‘He said, ‘You used to be a drug dealer, and you’re an ex-convict.’ Yes, I am, and he was one of my buyers. –Doris Jude
BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — Discussions became heated when residents and a District 4 trash hauler began addressing each other directly at the Martin County Fiscal Court meeting Thursday. An hour and a half later, county officials appeared frustrated by the trash hauler’s lack of cooperation while trash piles up in District 4.
Wolf Creek couple Luster and Doris Jude and their neighbor Delbert Muncy voiced grievances concerning Joe’s Garbage Removal owner Joey Robinson.
Luster Jude said he never missed a month paying Robinson to pick up his trash, but he stopped paying when Robinson stopped taking all of his trash.
“One day, I was sitting on the porch with my neighbor, right here beside me, and [Robinson] said, ‘Come down here.’ I went down there. He said, ‘I’ll start picking your garbage up. Move your box over.’”
Jude said he offered to pay Robinson the $15 monthly fee at that time.
“He said, ‘Oh no, that’s not it. You’ve got to back up and pay me four or five months,’” said Jude. “I said, ‘What for? You didn’t haul no garbage. You haven’t stopped and picked up a piece of garbage here.’ He said, “I make trips up and down through here.’ I said, ‘Just because you make trips doesn’t mean you get money and not get no garbage.’”
Jude said Robinson told him that he wouldn’t pick up his garbage anymore.
“He got in the truck and hollered at me and said, ‘F you,’” said Jude. “That’s what he said.”
“I’m sorry that’s happened to you,” Judge/Executive Colby Kirk said.
Jude told the court that he currently hauls his garbage to Howell’s Recycling and has his receipts.
“I belong to church and don’t want no trouble out of him,” said Jude. “I’d rather haul it over there than fool with him.”
Robinson responded to Jude’s statements.
According to Robinson, Jude’s can is 30 feet from the road, and he refused to pick up Jude’s “contractor bags” of trash. He said Jude cursed and threatened him inside a gas station on Father’s Day 2021, and Doris Jude sent him threatening messages.
Robinson said Jude’s neighbor has been hauling Jude’s garbage to Howell’s.
“They’re not supposed to do it,” said Robinson. “I’ve got pictures of it. I’ve even talked to Delbert about it.”
Robinson said he stopped at Jude’s house after a relative told him to stop and Jude would pay his bill.
“You’re the one that stopped using it,” Robinson said to Jude.
“He was the one delinquent those months. I didn’t cut him off,” added Robinson. “You see, he had contractor bags and stuff that goes against the ordinance. So when he just up and decides that he wants to get his trash picked up, he just wants to pay me $15. But he’s already put me through all this stuff.”
Kirk asked Robinson if he had continued to pick up Jude’s trash for a number of months without payment.
“No,” said Robinson. “It was just a couple of weeks because he had paid – I could go back and look.”
“Go ahead and stutter and make things up,” Jude said to Robinson. “Does that make you feel better?”
Kirk asked the two men to address the court one at a time.
“This is not a dialogue between you two,” said Kirk.
Kirk asked Robinson if he currently had no garbage service account for Luster or Doris Jude.