East Palestine 'stigma' impacts tire shop business

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — In Eastern Ohio near the Pennsylvania border, where homes sit close to the rolling roads and forests are thick in any spot unsuitable for agriculture, East Palestine was quiet nearly two months after the Norfolk Southern train derailment.

At the center of town on March 28, a bell rang inside of Tom's Tire (dba Tom's Wholesale Tire), and technician Clayton Gorby rushed outside to pump gas for a customer — the station is full service. Behind the counter, shop owner Harry Jones signed for a parts delivery before tech Dylan "Doug" Douglas grabbed them — brake rotors — and headed back to the service bays.

If you didn't know about the Norfolk Southern train derailment on Feb. 3, there aren't a lot of indications in town that anything happened, let alone the apocalyptic-looking scenes of hazardous materials in flames that captured international attention.

Upon closer inspection, you may notice creeks being flushed and a lot of service trucks, hoses and yellow air-quality monitors around the area.

Just seeing the news clips, Jones said, gives people a false sense of the reality of East Palestine.

"There's a lot of misconceptions going on," he said. "People still think the train's burning, they still think it's on fire, and there's a big cloud hovering over us in town."

As the cleanup continues, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ohio EPA and Ohio governor's office have said the air and water quality is safe, but long-term health and environmental impacts are unknown.

"We have a creek half a block from here that's contaminated," Jones said. "The EPA is down there working on it. They're not wearing HAZMAT suits. They're not wearing respirators. ... So, I feel if they're safe to be down there working, then we're pretty safe here."

A lifelong East Palestine resident, Jones opened his business to aid the emergency response, but then closed the shop and left town for three days when forced to evacuate. While there are many unknowns, Jones said he believes the town is safe and noted he hasn't had any of the symptoms some residents have reported.

"They are testing the water, testing the air all the time," he said. "They're telling us here we're safe, and I believe them."

Getting customers to come back, though, has become a big challenge, he said, because the derailment created a stigma that the area is dangerous.

"A lot of it right now is trying to get past the stigma," Jones said. "How do customers feel comfortable that they can come out here — and sit and wait for their vehicle — and not have to worry about breathing in bad air or walking on poisonous ground?"

Business has been inconsistent, he said. Regular customers are starting to return, but those outside the area are not.

"Business is about half of what we normally do since the derailment," Jones said. "We get half of our customers from out of town. We literally pull from a tri-state area with Pennsylvania, West Virginia and around Youngstown. Once this happened, there was a stigma to the town, and people are afraid to come in."

On Friday, Feb. 3, around 8:55 p.m., 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, including 11 tankers carrying hazardous materials.

"Saturday at about 3 a.m., I got a call from our local sheriff to see if I could come pump diesel fuel for the fire trucks," Jones said. "One of the places they normally go is right out where the fire was, and they couldn't use it."

He pumped fuel over the next eight hours, then the town was evacuated.

By Feb. 5, responders had controlled the fire but became concerned about rising temperatures of five tankers carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride, according to a preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

"Responders scheduled a controlled venting of the five vinyl chloride tank cars (Feb. 6) to release and burn the vinyl chloride, expanded the evacuation zone to a 1-mile by 2-mile area, and dug ditches to contain released vinyl chloride liquid while it vaporized and burned," the NTSB said.

"Surveillance footage showed what appeared to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment," the NTSB found.

Other hazardous chemicals also were released into the air, soil and water, and a massive cleanup has been going on since.

In an April 3 update, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine's office said wastewater and soil are being removed every day.

"According to the Ohio EPA, approximately 10.8 million gallons of liquid wastewater have been hauled out of East Palestine. There is currently a pile of approximately 17,400 tons of excavated soil waiting for removal from East Palestine, versus 18,900 tons that have been removed," the statement said.

The derailment happened about three-fourths of a mile east of the tire shop, which is in an inconspicuous, red building on a busy corner across from the police station and a church that has been used as a command center for the emergency response.

Through the shop's south window, Jones pointed out a yellow air-quality monitor hanging on a telephone pole just as someone from the EPA pulled up to check the device.

He said the mood among residents is split.

"There's always that thought that you don't know what's going to happen. There are talks of people wanting to leave town, but there's also a good group of core people that want to stay and rebuild the town and make it better than it was before."

Jones said many local customers have returned, especially for the full-service gas.

"Nice part is right now our gas is $2.97 a gallon. I think everybody else is $3.09. So, you're getting full service without paying for full service."

Out-of-town customers, though, have been more hesitant to return.

Recently, a regular customer called about getting an oil change but was worried about safety. Jones explained it would take 15 minutes — he would get her in and out quickly — but she decided not to come to town.

"We have lost a decent amount of customers because of that," Jones said. "So, how do you make someone feel safe?

"Some people just have it in their mind that 'it's bad, I can't go there,'" he said. "I'm hoping that people see us here working and know that I don't want to put myself in danger, I don't want to put my workers in danger."

Tom's Tire has been at its location since Tom Kuntz founded the business in 1973. The shop has three service bays and four technicians, including Jones.

Jones started sweeping floors at the shop when he was 12. He "officially" got a job there when he was 16, and in 2008 he bought the business when Kuntz decided to retire.

"It's a small business in a small town. It's never easy owning and operating a business," Jones said. "Right now, there's days I could use two or three more guys and two or three more bays. Then there's other days we could use half. It's a balancing act."

At one point, Jones had seven techs but pared that number down during the pandemic. He decided to close the shop on Saturdays and an hour earlier on weekdays.

He said the shop continues those hours because setting aside family time away from work "is definitely worth it" for both he and his team.

"Our customers have made the adjustment, I'll be honest with you, especially when they found out it was to spend time with family," Jones said.

"It was like, 'Hey, you work hard, you deserve it. You are making memories now that you can't make later.'

"Certainly, some customers were upset because it took the convenience of their Saturday appointment away, but, you know, we have a drop box outside. You can drop off the night before. … We're accommodating as much as we can be."

Tom's Tire operates primarily on appointments, and customers have learned that while they may have to wait a few days to get their vehicle in for service, the job will be completed quickly, Jones said.

"A lot of people don't realize what goes into an average day for us. We work off appointments. Somebody comes in, like if you're coming in for four tires — four tires take me 30 to 45 minutes — so I am going to schedule accordingly.

"Oil changes take us 10 to 15 minutes. So, when you come in, if you're in for an oil change, you're going to come in at 10 a.m., and we're going to get you in at 10 a.m. and get you out at a quarter after.

"We try to be efficient about it. Get you in, get you out," Jones said. "I want repeat business. I want that person to enjoy the experience here, feel like they got a good deal and tell their friends. Most of our business comes from word-of-mouth."

Customer Marty Gibson said he knew original owner Kuntz from church, and he had been coming to Tom's Tires since he could drive. While he doesn't live in the area anymore, he does bring his fleet of work vehicles to the shop to be serviced.

"You set an appointment, it's always on time. They're quick about it," Gibson said. "Most places now, you drop the car off, and they get to it when they get to it."

Gibson said the train derailment didn't impact his decision to come to the shop.

"I think you would feel awkward or smell something right when you get in town, but that's not the case," he said, adding simply he needed to get a vehicle serviced, so he took it to the shop he trusts.

Tom's Tire keeps very little inventory because it gets daily deliveries — sometimes twice a day — and because they operate on appointments.

Tom's Tire gets about 70% of its tires from wholesaler Stoney Hollow Tire Inc. and the other 30% from American Tire Distributors Inc., K&M Tire Inc. and Max Finkelstein Inc.

"Their supply is great. Our inventory is hardly anything anymore. We used to stock about 300 tires, because we got delivery twice a week. Now, I get deliveries every morning."

When it comes to selling tires, Jones said, it really is about finding the "best fit" for the customer.

"I try to find out what they want. … 'What price range are you looking at? What kind of quality tire are you looking for? What type of tire are you looking for?'

"I don't want to price someone out on an 80,000-mile tire when they are looking for a 40,000-mile tire," he said.

"I don't have an agenda; I'm not trying to sell a certain brand — though we do have a number of brands that we really like. It's about finding the best fit for the customer."

On the service side, Jones said it's always best to lay out every repair a vehicle needs, whether the customer wants to hear it or not.

"I'll make the recommendations; it's up to them to decide what they want to get done," Jones said. "If something is really bad, I'll say, 'Listen, it's got to be done really soon, it's dangerous, it's not safe,' you know. From there, though, we taper down with 'Here's things that need to be replaced before next oil change,' and so on."

Jones, who is married with two sons, loves his job — "most of the time," he laughed — and plans to continue building upon his life and business in East Palestine.

The train derailment is not an endgame for the shop, he said, adding he has been in the industry long enough to know a new challenge always is waiting around the corner.

"There's always something you have to figure out, especially with the industry and the way things change," Jones said. "You always have to make sure you support yourself and your team.

"And hopefully the community supports us."

When it comes to the huge media presence, Jones said he welcomes the attention the town is getting.

"When the media's here, it's all of our problem to solve," Jones said. "Once they leave, it'll just be our problem to solve."