“I just hope they won’t do this again”; Local church discovers junkyard on its property

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - A house of worship in the heart of Richmond has been grateful to serve its community for the last 68 years.

Shady Clark is the pastor of Eastminster Presbyterian on Littlepage Street. He’s been serving for the last 45 years.

“My anniversary is Sunday,” Clark said.

Clark said when he came by the church almost a week ago he made a shocking discovery, a pile of junk on the church’s property.

“In forty-five years, I’ve never seen this and I don’t understand the mindset of a human,” Clark said. He added the discovery was mind-blowing, especially with it being a church.

“No, this is a church. It is obvious. We got a marquee out front,” Clark said. He added, “The big sign on the church, it says what it is. Who will come and dump this on the church property?”

Wayne Johnson is a member of the church, he found a variety of items within the pile.

“Looks like a shovel up under there,” Johnson said.

Betty Southerland is another member of the church who was disgusted at the junk pile.

“I am sorry you are this hurt, you would do this to a house of worship,” Southerland said. Southerland said she has been finding clues in the mess.

“So I looked at this and I also walked around and I saw this piece of glass that had this ‘W’ on it, which I knew is the Walgreen’s logo. So from that, I actually called this number,” Southerland said.

A torn-up piece of paper in the pile led her to a Walgreens in north Dinwiddie County. The store asked her to send photos and directed her to corporate.

Southerland said she was given a case number by Walgreens and told, “If the material did come from their store, they would contact the vendor hired to take it away, to pick it back up.” However, Southerland said she was not given the name of the vendor.

“Even if it is on private property. I feel like it’s still illegal dumping,” Southerland said.

Johnson said that removing the junk pile is crucial and time is of the essence.

“Because this is pastor’s anniversary. And when you have guests, you want everything to be on point. It’s just like a birthday,” Johnson said.

Johnson added it is all frustrating but he wants to find a solution before Sunday.

“I just hope they won’t do this again because your actions have made it difficult for someone else.”

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