Alamance County’s legal department has hammered out a deal to clean up an illegal junkyard that has materialized north of Burlington’s municipal limits.
Alamance County’s attorney Clyde Albright has told The Alamance News that his office has reached an agreement with Donna Capps, the daughter of the elderly property owner, Grace Barbee, regarding the removal of the junk on the grounds of her mother’s home at 1940 Barbee Street.

Albright said that the mediated agreement gives Capps’ adult sons, who are responsible for the mess on their grandmother’s property, until 8:00 a.m. this coming Friday to clear out the discarded appliances, inoperable vehicles, and other assorted debris that they’ve collected. Albright noted that any remaining junk will then be picked up by a special litter collection detail made up of inmates in the custody of Alamance County’s sheriff.
Meanwhile, Capps has agreed to hire a plumbing contractor to repair a failed septic system that had contributed to the unsalubrious state of the property.

The county attorney added that, under this deal, the county won’t pursue a criminal case over the illegal junkyard, which the local health department has previously cited for rodent infestations and illicit discharges of sewage.

“I thought that it was better to dismiss the criminal charge,” he recalled in an interview Monday, “and get permission for [the litter collection detail] to go on the property.”
Albright went on to acknowledge that Capps’ sons had already begun to haul off some of the larger appliances even before the agreement had been finalized on Friday.
See earlier coverage from the March 25, 2021 edition: https://alamancenews.com/what-would-you-do-if-you-lived-beside-house-with-junk-all-over-the-yard-front-back-sides/