THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408240524
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
The sole gasoline station on Atlantic Avenue has been shut down by the state for failing to pay state business taxes.
Virginia Department of Taxation special agents closed the Atlantic Avenue Exxon Aug. 9 for not paying $5,369 in taxes and immediately seized the station, which has operated for about 14 years at Atlantic Avenue and Laskin Road.
Unless James A. Crocker Jr., who leases the station from Exxon, comes to terms with the state, the property will be auctioned, said John L. Carter, compliance enforcement officer for the Taxation Department.
Ideally, Carter said, the debt will be paid and the station can reopen. If not, Crocker also runs the risk of being criminally prosecuted, Carter said. He would not say how long the state will wait before taking further action.
Only under ``extremely delinquent'' circumstances, or when the debtor is ``uncooperative'' does the state seize a business, Carter said. Before Crocker's station was seized, he was contacted by the state and a hearing was held for him to work out a payment schedule, Carter said.
``We don't want to shut them down,'' he added.
Mechanic Francis Bergin, who met agents at the site Tuesday to remove some of his tools and other belongings, said he was Crocker's only full-time employee, and that Crocker owes him a week's pay.
Bergin also said Crocker did nothing to warn him or the several part-time cashiers who worked there that the station was about to be closed.
Crocker could not be reached for comment.
It is one of four Exxon stations in the resort area, three of which are leased by Exxon to independent owners.
Other leasees say they haven't noticed any surge in sales since the closing. But Gary Kimnach, who owns an Amoco station a block west on Laskin Road, said his business has increased by 10 to 15 percent since the Exxon was closed two weeks ago. by CNB