By Molly Lovell
Editor
     Scarborough’s Public Works Department recently began picking up debris from the Patriot’s Day storm that scattered tree limbs throughout yards and in some cases uprooted entire trees.
     A Nonesuch Cove Road resident fears that some people might have taken advantage of this one time service, however.
     Jane Davis said her neighbor put out six tree stumps, which she estimated to be eight to ten feet in diameter. She claims the stumps were not a result of storm damage. When she woke up last Wednesday morning, May 9, she said there were five to six public works vehicles dealing with the debris at her neighbor’s house.
     “What this speaks to is that the town workers are having their time taken up with people who are taking advantage of the system,” she said.
     “If we don’t start speaking up about stuff like this it’s going to wind up taking services away from those it was intended to help.”
      Davis said she immediately went outside to talk to the crews, who told her she needed to talk to their supervisor. “I realize they can’t always enforce this like a law, but if they see something that is a blatant taking advantage of, they need to speak up about it,” Davis said.
      Public Works Director Mike Shaw said it would be disheartening to the department to see residents taking advantage of the service.
     “I think that in general people are being decent with the process and understanding of the spirit of why and how we’re rolling this program out,” he said.
      Shaw said he didn’t see the Nonesuch Cove Road site in its initial state. “Our stance on it is that it’s material and it needs to be out of the town’s right of way. We’ve got many miles of road to cover. We needed to move on and I think that we did what we had to do,” Shaw said. All debris the department picked up in the town was brought to the Holmes Road Landfill and chipped at no charge.
     Shaw said the number of trucks at the Nonesuch Cove Raod site was ordinary. “We didn’t ramp up for that operation,” Shaw said.
     He said the last time the department offered this service to residents was the ice storm in 1997. When asked if the department will change pick-up guidelines in the future he said they most likely will not because such a service is only offered in extreme situations.
     “Unless a storm of this magnitude comes through again we have no intention of doing this on a yearly basis,” Shaw said.
     “At a certain point it becomes a public safety issue,” he said of the downed trees and limbs. “Besides obstructing roadways, such materials become fuel for grass fires,” Shaw said.
     Davis has lived on Nonesuch Cove Road for 17 years and called Wednesday’s situation a “Blatant injustice.”
     “This isn’t about me not getting something, it’s that their time is being taken up in an unfair way. People that rely on that service are going to be the ones to pay for someone else’s taking advantage of,” she said.