A dozen residents of Summerville Park made quick work of an illegal tire dump near Tolbert Park in their community Friday afternoon.

Jim Manis said he first discovered the dump on Tuesday.

“When I came home from work there were 15 tires here. I called the police and they came by. The next morning there were 10 more,” Manis said. “I was hopping mad at that point.”

Chalk-like markings on one of the tires made Manis and several other residents speculate that the tires may have been part of a store inventory — although the tread on most of them indicated they still had plenty of potential life. Many of the tires appeared large enough to have been used on trucks.

Manis contacted Eric McDowell, president of the Summerville Park Neighborhood Association, and McDowell contacted Mary Hardin Thornton with Keep Rome Floyd Beautiful to help arrange Friday’s clean-up.

McDowell said he is particularly upset with the dumping at Timothy Avenue and Little Dry Creek Road because 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Summerville Park community. Plans for the community off U.S. 27 just north of downtown Rome were originally drawn up in 1913.

“It’s a very special year for us,” McDowell said. “The community is planning a number of events to celebrate throughout the year. This wasn’t a planned one, but we’ll put it on the agenda anyway.”

Bart Jenkins brought his wife, Brenda Jenkins, and three sons, Parker, 9, Cooper and Walker to help with the clean-up.

“I believe it’s a good lesson about not littering and taking care of our neighborhood,” Brenda Jenkins said.

The neighbors picked up 34 tires and loaded them on to one of Manis’ flatbed trucks.

He hauled the tires, which weighed 920 pounds, to the Walker Mountain Landfill and disposed of them for a tipping fee of $82.80.

Residents of the community have been asked to keep an eye on the area in an attempt to identify the person who dumped the tires on at least three occasions during the past week.