Angry caravan rambles through county to fight junk ordinance
AZTEC — Upset county residents puttered their classic cars through San Juan County on Saturday afternoon in protest of a county junk ordinance, which county commissioners are slated to vote on Tuesday night.
the protesters revved their engines in Kirtland and drove into Farmington. Then they drove to Bloomfield before parking their vehicles in Aztec in the parking lot of the San Juan County government building.
About 175 people in nearly 50 vehicles, most of which were junk before the owners restored them, took part in the protest, said Ron Lyman, of Farmington, who organized the event. He also collected money from some of the protesters, because if the ordinance passes he said he will hire a lawyer and fight it in court.
“We will show our faces Tuesday (at the county commission meeting) and I think we’re going to get this solved,” Lyman said into a megaphone in the parking lot. “We will show the county commission that we are not in favor of the ordinance. … they should let the public vote.”
County commissioners will vote Tuesday on the ordinance that would prohibit people from hoarding junked vehicles in plain sight. the ordinance says people can have up to three undrivable vehicles on their property, but all other vehicles must be hidden from view.
Lyman asked all people against the ordinance to be respectful and peaceful if they attend the Tuesday night meeting.
the ordinance would require auto-salvage yards to hide vehicles with an eight-foot fence.
Brian Overturf, the owner of A-1 Auto Salvage in Kirtland, was at the protest because he said the ordinance would hurt his business.
He said building a fence around his business would cost between $100,000 and $150,000. He said the ordinance wouldn’t boost his business, because he couldn’t accept many junked vehicles in the county because he can’t accept cars without a certificate of title because of state regulations for auto-salvage yards.
“They would be crushed and turned into Honda Civics,” Gary Cole, of Kirtland, said of the fate of junked vehicles in San Juan County.
many of the protesters would not be directly affected by the ordinance because they don’t have more than three junked vehicles on their property. But they are steadfast against the ordinance because they say it will destroy a family tradition of restoring cars, Cole said.
Cole has restored five junked vehicles. many local residents who restore cars do so with parts purchased from county residents who hoard junked vehicles on their property, Cole said.
Carl Bannowsky, who has more than 500 undrivable vehicles on his property near Aztec, has become the epicenter of the county junk ordinance debate. Most of the restored vehicles that were driven in the protest Saturday had parts that came from Bannowsky’s property, the car owners said.
many of the protesters taped poster boards to their cars that read “Let Bannowsky be.”
“The county commission has a target on my back,” Bannowsky said.
He is retired and his main source of income is selling parts to car restorers.
“What people don’t understand is that you can’t run down to AutoZone and get a 57 Chevy fender,” he said. “It’s stuff that can’t be replaced.”
Clint Haskin was driving a 1933 Chevy Coup during the protest. He found the vehicle in an arroyo near Gallup 10 years ago. He restored the vehicle using parts he found on Bannowsky’s property.
“It was junk to (the original land owner), and they said you can have it if you can haul it off,” Haskin said. “I’ve probably got $5,000 in it and a lot of hard work; me and dad had a father-son project.”
Haskin doesn’t think most county residents are in favor of the junked vehicle ordinance.
“This is a car-oriented town, there’s a lot of people who are into hot rods and cars – it’s our history, it’s our heritage,” he said. “America was built on hot rods, haven’t you listened to the Beach Boys?”
many of the protesters were also worried of the “slippery slope” the county government would take if the proposed ordinance is passed.
“All this is, is a prelude to zoning,” Lyman said.
Ryan Boetel:
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