Ellery Owner Resumes Towing

Roger F. Starr, owner of Ellery Garage, resumed towing operations in Cambridge yesterday under a new company name--Auto Services, Inc.

A 60-day suspension order the state Department of Public Utilities (DPU) levied against Ellery Garage expired Tuesday at midnight.

The DPU is conducting hearings investigating a possible violation of the suspension order by Starr.

Starr allegedly circumvented the suspension order by using the Ellery Garage office, equipment and trucks for operations of the Best Towing Company, a second company established to serve Ellery's accounts immediately after the DPU issued the suspension order, a DPU official said this week.

A dispatcher for Auto Services said yesterday Auto Services is using the same offices, equipment and trucks both Best and Ellery used.

Starr said yesterday, "I can't be Ellery Garage any more so I become somebody else--Auto Services."

New Image

Starr said he is hoping to rid himself of "the Ellery image," adding, "There will be no more rogues or four-letter words--I've hired all new men."

A DPU official, who asked not to be identified, said yesterday there is nothing his department can do to prevent Starr from operating Auto Services, adding, "It's all perfectly legal."

The official said, however, if Auto Services is using the same vehicles, the leasing applications for the trucks must be amended, which Starr has not yet done.

No Show

Starr and four of the five witnesses the DPU subpoenaed failed to appear at yesterday's hearing, which was subsequently postponed.

In a related development, Leonard Kopelman '62, attorney for Metropolitan Greetings, Inc.--the comany that owns the property where all three companies have operated--said Starr will be forced to quite the premises within two weeks.

Kopelman said Starr was served notice by hand to appear in court next week and if he does not, a sheriff from the county will forcibly evict Starr and his employees from the property.