DNR: CLEAN UP TIRE MESS BY AUG. 1

BENTON -- They sit along Highway 77, two miles east of Benton, a sea of tires piled far above the average adult's head.

Neighbors say the tires are ugly and attract rats and mosquitoes. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources says they're illegal, and threatens to revoke site owner John Stephenson's tire-hauling permit because of them.

Now DNR environmental specialist Pat Dwyer says there is an agreement with Stephenson: Clean up 100,000 tires by shredding a third of the pile each month.

By August 1, all of the tires should be turned into piles of shredded rubber.

After reaching the agreement, the DNR renewed Stephenson's tire-hauling permit, even though he had received two notices of tire storage violations in less than a year.

It is illegal to keep more than 500 tires on a site for more than 30 days without a waste tire site permit.

Shredding the tires cuts down on mosquito breeding, Dwyer said, and the pieces may be burned for fuel by Lone Star Industries Inc. or by Union Electric.

Stephenson will have to produce contracts with those companies to prove he will be hauling the shredded material off Highway 77. If he can't, the DNR will revoke his tire permit, leaving him without a job.

"A lot of people will haul tires, stockpile them and not do anything with them," Stephenson said Thursday. "But I have too much money invested to not do anything. We have shredded about 60,000 tires already."

He said he intends to put the tire shredder into a pit, which will make it easier for trucks to dump their loads into the shredder.

While Stephenson shreds, several people are keeping a close eye on his operation.

Neighbors are dissatisfied with the progress, and some think there are more tires now than before the DNR became involved.

"From personal observation, it just looks like he's shredding them and throwing them on the ground, and there isn't anything to protect the residue from going into the soil," Elmer Mansfield said.

Another man, who claimed repercussions from Stephenson after talking to the DNR, estimated there are more than 140,000 tires on the site. He worries about the safety of his water.

Scott County officials also are watching Stephenson with interest.

Presiding Commissioner Bob Kielhofner said he has fielded several complaints about the tires. He also wants quicker action by the DNR.

Scott County Health Department Administrator Warren Manning doesn't like the stockpile either and noted that it is a dangerous mosquito breeding ground.

Although the health department has been involved with the investigation, Manning said he is leaving enforcement up to the DNR.