[tcb] Re: Fwd: [Arkansas VolkswagenVolksmeisters] sickening
- From: Steve Chamberlain <steveraychamberlain@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:45:34 -0600
If you follow the link 'no more time to work out the bugs' you would get
this:
For a quarter of a century, Sunray Bugs was a destination for Volkswagen
aficionados from around the world.
If you had a VW Bug from the summer of love and you needed a windshield
wiper, there was one man to call: Corky Yager. Rest assured, he'd jump in a
golf cart and scoot across his 10-acre VW graveyard until he found the
part. Then he'd restore it and ship it anywhere.
"A lot of VW enthusiasts only want original German parts," office manager
Paul Zappulla said. "They're superior to the duplicates they make in China
now."
But the VW graveyard, on U.S. 301 just north of Dade City, has been scraped
bare. Pasco County Code Enforcement spent five days in December clearing
the southern half of the property. Yager, 83, estimates the hauler removed
200 tons of metal from the site.
For county officials, the cleanup was a victorious end to a protracted
legal battle. They had successfully removed a longstanding eyesore at
virtually no cost — because the scrap hauler agreed to clear the site at no
charge. He earned his fee by keeping and selling all of the scrap metal.
"It's the largest site I've ever dealt with, and I've been with the county
since 2000," Code Enforcement Supervisor Patrick Phillips said. "It took
five and half days. We were out there, it seemed like, the whole holidays.
Some nights we didn't get out of there until 10 or 11 o'clock at night."
Yager said he is devastated.
"They stripped me of almost everything," he said. "They didn't just take my
cars. They took motor homes and trailers that were full of parts. They
crushed my forklifts and equipment.
"It was my life."
Sunray started as a hobby. Yager was 58 when he said he had a vision that
led to his own field of dreams. A lifelong Cadillac owner, Yager had
recently bought his first VW Beetle. He was at a veterans hospital in North
Miami and had just undergone surgery for kidney stones. As he emerged
groggily from the anesthesia, he began muttering something to the nurse.
"They're everywhere, everywhere," he said. "Fields full of Volkswagens."
So he started collecting every Beetle, Bus and Thing he could get his hands
on. After 25 years, he had a field so full of Volkswagens it could be seen
on Google Earth.
"I would estimate there was anywhere from 800 to 1,000 vehicles," Phillips
said. "It was a bona fide junkyard."
One problem: He didn't have the proper zoning. Code enforcement wasn't
aware of the violation until someone filed a complaint in 2009, Phillips
said.
Yager hired a lawyer and tried to keep the business. He took the county to
court but eventually acquiesced and agreed to clean up the property. He
crushed and sold 150 cars, but it barely made a dent in the horde, Phillips
said.
"There was no way to count them all," Phillips said. "When he crushed 150,
you couldn't tell a difference."
Tina Mazzarra, Yager's daughter, said her father tried his best to comply
with the court order. "Dad was in the hospital four times during all this,"
she said. "He had hired an attorney who he felt was looking out for his
best interest. I don't think anyone involved ever dreamed (the county)
would come in and seize half his business."
The judge set a new deadline, Feb. 15, for Yager to clean up the rest of
the property. He and his staff have spent the last several weeks pulling
parts from the remaining vehicles and removing them from the site.
Zappulla said the staff is trying to organize the inventory so Yager can
keep the parts and repair business going.
"I think the real test for my dad will come once the adrenaline wears off
and he realizes everything he's worked for a huge part of it is gone,"
Mazzarra said. "He's got to recreate his business."
Yager always had a steady stream of loyal customers, according to Carol
Jeffares Hedman, who organizes the annual Bug Jam. The event draws
thousands of Volkswagen hobbyists to Dade City every November.
After the festival, one of the largest VW events in the nation, a few
collectors would always head over to Sunray Bugs, and there would be Corky
— with a flashlight — helping them find a door handle and side mirror or
factory-installed radio.
"For those people, it's not a car — it's an obsession," said Hedman, a
Tribune correspondent.
You don't have to do facebook to follow the link.
On Sun, Jan 15, 2012 at 4:58 PM, sammie smith
<bugcollections@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Steve: Some of us do not do Facebook, and therefore can't determine what
> the problem is. Can you enlighten us? I have also been to the Pasco
> County Bug Jam (once), didn't like it and haven't been back. Though the
> Bulli Brigade was good.
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Steve Chamberlain <steveraychamberlain@xxxxxxxxx>
> *To:* tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; jack stratton <jjflashfl2003@xxxxxxxxx>
> *Sent:* Sun, January 15, 2012 4:14:19 PM
> *Subject:* [tcb] Fwd: [Arkansas VolkswagenVolksmeisters] sickening
>
> I have attended the Pasco County Bug Jam (day after the Bulli Brigade)
> several times and was planning to go again in November. I would hope that
> some Florida residents would start a organized ban on Dade City and the Bug
> Jam. i will no longer support them.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: David Bruce Ellis <notification+y2m4mmr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Sun, Jan 15, 2012 at 3:59 PM
> Subject: [Arkansas VolkswagenVolksmeisters] sickening
> To: Arkansas VolkswagenVolksmeisters <273828575961635@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
> **
> David Bruce Ellis posted in Arkansas
> VolkswagenVolksmeisters<http://www.facebook.com/n/?groups%2F273828575961635%2F349363968408095%2F&mid=57d4977G1fa8ef92G1153bd67G96&bcode=SH0ftTUA&n_m=steve%40texasairheads.com>
> .
> [image:
> sickening]<http://www.facebook.com/n/?profile.php&id=773407574&mid=57d4977G1fa8ef92G1153bd67G96&bcode=SH0ftTUA&n_m=steve%40texasairheads.com>
> David
> Bruce
> Ellis<http://www.facebook.com/n/?profile.php&id=773407574&mid=57d4977G1fa8ef92G1153bd67G96&bcode=SH0ftTUA&n_m=steve%40texasairheads.com>
> 3:59pm
> Jan 15
> sickening
> No more time to work out the
> bugs<http://www.facebook.com/n/?l%2FIAQGZG73aAQGQZqMyh7gJ30j2S223heO4VYiPiwY1_legIA%2Ftbo.com%2Far%2F347217%2F&mid=57&n_m=steve%40texasairheads.com>
>
> www2.tbo.com<http://www.facebook.com/n/?l%2FIAQGZG73aAQGQZqMyh7gJ30j2S223heO4VYiPiwY1_legIA%2Ftbo.com%2Far%2F347217%2F&mid=57&n_m=steve%40texasairheads.com>
> For a quarter of a century, Sunray Bugs was a destination for Volkswagen
> aficionados from around the...
> **
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