the proposed site.
Barger told the politicians that his blasting operations were not damaging any homes; and if they were, it was the state's fault, because blasts had always remained within state guidelines.
Although he accepted no responsibility for residential damage, he said he had made thousands of dollars in repairs to maintain a "good-neighbor policy." There will always be complainers, he said.
However, around Houston Street, people report that they have cracks in their walls and floors. Some say they have called Barger, and his workers have put up paneling in some homes and caulked cracks in others. Still, most remained dissatisfied, and some had stopped calling, saying the work was shoddy.
Builder-turned-activist John Gunner has compiled damage complaints and set up a meeting with the city manager, city planner and an official from the state mining agency.
But Gunner worries about the perceptions on Houston Street - lack of access to the political system, and a belief that no matter what happens, the politicians will give victory to Barger.
"They are real intimidated by the whole process," Gunner says. "They are intimidated and they don't have any money - they don't know how things work. They just get discouraged."
After the Barger tour, a concerned look crept across the face of Lexington City Council member Jane Ellington when she was asked if she would visit Houston Street to see the damage. No, she said in response to a reporter's question, she had not heard about it.
Would she check on it or take a tour of the Houston Street area? "No," she said, not unless somebody called. "I haven't had anybody call about damage."
Barger is a part-owner in a shopping center near the proposed quarry, and he would not blast so heavily as to damage his own property, she said.
Then Ellington got into a truck with Barger supervisor Herman Carter and fellow council member Brian Shaw and rode back to Barger's offices.
After the three pulled into the parking lot, they sat in the truck for five minutes. When Ellington got out, she said to a reporter, "You should talk to him," pointing to Carter.
Carter said he had explained to her that most of the complaints from the Houston Street area are groundless, and that some residents there were simply trying to shake down the Barger company for free repairs.
Ellington, when asked again if she would visit Houston Street, said no, not unless she got a call.