Festival towing raises ire in Chadbourn
• Two vehicles pulled from depot building at request of volunteer.
By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer
Jamie Rooks’ car was towed from a public parking area May 5, and she wants to know why.
Rooks parked her car at the Chadbourn Depot while attending the Strawberry Festival May 5. The family enjoyed the train ride and the parade, but when they returned to Rooks’ car, it was gone.
“I didn’t know what had happened,” she said. “It took me an hour to find out what happened. We had a child seat in there. Anybody could see the car wasn’t abandoned.”
Both Rooks and Louise Matera found out from police their cars were towed from the Depot at the request of Edna Yates, a volunteer at the museum facility. Yates could not be reached by phone Wednesday and Thursday for comment.
Chadbourn Police Chief Steven Shaw said towing vehicles at the request of a property owner or agent “isn’t that unusual.” The depot has had problems in the past, Shaw said, with unauthorized parking. Drivers have damaged the yard and parking area, Shaw said, generally when visiting a nightclub next door. He said he was unaware of any damage this year, and that Yates contacted the Worley’s wrecker service to remove the cars.
“We didn’t order the cars towed,” he said. “Mrs. Yates asked that they be removed.”
Shaw said he was surprised at the “rumors flying around” about the towing incident.
“I’ve been told we ordered 18 cars towed, 20, all kinds of wild things,” he said. “Truth is, the Chadbourn Police ordered one car towed – one – after the driver was arrested. The other two were pulled at the landowner’s request.”
Rooks said when she found out who had towed her car, she contacted the wrecker service and was told the charge was $150.
“I was shocked,” she said. “I’m eight months pregnant, and a mother, and that’s a lot of money.”
Rooks then went to see Yates to talk about the problem. Rooks said Yates called Worley’s while she was there.
“When I said I didn’t have the money,” Rooks said, “Mrs. Yates told them to sell my car, and hung up the phone.”
Rooks said Yates insulted her and refused to offer an apology.
A man who answered the telephone at Worley’s Automotive said he did not specifically remember towing any vehicles from the Depot during the festival.
Another local tow truck driver said he felt both the actions and the cost were out of place.
Common sense
Kevin Harrelson of Southeast Paint and Body Shop said his company regularly gets calls to remove vehicles from private property.
“You have to use some common sense,” he said. “If I get called to tow a car at something like the festival, and there’s a clean child safety seat in the car, I’m going to know it’s just someone enjoying the event with their family.”
Harrelson said the liability assumed by tow truck drivers “should make people think first.”
“I wouldn’t have towed them,” Harrelson said. “I know Jamie, and she’s good, honest people. I’d try to find out more about what’s going on. I’d probably even refuse to tow it, or let the people go if I could find them. It’s too easy to get in trouble, and you have to treat people right.”
Harrelson also said he felt the towing fee “was right high.”
“That’s a bit stiff,” he said.
Concerned commissioner
Chadbourn town board member Jimmie Sue Ward said she was upset when she read letters in this newspaper describing how Matera and Rooks were reportedly treated.
“That’s not the image we need for Chadbourn,” she said. “I feel this was uncalled for – we’re trying to encourage people to spend time downtown, and if you tow people’s cars away from a public parking area, you run them off.
“There aren’t even any no parking signs down there,” Ward said, “and it wasn’t roped off this year. How’s someone supposed to know?”
Ward said she appreciates Yates’ devotion to the depot, but Ward fears this type of incident will also deter people from volunteering at or visiting the museum. The depot is owned by the Chadbourn Downtown Revitalization corporation.
Rooks is scheduled to meet with the Chadbourn Town Council at the June meeting.
“I expect we’ll discuss this at length,” she said.
Rooks later retrieved the vehicle, but said the experience left a bad taste in her mouth about the festival and especially the Depot.
“We might go back next year,” she said, “but I promise you – we won’t go near the depot.”