While it's not like having your face on a poster in the Post Office, there's somebody out there with a truck camper on a 4-door white pickup that may want to lie really low for a while. Not only is he a dandy candidate for the "Stupid RVer Award," if what he's said to have done is true, he's apt to be looking at some pretty steep fines.Back on June 25th, surveillance cameras at a Wheat Ridge, Colorado high school recorded pictures of a suspicious looking situation. A truck camper rolls to a stop in a parking lot, near a storm drain. The driver hangs around the lot for a while, then finally pulls away. Later, a large quantity of raw sewage is found in the retention pond that holds storm water caught by that earlier mentioned storm drain.
Police say they've had a 'Eureka Moment' and think they now have the pictures of dastardly dumper of doo-doo, or perhaps its the black-heart of black water. In any event, the camper and the driver have now appeared on the Denver television, and presumably are plastered in the printed press as well. While to some the situation might be an overblown issue, school officials aren't laughing. As the owners of the retention pond, they've been forced to hire an environmental cleanup company to purge the pond of the unwelcome unsanitary sludge, they say to the tune of nearly a quarter million dollars.
A couple of things come to our minds: First, if this fellow is really responsible, a hearty "Shame on you!" He's the kind of character that besmirches the reputation of the rest of us who do our utmost to properly dispose of our wastes, both solid and liquid. But at the same time, if the camper is parked in the "dumping position," then in our book, its a "wee bit" unusual. True enough, not all campers have street-side dump ports, but it seems the majority do. If this one does, do you see any hose, or any evidence of sewage being drained out of the rig? Or is it possible the guy needed a break, stopped for a few minutes, and some other yo-yo was the one who did the dirty?
And a final question: What amazing tools and techniques will the Wheat Ridge CSI folks use to pin the rap on --or exonerate-- Mr. Camperman, should he ever be tracked down? RV sleuths, we're listening!
If you have information about the crime, please call the Wheat Ridge Police Department at (303) 237-2220.
photo courtesy the denver channel and Wheat Ridge, Colorado police
15 comments:
Someone needs to enhance the photo to see if the dump port is on the side visible in the photo. Also if it's not then if there's a pic of the tag it needs to be posted so fellow RVers can keep an eye out for the offender. I don't understand how people can be so crude to do such a thing. There are so many free dumpsites out there...
This is probably one of the worst things someone as an R'Ver has done . If this man pictured is not responsible for this DUMPING ; and he can prove it was not him ; then he should contact the proper authorities to vindticate same . With some of the dis-respect R'Vers recieve this is one of the worst someone could have done . Someone has put high school students health at RISK needlessly.
For those of you whom are not aware of( www.sanidumps.com )this is a great site for NORTH AMERICA including CANADA ; Dump sites that are FREEEE and minimal charges . With the thousands of Campgrounds where you can dump for only a few dollars plus most municipals are FREEEE just to prevent this from happening.
Looks to me as tho the "stain" is actually a yellow arrow. If the pond is full of sludge, I'm sure it wasn't just one camper!
I do not believe this was done by an RVer. Just because he was standing there is no reason to blame him. The sewage that was dumped is too much for a small camper like the one in the picture. Police should look at sewage trucks that pump out sepic tanks. They have been known to this before because they have to pay to dump the sewage they pump from sepic tanks.
I think RVers have got a bad rap for this and don't believe they are responsible. I know no one that would do this.
Need to get one of those CSI guys in there to collect some poop dna.
with someof the problems we as R'Vers have , this is one of the worst things someone could have done. If this man pictured with his truck camper is responsible he needs to be reprimanned and then some . If he is not , and can prove same ; he should contact proper autherties to settle this before it gets out of control . For those of you whom are not aware of ( www.sanidumps.com )i suggest all look into this web site, has dumps sitesall all over NORTH AMERICA including CANADA; mostley FREE dump sites as well as
minimal charge . Lets GET WITH IT and STOP losing the respect from the general public that does not travel in an RV.
ROLAND L
from what I can see in that picture, that camper doesn't have eough over hang to have holding tanks, also i see NO 'fittings or hoses'
and if he does have a 20 gallon tank, it begs the question how can 20 gal of poop and the small amount of chemical ( IF any ) create 1/4 million cleanup ?
He might be guilty, but the pictures i see, are a lost man on the phone, getting directions, from a know landmark ( school ), and indicate a victim of circumstance, who is getting blamed for something that sounds TOO big to have come from a TC
they don't have enough proof to say he did it.
i'm not a 'hazard waste' clean up specialist, but we have all had accidents to clean up, and I just don't believe a TC tank can hold enough human poop & chemical to create 1/4 mil cleanup
he would have to be dumping 'meth lab' left overs, to create that kind of danger & cost
I remember a while back a fairly well known rock band was accused of dumping the RV tanks over a Chicago bridge and onto a tour boat going under the bridge. Lots of truck stops have dump stations and the perp could have even spent one night at a campground then dumped the tanks on the way out. Illegal dumping is just plain STUPID.
I have to agree with anonymous, I don't believe the small holding tank on this RV could have left the deposit of this size. I do know that septic pumping companies have been known to do things like this to avoid paying to dump. If they find this guy there is no way to positively pin this on him. I certainly wouldn't come forward to face a linch mob. Let them find me and prove I did it. I would lawyer up and beat this in a minute. He isn't the culprit. Too much poop.
He is innocent until proven guilty, remember. He does not have to prove himself innocent, as others are suggesting.
Heinous, yes. I agree that if this is the case, then-prove it, fine him.
But, also, the comment "look to septic pumpers" is a really legitimate thought. We live in a rural community and the neighbor down the hill. A commercial septic tank pumper (3 trucks), unloaded ALL of his waste on his property into a seasonal creek bed, which emptied into a creek which emptied into a lake where people swam, boated and fished. No amount of reporting to officials could get him stopped. Finally, another neighbor took videos of the guy pumping out his truck, turned it over to Channel 47 "on your side" and guess what - with the TV involved officials finally took action after only three years. The septic guy just moved to Montana (sorry Montana) and was never heard from again. The bank who foreclosed on his property was forced to medigate the problem. Go figure. EJA
I blew the image up to a much larger size and the yellow in the picture by the truck is a painted yellow arrow on the asphalt. I could see no port on the truck for dumping. Most pickup truck campers do not have a very large holding tank if any at all. I don't believe that a holding pond would be polluted enough by a small holding tank of waste to require a $250,000 clean up. especially if dumped in a storm drain. I do not condone such an act But believe someone has blown this all out of proportion. If there was that much waste to require a $250.000 clean up then it must have been a much larger Dumping than what would come from a pickup truck camper. perhaps a sewage truck or septic cleaner truck.
MH
First, this picture of the truck wasn't taken where the deed was done. It appears that the man is driving the truck at this point. And, yes, a camper like this can provide more than enough sewage to contaminate a fairly large pond as it will permeate throughout the entire pond. And I know 'cause I was hired to clean a pond from a contaminant spill when I was young! Nasty business! The guy, if proven he did it, should be required to pay the full cleanup bill and also do community service for the local area!
I also agree that dumping the black water tank in an inappropriate place is horrible and should be dealt with stringently. HOWEVER, I'd like to have the authorities PROVE an individual was guilty of such an action rather than have the individual have to prove they didn't do it. Do I remember something about innocent until proven guilty?????!
Pat
Let's put this in perspective for once and for all. Let's say we have houses built around the school some where and they don't have a SID, they have septic tanks. The lateral lines off of the tank seeps sewage in to the soil. Been that way for ever. We have feed lots in the mid-west that drain into a sewage lagoon. No clean up there. This is a tree huggers delight. This runoff pond is no different. Remove 6 inches of soil? What's that all about? Next thing all the homes with septic tanks will have huge hole in the back yard after their so called clean up. Sounds like some people don't have enough to do but create havoc for the neighbors! This is the real world people! Tell Al that!!
the real crime here is a quarter million dollars to clean up a little poo!!!!!!! I think I could do it for oh..say.......100,000!!!!! JEEEEEEEZZZEEE
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