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Text of letter sent by The Reverend James D. Gafford of Orange County
Branch of the NAACP:
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Wednesday, January 2, 2002
Ms. Deborah S. Kendall
Planning Director & Zoning Administrator
Orange Co. Department of Planning & Zoning
112 West Main Street
P. O. Box 111
Orange, VA 22960
Dear Ms. Kendall:
The Orange County Branch of the NAACP is appalled at the thought of
the Planning and Zoning Commission allowing Strip-mining for any
reason in a residential and historical district. Minorities in this
county as well as across this nation suffer greatly from leadership
that seem to have no respect for their property or the interest
concerning them. History continues to repeat itself when it is
forgotten. Several decades ago the construction of route fifteen
through the heart of the town of Orange and the minority community
disrupted the economic stability of the whole community. The four-lane
highway drove many businesses and citizens from the area. Rumor of the
plan to bring route 20 through Bowler Lane and Prospect Heights area
in the future is another attempt to uproot the minority community
again. The Strip-mining may be good for an Austrian conglomerate that
does not live in the county but will not be good for the residents in
Barboursville. Even the best plans to eliminate hazzard do not begin
to cover the unseen troubles and long-term effects. How many
minorities from the area will be employed in management with equal pay
for equal work? Will all contractors and sub-contractors have
equitable access to the available bids? Who is expected to profit the
most after the 138 acres have been deserted and left as wasteland and
the citizens displaced? Who will bear the greatest cost of maintaining
the roadways used to move several million tons of dirt annually to the
General Shale Company in Somerset? How much is the company willing to
reinvest in the county before it moves on to another place where it
will repeat the cycle all over again?
This branch of the NAACP believes the Planning and Zoning Commission
will violate the civil rights of the citizens in Barboursville and
Somerset by granting the General Shale Company permission to level the
hill to fifty (50) feet craters and take away the land the minorities
own. Land ownership as we all know is a great economic base for
prosperity anywhere in this country. Depriving people of the economic
privileges they have acquired and maintained for eight generations or
more is not right. Unleveled playing fields are costly and never fair
for the "underdog."
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest, largest and
non-partisan civil rights organization. Its half million members
throughout the United States and the world are premier advocates for
civil rights in the local communities, conducting voter mobilization
and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sector.
Sincerely,
The Reverend James D. Gafford, President
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