Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Recycler Overcomes Tragedies but Not State Bureaucracy : Business: Doug Feller has cerebral palsy and cannot read or write. He says he knows his numbers. Regulators disagree and want to help him improve his accounting.

SANTA CLARITA —  Despite the sorry hand nature dealt Doug Feller, he has managed to carve out a 32-year career in the junk and recycling business, starting with an old Cadillac he took as the last payment for a landscape job.

Feller never let the bad hands get him down--not the cerebral palsy that affects his motor control, contorting his bearded face, or the freak accident that claimed the life of his 3-year-old son.

He built up a junk and recycling business from his garage, and in 1979, sold his home and used the proceeds to purchase a recycling business on Sierra Highway, just outside the Santa Clarita border.

But for all the 52-year-old man has accomplished, he could never master reading and writing, no matter how hard he tried. He attended Whittier High School until he was 19, making it to “the 11th and-a-half grade” before he started “junkin’ full time,” he said.

“I give it the best shot I could,” he says of his efforts to learn the “three r’s.”

And while he failed to learn the first two, Feller feels comfortable with numbers. He has proved it by running a real number-crunching business--weighing and paying for aluminum, non-ferrous metals, glass and plastic.

“My granddad told me I’d never learn to read or write when I was 11, so he taught me my numbers and how to repair machinery,” Feller said.

Joe Massey, a used beverage-container trader with Alpert & Alpert Metal & Iron Inc. in Los Angeles, has purchased scrap metal from Feller ever since Feller opened Big Mike’s Recycling Center, named in memory of the son he lost.

“He does 20,000 pounds of cans a month,” Massey said. “A dumb person couldn’t do the kind of business that Doug does out there.”

The state Department of Conservation, which regulates the beverage container recycling industry, is not as impressed with Feller’s arithmetic skills. The agency has tried for the past two years to help him devise a method that will satisfy their accounting requirements.

“Paperwork and I don’t get along, but I can show you any kind of metal you want to see,” said Feller, sitting in his tiny plywood office at the front entrance of the yard. “I’ve tried to do it their way, but we can’t do it,” he said.

The state requires recyclers to identify the weight, amount and type of material they purchase. The seller’s signature and the license number of the business also is required on every receipt a recycler issues.

But Feller and his wife Naomi, who suffered a substantial memory loss from a stroke in 1975, have a difficult time trying to meet state requirements.

They say they don’t earn enough money to hire a full-time bookkeeper.

The state’s efforts to help Feller have been met at times with resistance. Although he just recently agreed, he has consistently balked at taking a physical examination required by the state Department of Rehabilitation that would help him qualify for a free computerized cash register to keep better records. He also sidestepped appeals from the state agency to upgrade his financial reporting practices.

“Doug thought the state was coming down on him and didn’t understand they regulate everyone in the state,” Massey said.

Indeed, despite his contrary nature toward state regulation, people can’t help but admire what Feller has accomplished over the years.

State officials in the conservation and rehabilitation departments have agreed to reopen Feller’s case file and provide him with a computer if he submits to the physical examination, said Pam Morris, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Conservation. The state agency also has waived more than $1,000 in fines for his failure to comply with state regulations.

Feller recently hired a local bookkeeper to provide the state with the financial reporting it requires, and Massey has promised to help Feller learn to operate the computer. Feller says he can’t afford to keep the bookkeeper on the payroll.

Feller and conservation department officials are optimistic that this time around he can overcome the fears and shortcomings that have made the accounting system a monster in his mind.

“Our interest isn’t in knocking this guy down. We want to help build him up,” Morris said.

The state’s promise to help him learn to manage his business is great news, says Feller, a self-described workaholic.

“I just want to work. It boils down to that,” Feller said. “I could go on SSI (Supplemental Security Income) tomorrow, but I would rather work, “ he said between customers.

“Then we’d sit in rocking chairs, watch the world go by and die in about two months,” said Naomi. “That’s no way to live.”