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| Marchers from Sandyfield and across the state parade along Wood Yard Road Tuesday, above. At right, Sandyfield resident Pamela Hudson and her 19-month-old daughter Morgan join the protest against a proposed construction debris landfill. |
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By LEE HINNANT
Sandyfield residents, joined by scores of supporters from across the state, marched to the town park Tuesday to protest plans for a construction and demolition debris landfill that has been promoted by some town leaders.
Last year, Red and Fred LLC made a deal with Sandyfield Town Council, asking the town to annex a 115-acre site almost three miles away, where the company would recycle metals and concrete block and put other demolition waste into a 50-acre landfill. Freddie Whitaker, one of the partners, told the town that its share of revenue from tipping fees could be $100,000 a year – about the same as the town’s entire annual budget.
Residents of East Arcadia in neighboring Bladen County and some Sandyfield residents began protesting the plan. East Arcadia’s town limit is only 500 yards from the landfill site, off Old Lake Road.
Sandyfield officials had hoped to persuade local legislators to create a satellite annexation of the landfill site, but when opponents made their views known, lawmakers declined to file the bill.
Since that time, bulldozers have cleared about 90 acres of the site. Red and Fred has not filed a request for a permit with state environmental regulators. It has not asked the Columbus County Board of Commissioners for the required host agreement and Board Chairman Kip Godwin said recently he doubted the board would be in favor of the project. Whitaker was a partner in a business that attempted to build a construction debris landfill in Guideway in 2004 – a project county commissioners shot down after hearing numerous protests from residents.
Some Sandyfield residents are concerned that the landfill plan is still active. Christine Hall, one of the protest organizers, said she had seen truck traffic at the site recently.
Hall said the landfill would lessen surrounding property values and could be a source of water contamination. She said she feared what crushed asbestos and gypsum might do to the air and water.”
“I question the safety of it,” Hall said. “They want to bring it in, dump the waste and leave out of here without being held liable for anything.”
Marchers held banners and signs and gathered near N.C. 87, then paraded down Wood Yard Road to the town park, adjacent to Sandyfield Town Hall. Some held small children or pushed strollers; other chanted slogans such as “No Justice, No Peace!” and “Hey, Hey, Ho, Don’t Want Your Trash No More!” Signs and banners carried messages that included “Dumping is not economic development” and “Stop the dumping on North Carolina.”
“This is a safe community and we want to keep it that way,” said Pamela Hudson of Sandyfield.
Delilah Blanks, an East Arcadia resident and member of the Bladen County Board of Commissioners, said she’s talking with various state and other agencies to see whether the town or another group could raise the money to buy the site. She said partner Donald “Red” Epperson had offered to sell for $280,000 – the price he paid plus the cost of land-clearing work.
“We don’t want it,” Blanks said of the landfill. “Sandyfield is three miles away from it and we’re sitting right on top of it.”
Groups that joined in the protest came to town on two chartered busses. They included Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Concerned Citizens of Tillery, Save Our Abundant Resources of Richmond County and Fayetteville Peace With Justice.
Neither Mayor Dixon nor Epperson returned telephone messages asking for comment. Sandyfield’s council was scheduled to meet Tuesday evening, but the sign at Town Hall read: “Town Hall Will Be Closed Until Further Notice.”