The Westminster Rescue Mission Store will have to sell a lot of donated goods to pay for the rubble it just sent to the county landfill.

The demolition of the old two-level store on Main Street added 415 tons of construction debris to the Northern Landfill. The nonprofit mission must pay a private contractor $34,000 for the demolition and can ill afford a $19,500 bill for landfill use, one of the largest in memory. It has asked the county for a waiver of the landfill-use bill.

"We really could not afford this whole thing," said the Rev. Clifford Elkins, mission executive director. "It is a good thing the Lord does not let us know what is coming. We were insured for fire or tornado, but not for anything like this."

County commissioners Julia Walsh Gouge and Donald I. Dell said yesterday that they would defer action on the waiver until Commissioner Robin Bartlett Frazier was available.

"It is a tough decision because the mission provides a good service to the community," said Dell. "It is all county dollars whether we grant the waiver or not."

"If we grant a waiver, I prefer all three of us sign it," said Gouge.

The popular thrift shop was forced to close in January when the county condemned its 135-year-old building because of severe structural problems. Elkins decided to raze the brick structure this month and said he plans to rebuild at 57 E. Main St.

The business reopened March 18 in space leased in the Westminster Shopping Center on Route 140.

"We are really thankful for the way the store is going, but it would be a great help to us, if the county would waive the fee," said Elkins. "I know they can't do it for everybody."

The shop, which sells donated items, provides about 75 percent of the operating costs for the Rescue Mission Farm outside Westminster and a rehabilitation program for substance abusers who live there.

"We realize this fee really puts them in a bind," said Gary Horst, director of the county Department of Enterprise and Recreation Services, in a meeting with the county commissioners yesterday. "They are already in desperate straits and have no insurance to pay for it."

The county routinely waives about two-thirds of the monthly fee -- usually about $450 -- the mission store generates for items sent to the landfill.

"People leave all kinds of stuff for the store," said Horst.

The county has waived landfill fees for other nonprofit groups, volunteer fire companies and town projects, but none as large as $19,500.

"We have to review all these requests case by case," said Horst.

Pub Date: 3/31/99