Snags Fail to Stop Kagel Canyon Cleanup

The clearing of debris-strewn Kagel Canyon property, ordered by Los Angeles County, hit its first snag about 7:10 a.m. Wednesday when a tenant and a relative of the property owner formed a human blockade.

Standing on the bumper of a burned-out trailer slated for clearance and refusing to budge, Susan White--grandniece of owner Robert Winemiller--yelled at a county-hired tractor driver: “You’re not taking this one . . . This is no hazard to anyone. It may not look too good, but it’s not going to kill anybody.”

“I’m willing to go to jail behind this,” said Don Howard, who lives in a nearby camper shell, which he rents from Winemiller.

The workers, under contract to the county to clear the 8-acre rural pocket in the hills above Lake View Terrace, turned their attention to clearing other items. White and Howard abandoned the blockade, and the trailer was towed away by another tenant.

A second obstacle was encountered about noon when the cleanup crew turned over a pile of wood and exposed boxes and bags of powder they feared could be toxic.

Yellow Powder Disappears

After examination by several county hazardous-waste analysts, some of the powder--identified as paint pigments--and other nearby substances--dried resin and a drum of engine oil--were declared mildly hazardous.

The county Department of Health called for a hazardous-waste-disposal company to pick up the chemicals. Then, county industrial hygienist Bonnie Shear allowed the clearing to resume.

However, a yellow powder seen earlier by the county workers--labled zinc chromate--had disappeared before the county health specialists arrived. “What I think happened was that probably someone took it away while nobody was looking,” Shear said.

Shear said the rust inhibitor is more hazardous to health than the other substances found on the site and might have persuaded her to halt the cleanup.

The elusive trailer and the missing chemical were neither the first, nor did county officials expect they would be the last, unanticipated turns in the cleanup of Winemiller’s compound.

County supervisors declared the property a public nuisance on Oct. 25, more than 5 years after neighbors first complained about the mess there. The supervisors told the county to have it cleaned up and to send Winemiller the bill, which could run as high as $12,000 for the 4 or 5 days of work.

Mountains of Scrap Wood

“This is as big a dump as I’ve ever seen . . .. I don’t know why anyone would have all this stuff around,” said Brad McIntyre, a Los Angeles County firefighter and member of the department’s Hazardous Waste Materials Team. McIntyre was called to the scene to inspect the chemicals.

McIntyre was referring to Winemiller’s mountains of scrap wood and bedsprings, piles of bottles, rows of antiquated appliances, and old cars and trailers filled with papers, cardboard and containers of unknown substances.

Winemiller, 70, said he hates to throw anything away, and sees a use in every scrap of metal, shred of paper and chip of wood. His response to Shear’s order to hire a specialist to remove the hazardous waste was, “But I still want to use those things, you see.”

“It’s all treasure to Bob,” said Wayne Gonce, who lives in a motor home on the next lot. “He really intends to put all this stuff to use, even though we all know he won’t ever be able to.”

As the work began Wednesday, other neighbors said they were relieved.

“Yeah, it’s about time something was done,” said Anne Burdick, who lives just south of Winemiller. “But I kind of feel sorry for Robert. He’s a nice old guy. It just got out of hand up here.”

No Eviction Orders

Neighbors who filed repeated complaints against Winemiller have said that when county inspectors failed to take an early stand against the debris, Winemiller decided he could get away with bringing more junk onto the property. They also have said that he allowed more people to move into ramshackle trailers and campers on the land.

Although no eviction orders have been issued, some of those dwellings may be cleared by the county.

Winemiller and his sister’s family--who also live on the property-- said they have always stored lots of belongings there, since they and their parents became the first year-round canyon residents in 1930. They said the attacks by people who moved to the area after they did are unfair.

“I know some of this stuff is unnecessary, but you have to understand that from our humble beginnings, we worked for whatever we had,” said Olive Johnson, Winemiller’s sister. “It’s so heartbreaking to see your lifetime accumulations being taken away.”