Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 28, 1995 TAG: 9507280080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER AND TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Town officials said the blaze at Virginia Rubber Recycling Inc.'s plant off State Street was suspicious. Its cause hadn't been determined Thursday; a state police arson unit and the Rocky Mount Police Department were investigating.
Late last year, state police began to suspect Virginia Rubber Recycling was storing thousands of tires at a Southwest Roanoke warehouse without environmental permits, according to state Department of Environmental Quality records.
The company was taking in too many tires at its Rocky Mount plant and had to find another place to store them, according the DEQ records and a former employee.
Virginia Rubber found an aluminum-sided warehouse next to the old 7-Up bottling plant on Cleveland Avenue Southwest in Roanoke.
Last Friday, state police searched the warehouse. In a search warrant, police said the facility didn't have a permit from the DEQ to store tires, which are considered by the state as a waste requiring special handling.
No charges have been placed.
Also last Friday, the owners of the warehouse took Virginia Rubber to court in Roanoke, alleging it was illegally dumping and storing tires on their property.
Though the owners terminated the lease in June, they said the warehouse operator has continued to dump tires there.
In its one-year history, besides scuffling with the DEQ, Virginia Rubber has bounced payroll checks, failed to pay a contractor, laid off employees and been criticized for safety practices by a Rocky Mount Town Council member, sources say.
And, according to the State Corporation Commission, Virginia Rubber is in danger of losing its license. The company has yet to file its annual report, which was due three months ago. An extension was granted until Sept. 15.
Here's how the company got in its present state:
Texas businessmen Raymond Bishop and Marcus Haley started thinking about getting into the recycled tire business back in 1993, according to Ronald Andrews of Roanoke, a former employee of Virginia Rubber.
At the time, Andrews had just started his own tire recycling business at the Roanoke Industrial Center. He met Bishop through a mutual friend and Bishop considered investing in Andrews' venture.
But Andrews' company had financial troubles and he filed for bankruptcy in August 1993. The DEQ said he was using his land to dispose of tires without a permit, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court documents.
Bishop, Haley and several other Texas investors then decided to start their own tire-shredding operation.
They formed an investment company called National Rubber Recycling Inc. to handle the finances, and after finding a site in Rocky Mount, they started Virginia Rubber Recycling Inc. Bishop was president and ran the plant.
Andrews was one of the first local employees he hired.
Virginia Rubber opened in April 1994. A month later, Andrews said, one of its biggest cash investors backed out, leaving the company in dire financial straits. At the time, Virginia Rubber also was having trouble getting the permit it needed from the DEQ to store tires.
Enter Glenn McCormick.
McCormick, the owner of Roanoke-based United Ambulance Service Inc., agreed to invest in Virginia Rubber, Andrews said. McCormick also helped the stagnant company earn money until it could get its permit, he said.
McCormick started a company called K&M Products in June 1994 and rented space at the warehouse in Roanoke.
K&M and Virginia Rubber hauled old tires from car dealerships and other businesses for a fee and stored them at the warehouse, Andrews said.
The DEQ says Virginia Rubber never had a permit to store tires there. And McCormick never got a business license for K&M, according to the city commissioner of revenue's office.
Virginia Rubber was storing about 20,000 tires at the warehouse in Roanoke, Andrews said.
On a recent site visit, the DEQ found Virginia Rubber had about 6,000 tires there.
State police began staking out Virginia Rubber's operations in November, looking for violations of its environmental permit, according to a memo from a DEQ staffer to the agency's regional director.
As for McCormick, the DEQ warned him verbally and in writing in November that he was in violation of state law because he didn't have a permit to store tires at the warehouse. McCormick never applied for one.
Meanwhile, there were shakeups in the company's front office.
Bishop resigned as president of Virginia Rubber on Dec. 15. Larry Boyd took over as plant manager in Rocky Mount and Haley became the company's president.
Andrews and another source close to the company say controlling interest of Virginia Rubber went to Rufe Bynum III, a Texas oilman who they say still owns the company.
Bynum, Bishop, Haley and several others associated with the company are in Texas. Rocky Mount officials say they haven't been able to contact any of them.
Bynum did not return a phone message left at his home Thursday.
Rocky Mount Police Chief Butch Jenkins said he doesn't need to talk to company owners or investors yet.
The plant manager, Boyd, remains in Rocky Mount and is cooperating fully, Jenkins said.
The investigation of the blaze has been hampered because the fire at the plant continues to burn. It is expected to do so for several more days, Jenkins said.
He did say, however, that four employees were inside the plant when the fire broke out. No one was injured.
He also said the town may not be able to treat runoff - soupy, black petroleum-based muck - at its sewage plant. Environmental Options, a Rocky Mount company, has stored some of the runoff in tanker trucks.
Jenkins said Virginia Rubber's problems are "unfortunate."
"This was a company that we all believed was a good, clean industry that would recycle tires, employ a lot of people and pay decent wages," he said. "Now it's come to this."
Staff writers Cathryn McCue and Mag Poff contributed information to this story.
by CNB