BY STEPHEN H. COWLES/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Playback58@gmail.com

WINDSOR—Business at the Southern Food Stores at East Windsor Boulevard is flowing more freely again after the Windsor Town Council was chided during its recent meeting.

David Holland, president of Southern Oil Co., which owns the store chain, told council he was not happy with the town’s decision to block the entrance to his store.

“To my dismay, the town blocked the main entrance to my store (using the Virginia Department of Transportation’s orange-and-white striped barrels),” said Holland. “It’s not VDOT’s fault. You did it without saying a word. You should be a little embarrassed.”

Mayor Carita J. Richardson told The Tidewater News the barrier was set up to prevent accidents.

“There have been quite a few accidents at that particular spot because people are either turning in or coming out,” Richardson said. “Also, we have had a problem with vehicles running that red light. Chief (Vic) Reynolds and his officers did a count for a few hours and got a large number.”

Reynolds estimated it was in the low hundreds.

“Twenty years ago this wasn’t a problem,” he said.

Reynolds said he takes responsibility at attempting to correct a poor intersection.

“I dropped the ball in not contacting Mr. Holland, but I stand by my decision,” he said. “I went to VDOT. I still think it’s unsafe.”

He stressed that the barrels were put on VDOT’s right-of-way.

“We certainly don’t want any accidents out there if we can help it,” Holland said. “We never saw a copy of the accident reports,” adding he’s only aware of fender benders.

He added that since the barrels were put up around late May, the store has lost from $5,000 to $7,000 in profit. If the situation does not change, he could lose from $60,000 to $85,000 in profit annually.

“I can’t live with that,” he said.

“We were told VDOT was going to close it,” said Vice Mayor Wesley Garris. “I never thought it was a good idea. I don’t give a doggone what they say. There’s nothing wrong with the intersection itself.”

Holland offered to post a sign forbidding left turns onto East Windsor Boulevard.

Richardson and other council members apologized to Holland.

“The barrels were removed the next morning,” said Holland. “We saw an immediate uptick in business. We had a sign made up and put on this morning. We also plan to mark the driveway to direct the customers better. But it takes a few days to get the stuff down. That should be done in the next few weeks.”