DEFENDANT DENIES CLAIMS IN BURNING CASE

SIKESTON, Mo. -- One of two defendants named in a state lawsuit alleging illegal burning in New Madrid County says the state is engaging in "legalized extortion."

Roy Hodgkiss owns Roy's Tree Service in Sikeston. He co-owns property off of New Madrid County Road 824 with the other defendant, Gene Sandlin of Sikeston.

Though the two share the property, which they use for disposal of tree trimmings, they run separate businesses, Hodgkiss said Wednesday.

Sandlin didn't return phone messages requesting comment Wednesday.

Hodgkiss said neither he nor his employees burn at the site, but claimed Sandlin's employees do, despite repeated warnings not to.

Hodgkiss claims that state officials acknowledged on a number of occasions that the burning was being done by Sandlin's workers, not those employed by Hodgkiss.

However, Scott Holste, a spokesman for Attorney General Jay Nixon, said as co-owner of the property, Hodgkiss shares responsibility for what is done there.

"If there are degrees of culpability, we will let the court sort that out," Holste said.

The lawsuit seeks to bar future burning at the site, require its cleanup and order the payment of $10,000 a day per violation into the New Madrid County School Fund.

"All this is legalized extortion," Hodgkiss said. "They already sat down and told me I wasn't guilty. This is costing me business because it makes me look like I'm a crook, and I'm not a crook. I work hard every day."