ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603210025
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
A LANDLORD denies that he had the Bedford County Sheriff's Office deliver notices to two of his trailer park's residents because of their complaints over the park's water quality.
Two women at the Hardy Road Trailer Park say their landlord sent them warning notices Tuesday because they publicly complained about the foul-smelling water at the Bedford County park.
The Bedford County Sheriff's Office delivered ``unlawful detainers'' to Shirley Curtis and Teresa Martin, requiring them to pay back rent.
Curtis acknowledged Wednesday that she's five days late paying her monthly $170 rent and said she planned to pay owner D.J. Cooper immediately.
But she's been late before, she said, and never gotten a court-issued warning that could lead to an eviction.
``He's going to find any excuse he can now. This just isn't going to stop,'' Curtis said.
Curtis and her next-door neighbor, Martin, were quoted in a newspaper story last month about Cooper's violations of state drinking-water standards.
In 1993, the Department of Health cited Cooper for elevated levels of iron and manganese in the water. Although not a public health threat, these naturally occurring metals can give water a foul odor and taste; they can also leave stains on clothes, dishes and sinks - problems both women said they have experienced over the past couple years.
Cooper is due in court May 7 to face criminal charges for failing to meet a court-ordered February deadline to remove the iron and manganese. He could face up to two years in jail.
The two women were the only ones to receive warnings Tuesday, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Martin and her family sold their trailer and moved March 8 to an apartment in Vinton, where she was served the warning. She said they didn't owe Cooper anything.
Martin also had been late on the rent before, but had never received a notice, she said.
With 107 rental units at the 7-acre park, Cooper said he has to send warning notices through the Sheriff's Office almost every day. ``I do it whenever I think it's necessary to protect my interests.
``I'm not dealing with doctors and lawyers here,'' he said, maintaining that the two women are delinquent.
Cooper said there is no problem with the water. To prove his point to a reporter Wednesday, he filled an empty Coke bottle from the water pump that serves the park; holding the bottle up, he said it was as clear as store-bought bottled water.
Some tenants in the park also say the water is fine, and have circulated a petition saying The Roanoke Times story was ``insulting and discriminatory.''
One of those is Steven White. He has lived at the trailer park for two years with his wife, two teen-agers, two dogs, three cats and $100 worth of tropical fish in two 30-gallon aquariums, filled with water from his kitchen sink.
``And they're fine,'' White said.
The tap water sometimes comes out a little rusty or has a sulfur odor to it, but it's no worse than at other places he's lived that have had well water, White said.
``As far as I'm concerned, you couldn't ask for a better landlord,'' White said, noting that Cooper had plowed the park's road before the state roads were cleared during this winter's snowstorms. Also, Cooper often picks up trash around the dumpsters, White said.
Cooper said one tenant had given him a petition full of names that defended the water quality; he has hung it in his office in Roanoke County.
Several other tenants who asked not to be named said they refuse to sign the petition. They said other tenants signed it because they were afraid the petitions would get back to Cooper as a tally of who was on his side.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB