Newcastle Man Installs Toll Booth on Shared Gravel Road; Garbage Truck Refuses to Pay, 14 Trash Cans Miss Pickup
HOMEOWNER’S ROAD-REPAIR FUND COLLECTS ZERO DOLLARS AND FOURTEEN COMPLAINTS
By Daniel Raines, KTNB 27 Senior Reporter
NEWCASTLE — A Newcastle homeowner’s effort to recover the cost of repairing a shared gravel lane has left fourteen households with full trash cans after he installed a homemade toll booth on the garbage truck’s route.
Eric Lawson built the small plywood booth beside a striped gate arm and posted a sign reading “ROAD MAINTENANCE — $1 PER VEHICLE.”
He said everyone had complained about the potholes.
He had purchased the gravel.
“I’m not trying to make money,” Lawson said. “I’m trying to get my money back.”
The first major customer was the garbage truck.
The driver stopped at the lowered arm and explained that paying a neighbor’s road toll was not part of the collection route.
Lawson pointed to the gravel.
The driver pointed to the trash cans beyond the gate.
Neither presentation produced a dollar.
Lawson said he would raise the arm as soon as the fee was paid. The driver declined to pay, drive through the improvised gate or reverse the truck through the narrow entrance Lawson had created.
Fourteen trash cans remained on the other side.
Neighbors began arriving after realizing the truck was sitting still while their garbage was doing the same.
One homeowner offered to pay the dollar.
Lawson said that would establish the wrong precedent because the truck was the vehicle using the road.
The homeowner asked whether a precedent could take his trash.
Lawson returned to the subject of gravel.
Within minutes, the booth had acquired a line of neighbors who had already paid for garbage collection and were now being invited to finance the final few feet of it.
Several calculated that lifting one wooden arm would cost less than continuing the discussion.
Lawson said the gate was there for a reason.
Everyone agreed.
The disagreement concerned whether it was a good one.
By the time Lawson agreed to remove the arm, the crew had been told to leave the disputed lane and continue its route elsewhere.
The truck cleared the entrance without collecting the fourteen cans. Neighbors were left arranging another pickup beside a booth that had collected nothing.
Lawson has since posted a second sign explaining that residents are exempt from the toll.
His neighbors have asked him to extend that policy to the truck that removes things from their houses.
He said exceptions make a system difficult to enforce.
The booth is still standing.
The potholes are filled.
So are the trash cans.
© 2026 KTNB 27 Tri-City News. All Rights Reserved. — KTNB 27 Tri-City News is a satirical news outlet. This story is entirely satire/parody. Names, dialogue and events depicted in this story are invented for comedic purposes. Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental. Tuttle • Newcastle • Blanchard.
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