Pickens Wraps Up 40-Year Career
Barnesville businessman Scott Pickens ends a 40-year career with his family firm Pickens Hauling next Tuesday. A new owner/operator takes over in the new year.
by Bruce Yarnall, Barnesville Area News Company
Reflecting this week on four decades of helping area residents and businesses keep the Barnesville area free of unwanted items, garbage and trash, Scott Pickens said Pickens Hauling was started by his father Laco Pickens in 1984 when he purchased the former trash route of “Frog” McCort.
Shortly after the purchase the elder Pickens was hired by Cravat Coal Company and continued to operate the business and work at the company up until 1986 when he was laid off.
Scott and Bernard Saffel were the firm’s first two employees. In the early days trash was collected on a flatbed truck and taken to the transfer station in Egypt Valley that was owned by Cravat Coal.
After Laco was laide off from the coal firm, he purchased a packer truck from Cravat and the transfer station moving the operation to the company’s current location at 315 East Church Street opposite the B & O Depot. The site is where the huge glass factory once stood before it was destroyed by fire in March 1921.
The recycling business was added in 1988 as the firm collected metal, especially aluminum cans, that were sold to firms that melted the product down returning to a new product stream.
Pickens said the transfer station was eventually shut down as was the recycling operation. Today, the firm’s primary focus is on collection.
The tables were turned on his father in 1998 when Scott purchased the business who continued to work for the company.
Sadly, Laco Pickens lost his life at the age of 74 on September 30, 2008, in an accident while driving a truck for the firm.
The new owner of the firm is Ohio Valley Waste Systems that got its start as Shadyside Cartage and R.I. Tipton and Sons Services, both of which date to the 1960s. The new owner will send an introductory letter to customers shortly.
Three of Pickens’ employees will continue to work for the new owner that will temporarily operate out of the current facility. While the business was sold, Scott confirmed he will retain ownership of the current facility. His only long-range plan presently is to sit back and enjoy less stress as 2025 unfolds.
