ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996                TAG: 9608090101
SECTION: DISCOVER ROANOKE VALLEY  PAGE: 20   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER

TAKING OUT THE TRASH IN A MAJOR WAY

You'd think Jeff Cromer wouldn't be too keen on taking out the garbage at night after a long day managing operations at the Smith Gap landfill and transfer station.

Nevertheless, Cromer dutifully bags his household trash without complaint. If anything, he said, he has a greater appreciation for the whole process involved in getting those sacks of garbage to their final resting place.

"I guess I'm more aware because that's what my job entails," he said. "People think they put the trash out at the curb and the garbage man picks it up, but it's more involved than that."

On a regular business day, 750 tons of garbage are trucked into the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority building on Hollins Road. Getting that trash loaded onto railroad cars and hauled to Smith Gap for burial is the responsibility of the authority's 38 employees. Cromer oversees the 35 nonadministrative workers in their operation of the transfer station and the landfill.

"I have a fine group of dedicated boys who work hard to make this operation a success," he said.

"It's not a sleeping job," said landfill supervisor Pete Harris. "It's a carry-home job. There's no way you can go home and forget about it. [Cromer] is dedicated to his job and the community."

Although Cromer's job directly affects every resident in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Vinton, he prefers to keep a low profile.

"I don't like the limelight," he said.

Cromer has held his position since April 1985 when he returned to his hometown after a stint with the Virginia Division of Mind Land Reclamation in Southwest Virginia. He had taken the job after graduating from Emory & Henry with a degree in environmental studies.

Cromer said he enjoyed his work supervising inspectors whose job it was to make sure surface mine operations were complying with regulations regarding soil disturbance and impact on surface and groundwater. But, he said, he wanted to return to his hometown and applied when the landfill manager's position opened up.

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