Resident’s treasure is city’s junk

WENATCHEE – The various vehicles and machinery strewn about Gene Duell’s yard are not junk, but rather operational or decorative items, and he wants to leave the assortment of lawn mowers, tires and bricks on his Wenatchee lawn, despite city concerns over a clean yards rule.

An ongoing fight between Duell and the city of Wenatchee reached a new level this week when the city filed a lawsuit in Chelan County court with the aim to force Duell to clean up.

But Duell is not budging, vowing to fight the city in court.

“If they’re going to sue me then they’ll find out what I’m going to do,” he said indignantly. “They don’t pay my taxes, my insurance, and they think they are going to freely take my property, my stuff? No!”

The Wenatchee World reported that the city inspected 1,200 properties this year as part of a revitalization initiative.

“In the past, we have just fined people,” said Cliff Burdick, city inspection services manager. “But we have no way of collecting the fines, and the mess usually doesn’t get cleaned up.”

On his yard, Duell keeps a truck, two cars and a delivery van, as well as 1955 and 1956 Chevy pickups, another pickup, an old farm tractor and a flatbed trailer loaded with lumber parked behind his house. The front yard also had five snowblowers, as well as lawn mowers, numerous tires, piles of bricks, a doghouse and other parts and pieces of machinery.

Duell pointed out that an old railroad tie was a gift, and an old head from an engine was vintage. Some of the items were arranged in the front yard, including a snowblower sitting on top of a raised flower bed and another sitting in a ring of river rocks. Tires were sticking upright out of the dirt where he placed them.

Duell admitted he placed the tires in the yard after the May inspection to irritate city officials.