Town officials have closed a popular swap shop in Gray, citing bad behavior like pushing, shoving and downright disrespect.
The saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and people in Gray know that to be true.
The stuff that survives the dump often ends up next door at the Take It Or Leave It Center, also known as the swap shop.
“You mention the dump, the thrift shop at the dump and everybody knows where it is,” said Velma Bowes, a Gray resident.
Bowes regularly drops off her grandchildren’s old clothes, and that’s exactly what Patti Henry comes looking for.
“If someone dropped things off brand new, I put it away for Christmas, because people can’t afford to do stuff for Christmas,” said Henry.
But town officials recently shut down the swap shop.
“A lot of disrespect,” said Solid Waste Director Randy Cookson.
He likens it to the mall on Black Friday.
“The people come in and act like everything is theirs and they want it first,” Cookson said.
“People just like to fight, they like to grab,” added Henry. “It totally got out of hand.”
The swap shop doesn’t currently operate under any formal rules. There’s just a sign outside with guidelines asking people to be respectful and restricting what kinds of items they can leave. Cookson said it won’t re-open until an official policy is put into place.
“Hopefully people will look at it as, ‘OK, so there are repercussions,’” he said.
Cookson said one change will be a time limit, so people can’t camp out all day. He hopes to have a policy on the agenda for the Nov. 14 council meeting.
“I think it’s a good thing,” said Henry. “Maybe people will wake up.”