On Thursday (4/15) morning County Supreme Court Judge Richard Healy made it very clear to business owner Aaron Preston that his mulching operation at Preston’s Home & Garden Center & Preston’s Tree & Landscape Service on Route 104 in Ontario, would definitely come to a stop.

Judge Healy found Preston in contempt of Court and fined the Town of Ontario businessman the maximum $250 fine. Preston was also ordered to pay all legal costs the Town of Ontario accrued during the years of the dispute.

The Court also gave Preston until 5 p.m. on Thursday to halt all production of wood mulching on the property. The Judge made it very clear that if the operations were not halted, Preston would be jailed until he complied. Preston, at one point, described the original court order as a “kangaroo court”. He had no intention of obeying. Preston said he would comply with the Thursday  Court orders.

Preston and the Town of Ontario were at loggerheads over the operation and storage of wood mulch being processed at the site over a number of years.  The fight included town approvals never signed, the height of mulch piles on the property, the grinding of mulch on the site, failure to create the storm water pond, failure to pay required fees, failure to get approval of final designs and nearby residential noise complaints.