The line to McKenzie Metal on Sawmill Lane stretched all the wayto Industrial Park Road on Monday, full of people who had scrapmetal to trade for a little spending money for the new year.

Matthew Thompson said he’d driven from Madison County with aload of metal to sell in Brookhaven not only because the going rateis better here, but also because he’d heard good things about thebusiness.

“There’s a better price down here, but I’d also heard a goodreport on the honesty of the people here,” he said. “That goes along way.”

Thompson said besides the fact that he had just done a bigcleanup and needed to do away with his excess metal, he also camebecause he actually had time to take care of a chore by selling thescraps.

“I just wanted to get rid of all this junk,” he said. “It helpedthat I was off work and it was a convenient time.”

He indicated an old air conditioner unit in the load he hadbrought, pointing out that the copper wiring in the unit wouldfetch a good bit of money.

Why the crowd was so big on Monday specifically – big enough towarrant brief traffic control by the Brookhaven Police Department -was something McKenzie Metal manager Andrew McKenzie couldn’t puthis finger on. He said as of early afternoon Monday, his businesshad dealt with more than 200 car and truckloads of scrap metal.

“I guess it’s because it’s New Year’s and they want to try toget some extra cash for tonight,” he said. “We’ve usually got aline out to the end of our driveway, but today’s at the end of theroad, that’s a big day for us.”

Brookhaven Recycling office clerk Pat Williams said they wereclosed on New Year’s Eve, which could have added to the traffic onthe other end of Sawmill Road. She said the question of why scrapmetal is such a big industry right now is one she can’t answer.

“I really don’t know the answer to that,” she said. “It seemslike it’s a fad at this moment and it seems like it’s justsomething everyone wants to do.”

McKenzie pointed to demand, saying that the market is up basedon construction needs.

“These days everyone’s trying to build something,” he said.

Scrap metal recycling facilities pay a certain amount per poundon different kinds of metal, causing people to roll into theirparking lot with everything from aluminum cans to old appliances tojunk cars.

Ricky Delaughter of Brookhaven said his guess was that peoplewere turning out hoping to recoup some losses after a heavyspending season at Christmas time.

“It’s right after Christmas, and everyone’s used up all theirmoney,” he said.

Delaughter said one good thing about the scrap metal business isthat it’s a means of income that is available to people whotraditionally might not be able to have a job.

“Even if you’re disabled you can still make a living of it,” hesaid.

And ridding the landscape of refuse that doesn’t need to bethere can also be considered a service to the community, Thompsonsaid.

“At the same time you’re making money, you’re also cleaning upthe community,” he said. “I’ve got all this metal and I can’t doanything with it.”