Geology scuttles quarry proposal

There's not enough good quality rock under a farm on County Road 319 to make it worth building a quarry there, J.W. Strack said Thursday to explain his decision to stop the controversial project.

The appearance of drilling rigs hired by Strack to test the rock stirred protests from neighbors along the lane off Route K west of Cape Girardeau. They enlisted nearby businesses and schools as well as politicians in their effort to block Strack.

But Strack said from the start that those actions were premature. And he said the results of the tests mean he won't be purchasing the 111-acre property or applying for permits needed to dig there.

"Those people didn't faze me a bit," said Strack, who operates Strack Stone on Highway 74 between Interstate 55 and Dutchtown. "Like I told them when they asked me to start with, I needed to see if the rock was any good."

Strack sent word of his decision to one of the leaders of the Community Protective Society through the property's real estate agent, Ken Cantrell, owner of Cantrell Crossroads Real Estate Co. and Cantrell Auction Services.

Cantrell called Susan Koerber on Wednesday to deliver the news and she quickly spread the word to others who had supported the effort. The group was gaining strength and drew 130 people to an organizational meeting May 20 at Notre Dame Regional High School. The rally was one of several that went into planning a campaign of opposition that would have switched into high gear as soon as an application for a mining permit was filed.

The call was a pleasant surprise, Koerber said. "I was shocked. I was surprised to receive the phone call, but I was really glad."

The opposition group should take Strack at his word that the geology won't support a quarry and not crow that they defeated the idea, Koerber said.

"We don't want to say we won," Koerber said. "We are just glad the quarry is not coming in. We don't want to say we beat him or we won because that would be kind of snobbish. We are just delighted we are not going to have a quarry, that is for sure."

While he had said he was also considering the site for a possible subdivision development, Strack said he's not going to pursue that idea. "I am not interested in it," he said.

The property will now be placed back on the market, Cantrell said. He said the land will be sold through a sealed bid auction that will likely have a deadline of early July.

Strack had some cautionary words to the people who took him on. They said their concerns included the traffic, noise and dust that would accompany a quarry as well as the potential impact on groundwater, he noted. With no planning and zoning rules in the county, any developer could put in a dense collection of apartments, duplexes or homes, he said.

"If they are worried about what someone is going to do with it, they better buy it," he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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Poll question

<form method="post" action="http://www.semissourian.com/scripts/poll/vote.php">Word came out Thursday that the proposed quarry along County Road 319 won't be dug. Do you think those who were so vehemently opposed to the quarry exaggerated the quality-of-life issues involved with having a quarry next door? Yes. The neighbors' backlash against the quarry was over the top.

No. I'd do the same if someone wanted to make a quarry next to my house.

I wouldn't have reacted the way they did, but I understand why they did it.

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