THE STATE OF KANSAS has had enough, and the acres of rusting trucks that once graced the view along Interstate 35 in rural Wellsville near Kansas City are being chewed up by big machines and shipped off for recycling.
In the Kansas City Star, Mike Hendricks writes that after 34 years in business and seven years of conflict with state authorities, the Truck Wholesale salvage yard is no more. Armed with a court order, wrecking crews are clearing the 20-acre property down to the bare earth. No word on whether the state also plans to sow the ground with salt before it leaves.
That’s not beyond the realm of possibility. The fight over the salvage yard has grown acrimonious over the years. The Kansas Department of Transportation had the law on its side. The salvage yard was an eyesore, and anyone who has driven to Kansas City on I-35 knows, and the old trucks that crammed the property were dripping oil and antifreeze into the soil. But Danny Lambeth, the owner of the salvage yard, refused to knuckle under or negotiate. He preferred to file lawsuits, challenging KDOT’s authority from every angle and insisting that he had the right to run his business on his land — and run it his way.
Lambeth played his hand out until there were no more lawsuits. By the time KDOT got its court order, it was in no mood to go back to Square One and negotiate changes and improvements at the salvage yard. The department wanted the trucks gone. Now.
So the machines are chewing up 20 acres of trucks, vans and buses. Come spring, the eyesore will be gone.
It is kind of a pity, really. Ugly as it was, the salvage yard had a certain majesty. It was so big and had so many trucks of all descriptions that it was, in a way, educational. Driving past was like driving through an exhibit of American transportation. Perhaps it was educational for children, who love trucks and other big machines. They could gaze at the rusting hulks as their parents zipped by.
In the salvage yard’s destruction, Kansas has not lost a wonder, and it has certainly lost none of its beauty.
But the state has lost a familiar sight.
From now on, the children will have to be satisfied with just looking at the wildflowers beside the road. And when those children grow up, they can tell their own children stories about the wonderful fields of trucks that used to grow beside that interstate.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor
madpoet (anonymous) says...
When they wipe out salvage yards, they also wipe out cheap replacement parts for aging vehicles. Dealers often stop carrying parts for older vehicles. This way we have to go buy new cars and trucks. They closed a big salvage yard on 77 on the way south to Winfield too. I don't want to get into conspiracy theory or anything, but it is frustrating. We recently traded a car in because the parts were getting so hard to find for it.
March 3, 2009 at 2:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
spectator (anonymous) says...
Salvage yards, "junkyards" when I was a kid, were a delight for the do-it-yourself oriented repair. But that was when things could actually be done by the amatuer. "Junkyards" were the original recyclers and as these are forced out, it's likely older classic cars will disappear as well. I am going to miss that old fire truck along the fence on I-35 though......
March 3, 2009 at 5:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kittenslvsu (anonymous) says...
I will miss that old sight. Back in 1985 my dad was dignosed with cancer and we drove several times a week to Kansas city for treatments. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was 8 years old at the time and that was the high light of our trip because we new we were all most to the hospital and the long ride was almost to an end. My dad has passed with cancer but I still drive the trip to Kansas city from Emporia at least 1 time a week and seeing it slowly going away has brought a tear to my eye. The old junk yard has held several memories for me over the years and it will be missed.
March 6, 2009 at 6:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
I wonder what the EPA statement says, if there is one, about ground pollution from the oil and gasoline from all those crankcases and gas tanks?
March 7, 2009 at 7:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )