Soap Lake and public dumping

Dear Editor,

Recently I was driving out Road A in Soap Lake to see a piece of property I was interested in buying. When I got to the gate and got out to open it I noticed a huge mess going up into the field. Big piles of rusty wires and cables sticking out of the ground, big chunks of asphalt and cement, car parts, truck parts piled, mounds of dirt with rusty pipes protruding, piles of wood and garbage all over the ground. What there was of a fence had tumbleweeds higher then the fence.

The neighbor came up and when I asked he shook his head and said it was the Soap Lake city property and an illegal dump was happening for over a year. I decided then and there that I wasn’t interested in buying property next to that mess. What an eyesore. Not to mention the value of any property close would be devalued because of it. Apparently, they had tried to bury some but still kept dumping. It’s a hazard to our community and a horrible example of how to treat your property.

For the city to think its mess is OK would mean we could all follow their example. I’d hate to see this mess a year from now. When I called the Health Department an assistant told me that there was nothing being done and there was no plan to clean it up. She said they had written the city asking them to clean it up but nothing came of it. So there it sits. I’m doing my part and calling officials who might do something about this mess and ask why the city is making illegal dumps and getting away with it. Maybe they are above the law?

Alice Larsen

Soap Lake