Joyce Clark entered the Woody’s Liberty Car Wash at the intersection of Howard and West Henry streets Thursday morning intending to wash her car.
Instead, Clark had to spend $85 to get her car towed out of an open drain at the closed do-it-yourself car wash.
Clark had only recently made the final payment on her car, a 1997 Ford Taurus SHO. She had no idea the drain grate was missing from above the 3-foot-deep hole.
Clark is concerned more about the dangers that the exposed drains pose to humans than with any damage that might have befallen her car’s front end or its custom $1,600 wheels and tires.
“Imagine if it had been a small child at night?” Clark said.
None of the car wash’s four stalls are functioning. All of the drains are missing their grates.
Each of the drains at the car wash is filled with standing water and trash.
In addition, the individual coin-operated mechanisms and water pressure hoses have been removed.
The Greenwood Police Department responded to the scene, but there is little that can be done since the car wash is legally considered private property, according to Betty Stigler of the city’s Code Enforcement Division.
The property, according to Leflore County tax records, is owned by Greenwood Car Care, which is based in Bakersfield, Calif.
Stigler said she would bring the matter to the immediate attention of Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams.
Late Thursday afternoon, caution tape was placed around the entire complex by the city.
McAdams said that step was taken as a precaution.
“In a case where it presents a danger, the only thing that we can in good conscience do is to notify people of the danger,” she said.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
