Man who brought uncollected trash to City Hall is arrested

GARY | James Nowacki, of Gary, was arrested about 10:20 a.m. Wednesday after refusing to leave City Hall with a bag of trash, Gary Police spokeswoman Cpl. Gabrielle King said.

King said Wednesday morning Nowacki entered the city's Board of Works meeting with a bag of trash and refused to leave after he was asked. When Nowacki eventually left the meeting with the bag of trash, he moved to a bench outside the meeting room where he again repeatedly was asked to leave, King said. Nowacki was arrested after people started to gather around him as he asked what he was supposed to do with his garbage, King said.

King said Nowacki had been at City Hall with a bag of garbage Tuesday.

"They didn't pick up my garbage today, so I'm going to carry it around with me," Nowacki told The Times Tuesday at a rally to urge the City Council to resurrect city-run garbage collection rather than approve a contract with Allied Waste Services of Northwest Indiana, which was hired last October. -- BY TIMES STAFF