News

Trashed yard draws law officers, nuisance citation

Property at 701 Blythe St. has been cited as a nuisance violation.

By Lightning Reports, Published: September 17, 2020

A yard at the corner of U.S. 64 and Blythe Street piled with clothing, pictures, household items and an assortment of other oddities has become an eyesore and topic of conversation around town. And now it's been cited for violating the county's nuisance ordinance.

"I'm out here right now," Code Enforcement Services Director Toby Linville said Thursday afternoon. "I have no idea" what the cause of the mess is. "There's nobody home."

"Of course," he said when asked if the clothing and other material in the yard constituted a nuisance violation. "There's a notice of violation hanging on the door right now."

Specifically, the discarded belongings spread throughout the yard, in trees and hanging on makeshift frames violate a county ordinance outlawing storage of solid waste outdoors, Linville said.

The Henderson County sheriff's office had dispatched deputies the home earlier Thursday.

"I know there were calls for service there today arising from irrational behavior by somebody there," Maj. Frank Stout said. "I know we had folks go out there a time or two this morning." He did not have information on the identity of the person deputies checked on.

Two motorists who frequently drive by the home told the Lightning that the accumulation of trash started eight days ago, first with clothing spread out on a pickup truck and later included a tepee with smoke coming from it. A dead pine tree that a tree service recently trimmed because it threatened power lines still had lower limbs. Those were filled with clothing. One passerby noted on Facebook that it "looks like a garbage truck threw up on the yard."

Tax records list the property owners as the Tracy M. Smart Trust and Dorothy J. Drew Living Trust. The 1,405-square-foot home built in 1970 on a quarter acre lot is valued for tax purposes at $133,200.