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Rogue Entrepreneurs: Cars for sale appear in school parking lot during weekends; some neighbors object
Journal Photo by Traci White
Jerry Arias checks out a 1997 Geo Prizm in the parking lot at South Fork Elementary School, which turns into a used-car lot on most weekends.
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Published: September 29, 2008
The parking lot at South Fork Elementary School turns into a used-car lot on the weekends.
It's been happening for years, neighbors say.
Mickey Holcomb, 77, said he has seen cars for sale in the parking lot since he moved into the area-- in 1958.
Holcomb, a retired office worker, said he doesn't much mind seeing the cars in the lot.
Neighbors say that it's more than just cars. Boats and large trucks have been up for sale on the lot, too.
"I've seen six, seven or eight (cars) at a time. This is on the weekends, now. I don't see them sitting down there during the week," Holcomb said. "I have no complaint about it."
Though Holcomb doesn't mind the used-car lot, other neighbors do and have complained about it to the school's officials.
School officials have no immediate plans to monitor the lot on weekends. But last month, they posted signs in the lot that said that the for-sale cars parked there would be towed at the owner's expense. In the past, the school has had the cars towed, but the lot has always returned.
The weekend after the warnings were issued, a few cars posted for sale were back on the lot.
Over the past few weekends, the cars and trucks have crept back. So far, no cars have been towed.
School-system officials noticed the lot during the search for a new principal for South Fork, Superintendent Don Martin said. "Cars showed up and multiplied," Martin said. "Although it does have a great road presence, we're not a sales lot.
"Nobody has given permission. Maybe we have to tow sooner, maybe we need to tow more vehicles to get people's attention."
Shelby Vogler lives near the school.
Vogler said that it doesn't bother her that cars are sold in the lot.
"I've been noticing it for years. It didn't just start, it's been for years and I always wondered how they could get away with it because it's school property," Vogler said. "I don't care that they do it, though."
Ardel Meisinger, the assistant principal at South Fork, said that the cars are not parked on the lot during the week.
"Since school is not in session, there's no way it can be monitored over the weekend," Meisinger said. "The main concern that the county enforcement has is that you don't have dealers to come and sell. They stopped by a couple times this summer and it didn't seem like that was happening."
"I didn't know it had been a long-term problem."
Joey Gardener, an assistant director for the N.C. DMV license and theft bureau, which is the law-enforcement division for the DMV, said that individuals should have permission to sell their cars on any private property, including school and store parking lots.
"From our standpoint, where we find it to be a problem is if someone who is a dealer (is) selling cars," Gardener said. "That's against the law. That's where we would get involved.
"I think every area has locations that people will do that and we just have to be careful from our standpoint if dealers are doing it.
Tricia Spencer, South Fork's principal, said that school officials want the lot to be used for school activity only.
"It's a school parking lot," Spencer said. "It's not a for-sale parking lot."
■ Lisa Boone-Wood can be reached at 727-7232 or at lboone-wood@wsjournal.com.
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