Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
One resident expressed dismay. "How would you feel? We feel they didn't listen; we feel they were biased," said Susie Plasters, who lives in Intervale across the Jackson River from the proposed landfill.
She gave the board a petition with 64 signatures from people who aren't opposed to the landfill, but who want it moved farther from their homes. They also worried about the landfill's proximity to the river and potential contamination.
"We even had people say, `Hey, we want to sign that petition,''' she said.
Melissa Landis, deputy clerk for the board, said Supervisor E.C. Dressler, whose district includes Intervale, made a motion to delay a decision so more people could express their concerns. His motion was not seconded, Landis said.
Westvaco spokesman Robert Crockett did not return phone calls Wednesday.
Crockett has said the proposed landfill would be a state-of-the art facility, designed to protect the environment and shield neighbors from the sight, sound and smell.
The landfill, which would be on a 233-acre site, would have a double liner, a drain system to collect leachate, monitoring wells and a wide "greenbelt" around it.
Westvaco would dump fly ash, lime mud and other wastes determined to be nonhazardous by the state Department of Environmental Quality.
The company now must apply for a permit from the department to build the $30 million facility.
Plasters claims title to part of the site Westvaco wants to use, and she has taken her fight to the Virginia Supreme Court. She said she and her late husband moved in 1965 onto property that straddled the Jackson River, with the understanding that her in-laws would leave the land to their son. But when her husband died, her in-laws claimed the land for their own, Plasters said.
She sued them and lost in a lower court, but has appealed. Westvaco, however, is moving forward with its plans, even though there is no clear deed to the property, Plasters said.
The Virginia Supreme Court has not decided whether it will hear her appeal, Plasters said.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.