Residents point ire at city over sewage in home
By JIMMY GALVAN Managing Editor

Becky Ellis and her family were awakened Wednesday evening at 11:30 p.m. by the smell and gurgling sound of raw sewage in her home.

The sewage was seeping up from the bathroom and spread across her carpeted floors.

Who is Ellis blaming for this problem?

The city of Jasper.

"We woke up to the smell of sewage in our home," said Ellis, who resides in the 570 block of Daily. "We looked in the bathrooms, it was everywhere. The smell was un- Godly.

"We can't even go in the back part of the house without gagging," Ellis said. "You just get physically sick from the smell. You can't stay in this house. Raw sewage is covering all of our bathrooms."

Jasper City Manager Alan Grindstaff said one of the city's lift stations lost both of its pumps Wednesday evening.

"They had to pump the lift station to keep it working," Grindstaff said. "After they pumped it, they put it into a gravity feed sewer line."

Grindstaff said it hasn't been determined if the gravity feed sewer line was pumped over its capacity.

"Our insurance company will investigate it and we will let them handle it," Grindstaff said. "We just received the complaint (Thursday) and it has been submitted to the insurance company," Grindstaff said. "When a situation like this happens, we turn it over to the insurance company and let them handle it."

Ellis said when she came home from work she noticed two Lasso trucks near her front yard.

"They were at the manhole and were pumping sewage into the manhole," Ellis said. "They told my son there was a problem across town and they were having to dump from that system into his manhole."

Ellis said trucks continued to manhole for the next six hours. When the family was awakened by the smell and sound of sewage flowing on her carpets, they looked outside and saw the Lasso trucks still there pumping sewage into the manhole.

"My husband ran out there and told them they had overflowed it and they immediately stopped and said they would come and clean it up," Ellis said. "He said he would call someone with the city and get someone out to help clean it up in five minutes."

Ellis said the Lasso trucks loaded up and left the area immediately.

"We waited a while and no one from the city ever showed up," Ellis said. "They then told us we would have to file a complaint with the city in the morning."

Grindstaff said the city's normal response is to file it with the city's insurance and allow them to handle the situation.

Ellis, who rents the property from Laverne Looper, was informed by a city employee to contact Looper's insurance carrier as well.

"I know I have my part to do with my insurance company but I feel the city should be out here as well," Looper said. "They won't even come out here or even help.

"This is raw sewage - it is a health problem," Looper said. "They need to get the health department out here and help clean this mess up."

Ellis pointed out that as soon as Lasso stopped pumping sewage into the manhole, the seepage in the home ceased as well.

"It had backed up six to eight inches into the bathtub," Looper said. "And once they quit, it drained."

Grindstaff pointed out that if the insurance company finds out the city is liable for the situation, the city will pay for the cleanup and damages.

"It is rare that we have a lift station go out," Grindstaff said. "Our lift stations have two pumps and one pump may go out but there is a second pump as a backup. In this case, we had two pumps to go out and a spare pump also went out as well.

"We just deal with these situations the best we can and unfortunately, we had a person who had sewage come up out of their bathrooms," Grindstaff said.

Looper said she was not happy with the city's response.

"I am not pleased at all with how the city has handled this situation," Looper said. "You are supposed to take care of your people."

"What concerns me is the attitude of the city - there is not a bit of concern for these people," Looper said. "Since Lasso did this problem, then the city should have had Lasso out cleaning up this mess."

But Grindstaff pointed out the city doesn't have any cleanup crews and has no authority to go onto private property.

"You let the insurance company handle it and let private companies assist with the cleanup," Grindstaff said.