CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Kanawha County jury heard opening statements Monday in the trial of a man accused of illegally storing more than 1,000 tires in a Nitro warehouse that burned for almost 24 hours in May 2006.

Kanawha County assistant prosecutor Jennifer Meadows said Ricky Handley supervised the accumulation of roughly 40,000 tires at the site.

"[Handley] was the person who was taking in the tires on a daily basis," she said. "He was not only the manager, he was a managing partner."

She said Handley had violated a cease-and-desist order issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection in November 2005 by continuing to accept tires. He also never applied for a permit, which is required by the Solid Waste Management Act, she said.

Handley's business bought used tires in bulk and separated out the used tires that could be resold, she said. The unusable waste tires were stacked in the warehouse, she said.

Defense attorney Duane Rosenlieb told the jury that Handley was the wrong person to hold responsible for what U.S. Tire Recovery LLC did.

Brian Holdren was listed on business registration papers for U.S. Tire Recovery in South Carolina as the owner, Rosenlieb said. He was the person who dealt with the DEP, not Handley, he said.

While the DEP wanted U.S. Tire Recovery to bury the waste tires in a landfill, the company wanted to recycle the rubber for other uses, he said. Handley and warehouse owner Agnus Peyton even went to Canada to look at a machine that turns between 3,000 and 5,000 tires a day into rubber pellets, he said.

"Why would somebody rent a big, huge warehouse to story tires?" Rosenlieb asked. He said the business was trying to get a "beneficial use" waiver from the DEP, which would have meant that U.S. Tire Recovery didn't need a permit.

During her remarks, Meadows showed the jury photos depicting mounds of roughly 1,000 and 40,000 tires.

Authorities estimated that more than 40,000 tires burned in USTR's portion of the warehouse; the inferno took millions of gallons of water to put out. The state fire marshal later determined that the fire was set. No one has been arrested for setting the fire.

Testimony in the case is scheduled to begin today in front of Judge Tod Kaufman.

Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com">acleven...@wvgazette.com or 348-1723.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Kanawha County jury heard opening statements Monday in the trial of a man accused of illegally storing more than 1,000 tires in a Nitro warehouse that burned for almost 24 hours in May 2006.

Kanawha County assistant prosecutor Jennifer Meadows said Ricky Handley supervised the accumulation of roughly 40,000 tires at the site.

"[Handley] was the person who was taking in the tires on a daily basis," she said. "He was not only the manager, he was a managing partner."

She said Handley had violated a cease-and-desist order issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection in November 2005 by continuing to accept tires. He also never applied for a permit, which is required by the Solid Waste Management Act, she said.

Handley's business bought used tires in bulk and separated out the used tires that could be resold, she said. The unusable waste tires were stacked in the warehouse, she said.

Defense attorney Duane Rosenlieb told the jury that Handley was the wrong person to hold responsible for what U.S. Tire Recovery LLC did.

Brian Holdren was listed on business registration papers for U.S. Tire Recovery in South Carolina as the owner, Rosenlieb said. He was the person who dealt with the DEP, not Handley, he said.

While the DEP wanted U.S. Tire Recovery to bury the waste tires in a landfill, the company wanted to recycle the rubber for other uses, he said. Handley and warehouse owner Agnus Peyton even went to Canada to look at a machine that turns between 3,000 and 5,000 tires a day into rubber pellets, he said.

"Why would somebody rent a big, huge warehouse to story tires?" Rosenlieb asked. He said the business was trying to get a "beneficial use" waiver from the DEP, which would have meant that U.S. Tire Recovery didn't need a permit.

During her remarks, Meadows showed the jury photos depicting mounds of roughly 1,000 and 40,000 tires.

Authorities estimated that more than 40,000 tires burned in USTR's portion of the warehouse; the inferno took millions of gallons of water to put out. The state fire marshal later determined that the fire was set. No one has been arrested for setting the fire.

Testimony in the case is scheduled to begin today in front of Judge Tod Kaufman.

Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com">acleven...@wvgazette.com or 348-1723.