Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411170136
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
An audience of 250 people packed the courtroom - the auditorium at Benjamin Franklin Middle School - and looked on as the jury - the county Board of Supervisors - considered arguments from opposing sides before rendering a decision:
Rockydale Quarries Inc. can go ahead with its plan to mine 300,000 tons of rock a year from a site on Jacks Mountain in eastern Franklin County.
The board approved a special-use permit for Rockydale by a 6-to-1 vote. Union Hall Supervisor and board Chairman Lois English, who represents the district where the site is located, cast the lone opposing vote.
The trial was a five-hour public hearing on Rockydale's request to operate the quarry.
It had everything a good trial does: a riveted audience, expert witnesses and polished speeches from lawyers.
The expert witnesses offered differing opinions. Speaking for the opposition was a retired state toxicologist who talked in scientific terms about the bad things that can happen to someone who breathes quarry dust for long periods of time.
Rockydale then got the help of a Washington, D.C., geologist who said silicosis, a lung disease contracted from breathing quarry dust containing silica, has not been found to affect the general population.
The hearing started with Rockydale making its case. Martin Willis, company vice president, gave a half-hour presentation that included a slide show.
Many of the slides were statistics backing up Rockydale's position, but one showed the Smith Mountain Lake home of Bob Hawlk, who has spoken publicly against the quarry.
The photo showed limestone riprap lining Hawlk's property.
"That's our riprap," Willis quipped.
Rocky Mount optometrist Al Angle, a member of a citizens' group that formed six years ago to fight the quarry, followed Willis with a lengthy list of reasons to oppose the request.
They included air pollution, adverse health effects, increased truck traffic and the quarry's incompatibility with the county's comprehensive plan.
Angle also said it would be better for county residents to continue to buy their rock from quarries in nearby localities.
Later during the hearing, Lester Thompson got his chance to speak. He looked at Angle and said: "You say we should go to Martinsville and Roanoke to get our gravel. Well, maybe we should go to Martinsville and Roanoke to get our glasses."
Much of the public comment centered on emotional issues such as Franklin County's future and the quarry's place in it.
Bennie Hopkins of Snow Creek said the county has to face the fact that growth is going to happen.
The crowd burst into laughter after he said, "It's time for Franklin County to wake up and be known for something other than moonshine and marijuana."
Others, though, said it's not time for the county's first rock quarry.
"It's a decision of principle and precedent," Blackwater District resident Wayne Dudley told the board. "The decision is easy; it was made by the Planning Commission."
The Planning Commission voted in October to recommend denial of the special-use permit for many of the same reasons opponents expressed during Wednesday's hearing.
The supervisors' decision ended a six-year fight between Rockydale and the citizens' group that opposed the quarry.
More than 50 people spoke at Wednesday's hearing.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.