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Sarasota residents receive ‘nasty’ letters from unknown man over storm debris

Updated: 05-11-2024, 01.15 PM

SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — Residents across Sarasota County are still working to clear their yards of storm debris after back-to-back hurricanes. The county is working to get all of the debris picked up, but there’s still a long way to go.

Frustrations over the mess have reached new heights in one neighborhood where residents say an unknown man walked onto their properties late at night, leaving behind letters littered with curse words and other vulgar language.

“I didn’t know what it was so the next day I went and picked it up and it was nasty, complaining about debris that we have out there that is partially on the street waiting for the trucks to come by and pick it up,” said Tobey Hockett. “It is upsetting. We are elderly. My wife is in a wheelchair and we are both retired of course. I wish the county could tell us something about what the routine is going to be as far as the stuff being picked up, but there’s nothing that I can do.”

Another homeowner said the man left one of the letters on their teenage daughter’s car.

The homeowners association told News Channel 8 they’re looking into the incident. It’s unclear how many residents may have received the notes, but people in the community say after back-to-back storms, it’s not a very neighborly thing to do.

“Just take a chill pill. We are all in this together and I’m sorry that it is not something that you like to see, but what are we supposed to do?” said resident Sarah Kirk. “We went through so many storms in so little time. People are still trying to survive, they are trying to get through; be kind, have compassion for everybody.”

Sarasota County estimates there are at least two million cubic yards of debris from the storms.

“As of Nov. 3, more than 654,616 cubic yards of material has been collected from unincorporated Sarasota County.  Sarasota County is working to have materials collected within 90 days,” said a county spokesperson.

Able residents can drop off vegetative storm debris at two public drop-off sites.

Also, to track debris pickup in your neighborhood, you can enter your address in this county Storm Debris Pickup Status Map search bar to determine the status of your collection zone. If you don’t know the address, use one of these search methods:

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