News Article

Gotta Go Potties owner flips over summer pranks in the Poconos

From the Pocono Record:

 

Keith R. Stevenson/Pocono Record

It's an unfortunate reality of Kevin McWilliams' line of work — in the portable toilet rental business, on most weekends, someone will think it's funny to knock over one or more of the plastic mobile outhouses.

"It's very common, I'd say most Mondays," McWilliams said as he drove to Stroud Township to pick up several of the portable toilets from his Gotta Go Potties company. They had been turned over some time after a free outdoor health fair across the street from Stroud Mall on Saturday.

"It's discouraging that people don't respect that this is part of my business," he said. "It involves a lot more work for me to have to come down and get these back up."

On Monday afternoon, McWilliams had to use a truck to pull two of the toilets from the bank of a creek where they were pushed after the health fair, held in the parking lot of a former furniture store on Route 611.

None of the waste inside the tanks spilled, he said, but moving the 350- to 400-pound portable johns after they were knocked down still takes time and money.

Damage from vandals knocking over the toilets has reached to the point where he has to pay for replacement. Catching the culprits almost always is impossible, he admits.

"How would I ever find out who did that? I couldn't," McWilliams said. "I didn't even call it in to the police because what can I expect them to do about it?

"You can't blame the people who rent them for events. It's not their fault. It's the immaturity of the people who do this."

— Adam McNaughton