Tires Seen From Space

Story first appeared in the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

The sprawling pile of hundreds of thousands of tires including tractor tires isn't easy to spot from the ground, sitting in a rural South Carolina clearing accessible by only a circuitous dirt path that winds through thick patches of trees. No one knows how all those tire got there, or when.

But, Calhoun County council Chairman David Summers said of these giant rubber menace, that you can see it from space.

Authorities have charged one person in connection with the mess of roughly 250,000 tires, which covers more than 50 acres on statelite images. Now a Florida company is helping haul it all away.

Litter control officer Boyce Till said he contacted the local sheriff and state health department, which in investigating who had been dumping the tires that are said to include ag tires. But the worst possible penalty that could be imposed locally? A single $475 ticket for littering.