I am one of the founding members of the Residents Involved in Community Action (RICA). The event that led to our forming this group was the Lowville Planning Board's decision to ignore the residents who would be affected by the MJL Crushing limestone mine blasting only a quarter-mile from my home.

I used my savings to buy and fix up a home, high on hill, far from the main road, in the quiet farm country of Lewis County. Some of what I was informed of by my lawyer on closing was that there might be smells related to farming, that I couldn't cut the trees on my land and that I couldn't have pet rabbits. Never was there any mention of someone shaking my house foundations by blasting dynamite to get stone out of my hillside on a regular basis.

That the town board could deny my neighbor the right to crush stone the town dug up on her property for a water line and then turn around less than a year later and approve a mine on adjoining property just didn't seem right to me.

I moved to a small community in a rural setting after living in big cities because I preferred the easier lifestyle over the frantic pace and noise of a big city. Somehow I thought that living in a place small enough for people to actually know each other would protect one from the "business comes first" mentality. I was shocked to hear a Planning Board member proclaim that blocking blasting next to my house was the same as blocking a Wal-Mart store.

There is a big difference in the impact that a department store and a rock mine has on property values. One tends to make it go up, the other brings it down. I'm not just talking about money but note that the property worth drops because no one wants to live there (not even the board members themselves).

Since I have become involved with RICA, I have learned of other problems with this project and concerns that many of the other approximately 200 residents/members in this area have with this type of project. They have not only become members of our group to support us in stopping this project but intend to stick together in the future on other issues. It is people like those I have met through RICA that make me proud of my original decision to move to Lewis County. Let us hope the people's voice will be taken more seriously by their elected officials now that it is united.

Tanya Komar

Lowville