Lewiston takes action against owners of abandoned vehicles

By Megan Sonderegger

April 1, 2006 | LEWISTON -- After several complaints from Lewiston residents the Cache County Sheriff will be activating an ordinance that allows law enforcement to cite owners of abandoned cars, on or off their property, impounding their vehicles if the required steps aren't taken.

Deputy Jared Glover said the ordinance falls under the Lewiston law as a nuisance to society and defines a nuisance as anything which is abandoned or discarded, or items which are not currently in use.

"Basically we're just cleaning up old junk vehicles that have sat around the town for years," Glover said.

Julie Bergeson, the city recorder, said this ordinance has never been initiated before and requires a step-by-step process which starts with notifying and warning the offending resident and leads to impounding their cars or leasing their property if necessary.

"Most cities have ordinances but oftentimes they sleep until somebody complains," said Bergeson.

She said the City Council has been struggling with this problem for over a year due to the lack of a city police department as well as the inability to provide enough funding or manpower.

Glover said enforcing the ordinance is a long process and he feels "it will not get rid of the problem entirely." He said the first notification letters were written a year ago and since then only 12 of the residents notified have responded.

"We've already done it once, and we're going to do it again," Glover said referring to notification.

Bergeson says she feels activating the ordinance will not have a huge impact ultimately because offending residents generally have a lower income and are incapable of solving the problem.

"Squeezing water from a rock was never easy," Bergeson said.

Glover said the ordinance is being enforced at present and residents who receive notification should respond or risk facing penalties.

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