Junkyard owner back in jail Meddybemps man violates probation, says cleanup under way

MACHIAS – The owner of a Meddybemps junkyard was sent back to jail for 30 days Wednesday after a District Court judge found him guilty of violating his probation for the second time in six months.

Judge Andrew Mead told Harry Smith Jr. that Smith would have to decide, upon his release, whether he would begin fulfilling the terms of his probation or continue to serve his sentence “on the installment plan.”

Smith is on probation for his 1999 conviction on two charges of violating a state order to stop accepting used tires at his junkyard on Route 191. At the time of the 1997 order, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection estimated there were 1 million used tires at Smith’s junkyard.

Smith was convicted in 1999 of accepting two more shipments of tires and sentenced to serve 60 days of two consecutive six-month sentences.

He was jailed again this past July when he was found guilty of violating his probation by failing to report to his probation officer or clean up his junkyard.

Smith finished that 60-day sentence on Sept. 4, but was arrested again on the same charges on Nov. 21. He has been held without bail since his arrest, and Mead ordered he be given credit for time served.

Smith took the stand in his own defense Wednesday, saying he had been working at the cleanup and had attempted to contact probation officer William Love.

Smith said Love had instructed him on Oct. 10 to contact him on Oct. 29. Smith said he’d marked that date on his office calendar so he wouldn’t forget.

Smith said he called Love as instructed, but the line was busy and he had gone back to helping the DEP with his cleanup operation. There was a trailer truck blocking Route 191 and he wanted to get it off the road, Smith said.

But DEP’s Jean Firth testified she had been overseeing the cleanup operations on Oct. 29 and hadn’t seen Smith.

DEP has been working on removing the 10,000 square feet of stacked tires from Smith’s Junkyard since August 1998 when a fire at a nearby mobile home came within 75 feet of the piles.

In a March 1999 interview, Bill Butler, the DEP specialist in charge of that cleanup, said the department had spent $1.2 million on the effort and 200,000 to 300,000 tires remained on the site.

Smith testified Wednesday the DEP estimates there are 100,000 tires on the site and he doesn’t have the money to pay for their removal.

“They could be sold if I’m allowed to retail them,” he said “Ninety-five percent of them are reusable.”

The tires are not the only concern at Smith’s Junkyard.

Hatten Brook, a tributary to the Dennys River, runs through the site.

The Dennys is one of five Washington County rivers where wild Atlantic salmon are an endangered species, and Smith has been ordered to remove contaminants, including scrap vehicles, from the wetlands surrounding the brook.

Smith acknowledged Wednesday that one of the evidence pictures taken by the DEP appeared to depict an old boxcar in the brook, but he was “certain” that wasn’t the case.

“We have some railroad boxcars on the side of the brook, but not in it,” he said.

Smith said his junkyard includes approximately 18 acres on each side of the brook, but in order for him to remove 36 acres of material, he would need another 36 acres to deposit it on.

Smith said his “long-term goal” is to “totally get out of the scrap business, clean it up and comply with state law.” But he is basically “a one-man show” and doesn’t have the money to do it, he said.

In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Carletta Bassano said nothing has changed at Smith’s site in years.

“Mr. Smith’s not doing anything,” Bassano said. “He’s only getting rid of the tires he can sell.”