Turkey Run resident asks Mahanoy Township for action on junkyard
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Junk vehicles line a portion of land along the Gold Star Highway in the Turkey Run section of Shenandoah on Dec. 22, 2023, seen from the highway.
MAHANOY CITY – For decades, junk cars — a decaying time capsule of 1990s automobiles — have sat along the Gold Star Highway in Turkey Run, and a resident of that section of Shenandoah sought action Thursday from Mahanoy Township.
The cars are on property owned by the Rinaldi family, owners of Vito Rinaldi Chevrolet, and are split between Shenandoah borough and Mahanoy Township. According to the Schuylkill County Parcel Locator, some are also on Reading Anthracite property in the township.
Robert Shumski, of Turkey Run, asked Mahanoy Township supervisors for action at Thursday’s meeting.
Shumski said the township received a letter from state legislators last year “regarding those cars on the highway.”
“I even had DEP come in. Nothing gets done,” Shumski said. “It seems like its up to you guys. You guys have to fine them.”
“He has all of them junking up the highway,” Shumski added. “I mean, remember they used to talk about Schuylkill Keep It Pretty, SKIP.”
The vast majority of the junk cars visible from the highway are in Shenandoah borough, across from the Shenandoah Family Development, though several dozen more, according to satellite imagery, sit behind the dealership building in Mahanoy Township.
In the borough section, the cars — many of which date back to the early 1990s, like Ford Tempos, Chevy Astros, and Chrysler K-cars — sit with trees growing between the rows or even within the vehicles. A thin wire fence surrounds some of the cars.
Shumski said he was concerned about fluids leaking from the vehicles.
“They’re up there 40 years, those cars,” Shumski said. “You know something’s got to leak after 40 years.”
Shumski also complained about the state of the former Moe’s Auto Glass property in Mahanoy Township, next door to Vito Rinaldi Chevrolet.
“They put a pile of bricks there, right in the back of the property,” Shumski said. “And the weeds are growing.”
Supervisors said code enforcement is working on both issues, but they are part-time.
Shumski said he didn’t believe the Rinaldis would “get away with” having junk cars at their dealership near Schuylkill Haven.
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