Italy, N.Y. -- With more business, Bob's Alignment Shop loses more money.
His free tire-plugging policy for all tires purchased at his shop seemed like a great customer service pitch up until a year and a half ago.
“I would say 50 to 75 nails have been removed from people's tires who live on Parish Hill Road,” says Bob Schwingle.
Parish Hill Road is a quiet winding road with all the beauty of fall and all the trappings of a landmine.
Bart Bromley, who lives on Parish Hill Road, says he’s found “somewhere between 15 and 20” nails in his tires.
“It's a terrible issue,” says resident Carole Kost. “I'd say I'm down at Bob's alignment as least once a month, and not only with this vehicle… All of us! We are victims of whatever's been going on around here.”
People who live on the upper stretch of Parish Hill Road in the Town of Italy didn't know they shared the same road woes until they recently started talking with each other.
They decided to call the Yates County Sheriff's department to investigate. Kost believes there's more to it than just construction.
“Then we realized that somebody's mad and somebody's getting even with somebody on this road and is taking it out on us,” Kost said. “We think that whoever is doing this is coming back and putting more nails because I just had a nail taken out of my Honda, and it was a brand new nail.”
Schwingle now collects all the nails he takes from tires and turns them over to aid the investigation. More than saving him time, he hopes his help spares his customers danger.
The Yates County Sheriff's Department says they have no evidence that someone is intentionally putting nails in the road, but if caught, someone would face criminal mischief charges because the damage is well over $500.
If you have any information, you are asked to give the Yates County Sheriff's Department a call at 315-536-4438.
