May 18, 2006 – St. Thomas resident Anna Clarke is "irritated" that an Acura Legend dumped by a tow truck driver at her Toad and Tart restaurant in Smith Bay is still there despite numerous attempts to get the Abandoned Vehicle Task Force to remove it. "Actually, I'm more than irritated," she said.
She said the unregistered "goldish" tan car was dumped at the Toad and Tart parking lot Feb. 18. Clarke located a license plate inside the car with the number TBA 874.
Clarke said that Feb. 22 she wrote the V.I. Police Department and task force chairman James O'Bryan about the situation. She said she included the Vehicle Identification Number and license plate numbers so the task force could take action.
Clarke said that over the past few months, she and her neighbors have several times chased off young men trying to scavenge parts from the car.
As if this wasn't enough, Clarke's own Acura was stolen from the Toad and Tart lot, an event she attributes to the arrival of young men looking to pick parts off the dumped Acura Legend. She said she located her car a few days later in Mariendahl, but it was partially stripped and no longer drivable. She said she had to borrow money to buy a new car.
After this event, she wrote again to O'Bryan on April 13.
"I am now very frustrated and angry at this current state of affairs, have done everything I've been asked to do, and am now asking you in the spirit of community cooperation to please have this vehicle removed without any further delay," she wrote in the April 13 letter.
Clarke said that she again outlined the problems in a May 8 letter to O'Bryan, which she also distributed to the media.
She said that O'Bryan called her May 8 to tell her he was irritated that she sent copies of the letter to the media.
She said O'Bryan told her funding for removing abandoned vehicles had dried up, so the task force wouldn't be able to pick up the car.
O'Bryan did not return several phone calls requesting information.
However, his office sent out a press release May 12 that the task force plans to remove 80 vehicles in the coming weeks. It did not say where.
In the press release, he urged people trading in their vehicles to car dealerships to make sure the title is transferred out of their name. This would prevent future problems if the cars are sold and then abandoned.
"The law is clear. The last registered owner of these vehicles is to be held accountable for these cars once they are found abandoned," O'Bryan said.
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