Hancock Landfill proposal brings large crowd to public hearing

The Hancock County Solid Waste Management Public Hearing was Monday, September 19 at the Hancock County Career Center at 6:00 p.m.

Public comments were received by Hancock County Fiscal Court on the proposed solid waste management plan, which if approved would serve as the basis for handling solid waste management issues in Hancock

The public was given 2 minutes each to speak, in order for everyone to have the chance to be heard. After everyone had their 2-minute window to speak, then citizens were allowed to come back and finish voicing their thoughts if needed.

The guidelines of this state-mandated public hearing were outlined at the introduction by a state representative and Judge/Executive Roberts.

Some of the public comments were as follows:

Gayle Corley: “I am in favor of the landfill. I feel like it will help Hancock County be more self-sufficient. It could possibly lower our trash pick-up bill, it’s less driving time and cheaper dump prices. So, all in all, we should come out better. This will also add income for our county – more employees. What would we do, as a county, if Daviess County stopped taking our trash? What would we do? It is something that we really need to think about. GN has 78 employees – all Hancock County employees. This young man has built his business from the bottom-up. He’s very proud of Hancock County. He’s not going to do anything at all that will hurt this county. GN (Gary Nugent’s trucking company) supports this county in so many ways, not just employment. Hancock County born and raised – our young employees in our county – we need to support them and be there for them the way they are for us. The EPA is going to monitor this very, very closely. I feel like this is a positive thing. GN has proven his commitment to this county and will do the same with this landfill. It’s a win-win for this county. Don’t believe everything you read in the Clarion or on Facebook. Go to GN if you want the facts. That’s what I did today. I went down there to the office and read the paperwork. I ask you to do that as well.”

Gary Long: “I strongly urge you to vote against this. I think this is a terrible idea. The cost to the county, I think, would be far in excess of what we ever make from it. The roads would be more dangerous and littered. The smell will be terrible. I’ve gone through it before. I’ve sat in my living room before and heard my chest just taking a deep breath and I think there’s a few more people here that’ve been through that. This is not just household waste – there will be all types of industrial waste and all kinds of things. I encourage people to look at what all is possible and how many states it can come from. Most communities won’t allow this kind of thing in their community. That’s why this company is out there trying to get other factories, other states and everything to come in here and it will be a big business. I guarantee you, they’ll be lined-up. There will be trains coming in eventually with stuff on it, just like in other parts of Kentucky. I have copies of some Courier-Journal news clips – if you’d like to read them, you can find out what is happening with this in other places. Don’t fall for the dangling carrots of what all is going to be so great. This company has bypassed all types of laws. They have no regard for the community they live in. This thing will be like a cancer growing in our community. It’ll be unstoppable, once it gets started. I urge you not to vote for it in any shape, size or form. The people that live in this area – we deserve a little bit of peace and quiet, no smell – we deserve to be able to have a place to live. I’m proud to call Hancock County my home. When I was a kid, we were proud of it being the sorghum capital. The joke is, we’re the toxic waste capital now.

Pam Allard: “The 3 big problems with landfills are: toxins, greenhouse gases and water/rain percolating through landfill waste and contaminating the ground water. Although most local water supplies for people aren’t affected by landfill sites, it can affect livestock, wildlife, home-grown produce and crops. What concerns me, immediately, is the effect from airborne contamination. Toxins and gases are released. Research shows an elevated health risk to anyone within a 3.1 mile radius of a landfill. These risks include everything from breathing difficulties, asthma and skin & eye irritations to many forms of cancer, including childhood leukemia. There is also evidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including spontaneous abortions. The serious part – results are especially prominent in children. Fetuses, infants and children are more vulnerable to the toxic effects at a lower exposure than adults. I mapped these spots with google, by car:  North Hancock Elementary School is 2 miles away from the landfill. The nursing home in Lewisport is 3.2 miles by car. Hancock Park is 3.5 miles and HCHS & HCMS are 4.6 miles. Toxins and gases don’t travel the roads by car. They’re in a radius. They all fall within that 3.1 radius. If you map, as the crow flies, all would be within less than 3.1 miles of the landfill. Kentucky residents complain of smell 8 miles away. North Hancock has approximately 500 children for 175 days a year breathing in toxins from a landfill less than 2 miles away, as they play on the playground. Children are trusting you to provide them with a safe community for their growth and development. The effects of this landfill probably won’t be seen for a few years. If you really love this county and you want to do a lot for it, you will not make us a toxic dumping ground, putting the health and safety of our people, especially our children, at great risk.”

Julie Voght: “I am a small business owner here in Hancock County. Part of my responsibility, I have 48 homes worth of trash that I have to dispose of every week. It costs me thousands of dollars to have it trucked to a landfill because we don’t have one here. I rent roll-off all the time and it’s very convenient to have those available. I think a lot of people base their decisions and opinions on google searches and are not thinking about what it was like to grow up here in Hancock County with a landfill out there. Things are different now. Those things are so modernized. If you actually got to look at any of the positive profiles on the internet, you could see the impact is so much lower than it used to be. I would say that we need to move forward with modernization and stop living in the past.”

Donna Bozarth: “I am opposed to the solid waste landfill proposed by GN Trucking. I am a 47-year resident of Hancock County and reside on Hilldale Road. We are a neighborhood of hard-working, middle class citizens who take pride in our homes and farms. Our neighbors are young families, elderly, middle-aged, single homes, teenagers, retirees and those still active in the workforce. We all watch out for each other and none of us are in favor of the added traffic, added trash on the road, and added odor of having a landfill in our backyard. I already have to pick up trash out of my yard each week by the road before I can mow. I’m old enough to remember the previous landfill, before it was closed by Hancock Fiscal Court. I can recall driving to the landfill and seeing trash on both sides of the road. This is not what we want for our neighborhood. GN currently operates a landfill on Poplar Grove Road for industrial waste. Local residents have long complained about the fowl odor and run-off into streams from the site when materials are not properly covered. Now, he’s proposing to expand the operations to include a solid waste landfill. Do we really think GN can properly cover and control solid waste?”

Jerry Buck: “I live on Poplar Grove Road. My concerns about a lot of this is the school. There are children hauled on the school buses. And, more traffic – those truck drivers for GN are good drivers, but the road is narrow. There is one place that’s a 90 degree turn. If you meet a semi there, I don’t know how they can get over. Not every body can do that. My other concern is the run-off from this. I worked at Century Aluminum. I was one of 4 furnace operators. The other 2 passed away this past year. They’ll be using our roads and there will be quite a bit of traffic. I’m deeply concerned about the safety of people right there.”

Jim Wade: “I’m an environmental consultant with a company (Kenvirons, Inc.) in Frankfort. GN had asked me to come and look at the proposed site. I had been out there only once. It is fairly remote, when I compare it to most of the other people I work for and I’ve done this work for about 30 years. It looks like a suitable site – (according to the preliminary lookover that he gave the site). The initial first impression is that it has potential. Self-sustained and self-contained, providing jobs, a revenue stream for the county, etc…Modern landfills are the opposite of what you probably grew up with. They are well-designed and well-constructed and would operate in a way that is very protective of the environment. There are controls in place to make sure that happens in due process through operations and through closure…I think it’s something that you should at least seriously consider.”

Jamie Coomes: “I’m here to support Gary. I’ve worked with Gary on many projects over those years. What he’s done with the beneficial use of industrial waste for the area has supported many local industries for many years. I believe this project will further enhance the ability to support local industries and help the residents with their local trash.”

Gary Lamar: “I’m opposed to the project but I’m not against your jobs. Gary does good work and he’s a good man.”

Mike Baker, Director of Economic Development for Hancock County: “There is no question that Gary Nugent is an asset to this county. He has taken risks and invested dollars. He’s created jobs. And that’s consistent with the mission of the Industrial Foundation and whether there’s a landfill or not, the Industrial Foundation is not for the landfill or against it. There’s been talk about economic development. I have questions: Will a landfill bring new industries to the county? There’s no doubt that industries within our county would use that service. But, it’s been my experience over the last 10 years, a landfill is not a major factor in attracting new, big industries. New industries are looking for power and natural gas, railroads, highways, and the river is a big factor. If there’s a landfill, there very well could be new industry. But, I don’t want the court or the community to have any unrealistic expectations about it.”

D.J. Cox: “I’ve lived here my whole life. I know Gary personally. I know there have been some things in the past that probably went wrong. But, my experience with Gary is that if something goes wrong, he’ll make it right. I think the landfill would be a good thing for the county and I’m in favor of it.”

Darryl Moffett: “I’m not for or against. GN are good friends of mine and they are good people to work with. I think that they have the communities’ best interest at heart. I moved here in 1976, but I started coming here in the late 60s, and I smelled the paper mill for the first time. Every one of us, including me, is dedicated for the industry in Hancock County. The smell is here. I’m sorry, it’s here. I wake up and I live a few miles from the proposed landfill. If we didn’t want an environmental impact on our community, then we need to go back to the people who allowed the industry to come here the first time, right? It’s here. If it’s managed properly…The city…it goes to the sewage treatment plant. When you throw your trash in the trash can, it goes to the dump. We think it automatically disappears, and it does. It goes to the landfill. This isn’t the beginning of what’s happened here. It started in the 60s.”

Steve Allard, of Lewisport: “I’m opposed to the landfill for all of the same reasons that’ve been spoken. I think the water quality, air quality and smell – having a lot more semis on the road…They aren’t made for a lot of semis and we’ll have a lot more (if this project is approved).”

???? ????(could not hear name) “Some of you may remember that this county has been in this business before and that it didn’t go particularly well. We thought we were making the right decision at the time, and as I remember it costed the county a lot of money. The best of intentions can go south again. For the long-term of the county and for the good of the county, if we wanted to grow, we need people to stay, we need people to come into the county – and jobs will come into the county. We are one of the smallest counties in a state that has too many counties probably. What do we want to be known for? If we’re going to be known for being a county that has a big landfill, I don’t think that’s good for the county long-term and I hope the court will see it that way.”

Charles Estes: “First question I have for you is: Would any of you want a landfill in your back yard? Do you want to smell it, see it and see trucks going back and forth all the time? And, what evidence do we have to say that it is going to be taken care of properly? The roads are driven on by idiots all the time. They don’t run garbage trucks like they’re supposed to. Across from my house, they are working at 3 or 4 in the morning sometimes. They don’t care. We have had problems ever since Eric took over. We never had problems before that. My family has lived out there my entire life and it has made it almost unbearable to live out there anymore.”

Mike Bozarth: “I am a resident of the Hilldale community. We are very proud of our community here. We want to keep it as clean as possible. It’s almost an unspoken rule that as neighbors in the Hilldale community, we keep the area along the road mowed as neat as we can. For example, one of my neighbors has been mowing along the road, well past the end of this property, for years. I have a neighbor that does that right now. What will we do when we get hundreds of cars each month bringing trash to this site? Our concern is that debris will be scattered all along the sides of the road. No doubt, many of my neighbors will care about how you transport your trash, but there will be some that do not. This site will be open to people outside of this state. Do you think they will care too much on what they might lose if they travel down the road? In addition, what will they be bringing? Will they be bringing toxic debris? Human nature shows us that when someone gets an opportunity to move something like that – they will.”

Patrick McCor?  : “I’m opposed to the landfill, and I can tell you why. I travel all along the United States and I can tell you where every landfill is, based on the smell. You see trash all over the roads. Every county, all over the U.S. has that problem. It isn’t any different here. I live on US 271 and we do live in a 3.1 mile range of the proposed landfill. I bought a house out there. It’s a beautiful place. I’m up on a hill. It’s quiet. I don’t want it in my community. It’s as simple as that.”

Tom Buck: “I’m from HC and I’ve lived here almost all my life. I’ve worked in industry as an environmental health & safety manager. I am offering you an environmental management paper – basically everything you’re supposed to be doing for landfill or industry, either one. I’ve worked with industry. I’ve seen companies that have hazardous waste and not deal with it. I saw people that’ve done that for over 25 years. I hope that this is not an operation – I don’t like the trash on the sides of the road.”

???? ????:(could not hear name) “I listened to what every body said. I think that a lot of the personal attacks on the area are unfounded. When you think about the fact that it could raise a lot of money in this community. Not just to support the students but to support every body. One of things I heard is “Who’s going to pay the bill for all of this? Is the county going to foot the bill? Is GN going to foot the bill? – That’s something I would like to know. Because we keep talking about this landfill and how much money it’s costing this community. Are those roads going to be public? Can anybody drive on them? Who’s to say that they’re just Gary’s semis rolling down those roads? Those can be anybody’s. Instead of being the dirtiest city, maybe we’ll be the cleanest. Maybe having this landfill will make people want to come here because we’re so clean.”

Tom Turner: “Who’s name will be on the back of this contract to be held liable? If we have 10, 15, 20 years and have ground water problems, and people are getting sick and dying of cancer, who’s name is going to be the one that’s held liable?”

Alexa Estes: “I live on …..Road. I smell the smell. The dirt is on the road. I drive by it every single day. I watch my own children hold their noses to run to the bus because of the stench that is already there. I work at the school. I watch the kids that come off of the bus and they hold their noses at the stench that is already there. It’s not going to get better, it’s going to get worse. Just because it’s already here?? So what. Just because it’s already here, we are going to go ahead and make it worse? When we can improve the lives of our children and grandchildren? What if it was your own children or grandchildren that had a dump in their backyard?”

Pamela Barker?: “I live on Poplar Grove Road. We’ve lived there for 13 years. We’ve went from being able to walk by the road, to so many trucks that you wouldn’t even dare get on it. I’ve had 4 cars in my driveway being run off the road by the truckers. I know there’s good truckers out there. I have no problem with the truckers. There’s got to be some kind of impact plan to widen the road if you’re going to continue with this. The road is not wide enough. There’s always a smell that was once not there when we moved there years ago.”

Donna Bozarth, with her additional questions for the fiscal court to review: 1.“What happens when the property values in our neighborhoods decline as a result of the landfill. Who makes up that difference to the property owners? 2. If approved, what measures will the county take to restrict the types of waste disposed at the landfill? 3. Are you o.k. with the location being in close proximity of to North Hancock Elementary? The proposed site is much different than the transfer station on Hwy 60, which is not a permanent dumpsite. 4. Will the bonding be sufficient to pay all closure and environmental fees at some point in the future, should the landfill close? Or, will tax payers be expected to pick up the tab? And, I just leave you with this, and it’s been said before – Would you want this in your backyard? We do not.”

John Walker?: “We moved here from Florida, so we’re not longtime residents. There’s got to be somewhere in the county to put a landfill. I don’t know why we would put a landfill so close to where every body lives.”

Gary Young: “I was told by one state worker (state water quality guy) that if they start finding too much – “Don’t expect us to come back.” I was also with him when he took a sample – water running down into the ditch – really nasty stuff. I have plenty of photos if anybody wants to see them. I believe, Chad, the ditch that goes through me, goes pretty close to the Lewisport water wells. And that sandy area down there, when it gets into the ground water, even with measures taken- a clay lining in the bottom – it’s going to get there, it may take decades, but there’s nothing you can do about it. The time to stop this is now. Don’t fall for a bunch of short-term benefits at the risk of a long-term horrible result that will be unfixable.”

Tommy Hunter: “I live on Poplar Grove Road and I am dead-set against the landfill. Hancock County may need a lot of things, but it doesn’t need a landfill. I have a question for fiscal court to consider: My understanding is that, when a landfill goes in, with the liner and all that, that there’s a leach-aid system in the bottom and when it rains and there’s run-off, all that run-off has to be captured in a tank. When the tank is full, that goes to a sewage treatment plant before it can be re-introduced into the landfill. My question is to Hawesville and Lewisport – who is going to pay for the increase in capacity on their sewage treatment plants? How much is that going to cost?”

???? ????(could not hear name): “For those who are concerned about breathing problems – you probably should quit using household bleach. I believe we are the only company in the county that pays a road fee…I wrote the checks for them and we pay a lot of money for that. And, I happen to like my free t-shirts.”

Jeff Dame, Administrator for Hancock County Urban Planning & Zoning Commission: “We moved here in 2004 and we love Hancock County. A lot of what you’ve heard tonight is true. A lot of it is speculation. When the landfill is constructed, the state will make sure it’s done correctly – from my experience. After that, it’s up to the operator. As far as the Dal Tile Plant – it can be a transfer station that would require a conditional use permit and one adjustment before they could operate. There is a lot of stuff that goes into a landfill and it’s going to take quite awhile to construct it. Please review the facts – both pro and con. Because there is good and bad in landfills – you’ve heard some of them tonight and some of them you haven’t.”

? Powers: “I oppose this landfill for many reasons. The main one is that I see what’s going on out there now. I see it. I smell it. I see a lot of things that I don’t think are true that shouldn’t be done. A lot of those things were supposedly the state watching out for us. I don’t have much faith in that. I’ve noticed tonight that there a lot of people on both sides. Out of this side (of those that are for it), there have only been 2 people that aren’t paid by Gary and that don’t benefit from Gary. Over here (on the side that are against), there’s people that want to just continue a good, clean life.”

   Environmental Control Supervisor for the Department for Environmental Protection, Deborah Delong, (Supervisor over the local assistance section with the recycling and local assistance branch) closed the public hearing with: “Part of my job duties require me to help counties plan for management of waste in that county and for the Commonwealth, as a whole, in a 5-year plan cycle. During that 5-year plan cycle, you have the ability to assist counties with the determination of need. So, we look the amount of waste that counties make and surrounding counties to see if there is a need for facilities and what we can do with waste. Kentucky House Bill 224 is very specific about what we have to do with our waste. That’s our main goal – is to make sure our waste goes either to disposal or, we hope, to recycling or repurposing out of landfills. We want to divert as much as we can.

The first thing about local determination and when we’re talking about consistency with the plan, you’ve heard the Judge talk tonight a lot about tonight’s discussion in public hearings about – is it consistent with the current plan that we have? So, when you look at the solid waste management plan that is in place right now, the plan does not have questions answered in it that allows for a landfill to come into the county at this time. It is deemed inconsistent.

   When the vote comes tomorrow (Tuesday, September 20 – Fiscal Court votes), we’re going to look at the plan and it’s a factual vote. Does the plan allow for a landfill to be proposed and constructed? As it stands right now, the plan does not. Tomorrow’s meeting is a simple vote on whether it is consistent or goes along with the current plan in place. The vote is not for: Is the landfill going to be in the county? It is simply: Is it consistent with the current plan? . . .That is simply what’s happening tomorrow…The court will vote: Inconsistent.

   There are ways that we can get consistent and we’re going to work toward that goal with it in mind that the court is going to consider your questions and comments in their decision-making process. I want to make sure you understand what this is about. This public hearing is for: Is it consistent with the plan? Right now, the State says no. Because the plan is not saying that it has things in line to prepare for this. So, that has to be amended.”

Pam Allard: “The 3 big problems with landfills are: toxins, greenhouse gases and water/rain percolating through landfill waste and contaminating the ground water. Although most local water supplies for people aren’t affected by landfill sites, it can affect livestock, wildlife, home-grown produce and crops. What concerns me, immediately, is the effect from airborne contamination. Toxins and gases are released. Research shows an elevated health risk to anyone within a 3.1 mile radius of a landfill. These risks include everything from breathing difficulties, asthma and skin & eye irritations to many forms of cancer, including childhood leukemia. There is also evidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including spontaneous abortions. The serious part – results are especially prominent in children. Fetuses, infants and children are more vulnerable to the toxic effects at a lower exposure than adults. I mapped these spots with google, by car:  North Hancock Elementary School is 2 miles away from the landfill. The nursing home in Lewisport is 3.2 miles by car. Hancock Park is 3.5 miles and HCHS & HCMS are 4.6 miles. Toxins and gases don’t travel the roads by car. They’re in a radius. They all fall within that 3.1 radius. If you map, as the crow flies, all would be within less than 3.1 miles of the landfill. Kentucky residents complain of smell 8 miles away. North Hancock has approximately 500 children for 175 days a year breathing in toxins from a landfill less than 2 miles away, as they play on the playground. Children are trusting you to provide them with a safe community for their growth and development. The effects of this landfill probably won’t be seen for a few years. If you really love this county and you want to do a lot for it, you will not make us a toxic dumping ground, putting the health and safety of our people, especially our children, at great risk.”

Julie Voght: “I am a small business owner here in Hancock County. Part of my responsibility, I have 48 homes worth of trash that I have to dispose of every week. It costs me thousands of dollars to have it trucked to a landfill because we don’t have one here. I rent roll-off all the time and it’s very convenient to have those available. I think a lot of people base their decisions and opinions on google searches and are not thinking about what it was like to grow up here in Hancock County with a landfill out there. Things are different now. Those things are so modernized. If you actually got to look at any of the positive profiles on the internet, you could see the impact is so much lower than it used to be. I would say that we need to move forward with modernization and stop living in the past.”

Donna Bozarth: “I am opposed to the solid waste landfill proposed by GN Trucking. I am a 47-year resident of Hancock County and reside on Hilldale Road. We are a neighborhood of hard-working, middle class citizens who take pride in our homes and farms. Our neighbors are young families, elderly, middle-aged, single homes, teenagers, retirees and those still active in the workforce. We all watch out for each other and none of us are in favor of the added traffic, added trash on the road, and added odor of having a landfill in our backyard. I already have to pick up trash out of my yard each week by the road before I can mow. I’m old enough to remember the previous landfill, before it was closed by Hancock Fiscal Court. I can recall driving to the landfill and seeing trash on both sides of the road. This is not what we want for our neighborhood. GN currently operates a landfill on Poplar Grove Road for industrial waste. Local residents have long complained about the fowl odor and run-off into streams from the site when materials are not properly covered. Now, he’s proposing to expand the operations to include a solid waste landfill. Do we really think GN can properly cover and control solid waste?”

Jerry Buck: “I live on Poplar Grove Road. My concerns about a lot of this is the school. There are children hauled on the school buses. And, more traffic – those truck drivers for GN are good drivers, but the road is narrow. There is one place that’s a 90 degree turn. If you meet a semi there, I don’t know how they can get over. Not every body can do that. My other concern is the run-off from this. I worked at Century Aluminum. I was one of 4 furnace operators. The other 2 passed away this past year. They’ll be using our roads and there will be quite a bit of traffic. I’m deeply concerned about the safety of people right there.”

Jim Wade: “I’m an environmental consultant with a company (Kenvirons, Inc.) in Frankfort. GN had asked me to come and look at the proposed site. I had been out there only once. It is fairly remote, when I compare it to most of the other people I work for and I’ve done this work for about 30 years. It looks like a suitable site – (according to the preliminary lookover that he gave the site). The initial first impression is that it has potential. Self-sustained and self-contained, providing jobs, a revenue stream for the county, etc…Modern landfills are the opposite of what you probably grew up with. They are well-designed and well-constructed and would operate in a way that is very protective of the environment. There are controls in place to make sure that happens in due process through operations and through closure…I think it’s something that you should at least seriously consider.”

Jamie Coomes: “I’m here to support Gary. I’ve worked with Gary on many projects over those years. What he’s done with the beneficial use of industrial waste for the area has supported many local industries for many years. I believe this project will further enhance the ability to support local industries and help the residents with their local trash.”

Gary Lamar: “I’m opposed to the project but I’m not against your jobs. Gary does good work and he’s a good man.”

D.J. Cox: “I’ve lived here my whole life. I know Gary personally. I know there have been some things in the past that probably went wrong. But, my experience with Gary is that if something goes wrong, he’ll make it right. I think the landfill would be a good thing for the county and I’m in favor of it.”

Darryl Moffett: “I’m not for or against. GN are good friends of mine and they are good people to work with. I think that they have the communities’ best interest at heart. I moved here in 1976, but I started coming here in the late 60s, and I smelled the paper mill for the first time. Every one of us, including me, is dedicated for the industry in Hancock County. The smell is here. I’m sorry, it’s here. I wake up and I live a few miles from the proposed landfill. If we didn’t want an environmental impact on our community, then we need to go back to the people who allowed the industry to come here the first time, right? It’s here. If it’s managed properly…The city…it goes to the sewage treatment plant. When you throw your trash in the trash can, it goes to the dump. We think it automatically disappears, and it does. It goes to the landfill. This isn’t the beginning of what’s happened here. It started in the 60s.”

Charles Estes: “First question I have for you is: Would any of you want a landfill in your back yard? Do you want to smell it, see it and see trucks going back and forth all the time? And, what evidence do we have to say that it is going to be taken care of properly? The roads are driven on by idiots all the time. They don’t run garbage trucks like they’re supposed to. Across from my house, they are working at 3 or 4 in the morning sometimes. They don’t care. We have had problems ever since Eric took over. We never had problems before that. My family has lived out there my entire life and it has made it almost unbearable to live out there anymore.”

Mike Bozarth: “I am a resident of the Hilldale community. We are very proud of our community here. We want to keep it as clean as possible. It’s almost an unspoken rule that as neighbors in the Hilldale community, we keep the area along the road mowed as neat as we can. For example, one of my neighbors has been mowing along the road, well past the end of this property, for years. I have a neighbor that does that right now. What will we do when we get hundreds of cars each month bringing trash to this site? Our concern is that debris will be scattered all along the sides of the road. No doubt, many of my neighbors will care about how you transport your trash, but there will be some that do not. This site will be open to people outside of this state. Do you think they will care too much on what they might lose if they travel down the road? In addition, what will they be bringing? Will they be bringing toxic debris? Human nature shows us that when someone gets an opportunity to move something like that – they will.”

 Tom Turner: “Who’s name will be on the back of this contract to be held liable? If we have 10, 15, 20 years and have ground water problems, and people are getting sick and dying of cancer, who’s name is going to be the one that’s held liable?”

Alexa Estes: “I live on Oakdale Road. I smell the smell. The dirt is on the road. I drive by it every single day. I watch my own children hold their noses to run to the bus because of the stench that is already there. I work at the school. I watch the kids that come off of the bus and they hold their noses at the stench that is already there. It’s not going to get better, it’s going to get worse. Just because it’s already here?? So what. Just because it’s already here, we are going to go ahead and make it worse? When we can improve the lives of our children and grandchildren? What if it was your own children or grandchildren that had a dump in their backyard?

Pamela Barker?: “I live on Poplar Grove Road. We’ve lived there for 13 years. We’ve went from being able to walk by the road, to so many trucks that you wouldn’t even dare get on it. I’ve had 4 cars in my driveway being run off the road by the truckers. I know there’s good truckers out there. I have no problem with the truckers. There’s got to be some kind of impact plan to widen the road if you’re going to continue with this. The road is not wide enough. There’s always a smell that was once not there when we moved there years ago.”

Donna Bozarth, with her additional questions for the fiscal court to review: 1.“What happens when the property values in our neighborhoods decline as a result of the landfill. Who makes up that difference to the property owners? 2. If approved, what measures will the county take to restrict the types of waste disposed at the landfill? 3. Are you o.k. with the location being in close proximity of to North Hancock Elementary? The proposed site is much different than the transfer station on Hwy 60, which is not a permanent dumpsite. 4. Will the bonding be sufficient to pay all closure and environmental fees at some point in the future, should the landfill close? Or, will tax payers be expected to pick up the tab? And, I just leave you with this, and it’s been said before – Would you want this in your backyard? We do not.”

 Tommy Hunter: “I live on Poplar Grove Road and I am dead-set against the landfill. Hancock County may need a lot of things, but it doesn’t need a landfill. I have a question for fiscal court to consider: My understanding is that, when a landfill goes in, with the liner and all that, that

By Jennifer Wimmer