[tcb] Re: Fwd: [Arkansas VolkswagenVolksmeisters] sickening
- From: sammie smith <bugcollections@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:24:18 -0800 (PST)
Steve: Thanks for the info. But, yeah, you do have to log in to Facebook if
you click on that link. In fact, it comes up with your e-mail address and asks
for your password to log in to Facebook to read the post.
That said: Some one got screwed. At current scrap prices 200 tons of scap is
worth $48,000. I'm not surprised that the hauler agreed to haul it off for
free. I know; I have just hauled 4 VWs across the scrap scales in the last
few
days and have a few more to go. A beetle with everything there just as driven
weighs out at about $200 in scrap value right now. Just goes to show what
happens when someone is in charge trying to work for the betterment of mankind
as they see it.
One of the reasons that I have not been back for their VW show is that it
appeared to be rip off for the promotor which appeared to be the local
government.
________________________________
From: Steve Chamberlain <steveraychamberlain@xxxxxxxxx>
To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sun, January 15, 2012 5:45:34 PM
Subject: [tcb] Re: Fwd: [Arkansas VolkswagenVolksmeisters] sickening
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.
> David Bruce Ellis 3:59pm Jan 15
>sickening
>No more time to work out the bugs
>www2.tbo.com
>For a quarter of a century, Sunray Bugs was a destination for Volkswagen
>aficionados from around the...
>
>
>View Post on Facebook · Edit Email Settings · Reply to this email to add a
>comment.
>
>
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