Group ponders future after winning 20-year fight
There were no parties, no balloons and no cheering - just questions as a rural Jasper County citizens group talked about what to do after winning a 20-year fight against the construction of a landfill northwest of Carthage on Baseline Road.
The Citizens for Environmental Safety met on Monday at the New Providence Baptist Church, about two miles west of the 640-acre block of land that was the subject of 20 years of debate.
While members of the group seemed relieved that Republic Financial Corp, a Denver-based company, had decided to abandon plans to build a landfill, they remained skeptical and suspicious.
The company announced on Feb. 14 that it planned to sell the land and attach a covenant to the deed that it could never be used as a landfill.
"While there definitely is quite a bit of relief, but we'll be much happier once the property sells and the fact that there shall never be a landfill ever is in the deed as a restriction," said Charimonde Heger, a resident of the area and one of the founders of the group. "We thought we had that landfill stopped three or four times, we've just known we had it stopped, so once stung, you're a little leery."
The meeting lasted about an hour with the committee voting to donate the information, maps and testing it had conducted and gathered to the library at Missouri Southern State University where it could be archived, protected and available for public use.
They also discussed rumors that they had heard regarding the land and the company's decision.
Charimonde Hager told the group she had heard that the company ran into water problems after the heavy rains last year that were too serious to fix.
One of the reasons the group said it opposed the landfill was because the land was the headwaters to Slater Branch, a creek that ran directly into the North Fork of the Spring River, then into the Spring River itself.
They feared pollution from the landfill could spread into Spring River.
The group also talked about what kind of use they would like to see come to the land now that a landfill likely won't happen.
One member talked about a rumor that someone was interested in buying the land to build some kind of operation involving cows, either a feedlot or a sale barn.
Another member of the committee said she didn't oppose that kind of use because cattle operations are heavily regulated by the state and are not allowed to let untreated water leave their grounds.
Joe Heger, Charimonde Heger's son and president of the CES, said he's not sure what the group will do to try to influence how the land was used.
"I don't know that we have any plans," Heger said. "The group said tonight that they weren't concerned about some of the options so I don't know, we'll just have to see what the group wants to look at and if there's any proposals, I guess we'll have to take them one at a time."
They then adjourned and all the members of the committee stayed to talk about planning a fundraiser for Seth Hudson, a rural Jasper teen critically injured in a vehicle crash last November, and his family.
Mark Russell, one of the leaders of the committee, said the fight brought the group of neighbors together for more than just fighting off the landfill.
"To the organizations credit and kudos, we didn't try to just always stay against something," Russell said. "We tried to stay positive about the recycling drive. Sometimes we stepped aside and tried to do things like this fundraised for Seth Hudson, things just to help the community."
