Damn Lies Part II

We hear last night's meeting in Vincent, Alabama regarding the Vincent Hills quarry was more of the same and at times descended into personal attacks that were particularly disgusting. No matter what side of this issue anyone is on, people should attack the issues, the facts and the untruths not their fellow city residents.


The WRQ team and the city officials have behaved in such a dishonest manner than they deserve to be held accountable for their words and actions and have left themselves open to harsh scrutiny.


In short, we heard last night that there will be "no degradation of our water supply" and that "ground movement will be detected within 1mm."


That is a very small unit of measurement, but what was missing from any of "experts" for WRQ was the fact that sinkholes can be sudden in development. They will be "detected" by the monitoring equipment, but how much warning do you have if it is an immediate event?


None.


We also heard the familiar catch phrase of "if it is determined to be WRQs fault" then this remedy or solution will be implemented. WRQ has a vested interest to define causation liability in their favor; therefore any fair assessment is biased from the beginning.

We covered the water issue in Part I, but find it interesting that the "WRQ team" has become so bold in their lies in making such an absolute statement; "There will be no degradation of the water supply."


As well documented as this issue is, we can only conclude that since they have gotten away with so many egregious lies they are emboldened to make them even more grandiose.


Issues regarding the present ordinance amendment were raised by a few residents and the obvious conflict of interest by Mr. Rob Fowler in representing both WRQ and the Town of Vincent. Mr. Fowler was one of the drafters of the amended ordinance and it is written in language that is quite favorable to WRQ.


The ordinance contains incredible claims that suggest the quarry, in some odd way beknown only to the drafters of this ordinance, will contribute to the "high public health and safety of the town" and contribute to the Town's "best interest and morals."
 http://shelbyal.com/DevServicesPDF/Vincent/Ordinance_Under_consideration.pdf 

Item D, page 2 of 13: The development, operating and environmental procedures and measures proposed to be utilized in connection with the proposed uses are appropriate and adequate to eliminate or effectively minimize any adverse impacts thereof and to maintain the high quality of public health and safety prevalent in the Town

Item F: The public necessity, convenience, general welfare and good zoning practice warrant such amendment and Zoning district change, are in the best interest of the Town, and are consistent with the intent and purpose of the Town’s Zoning Regulations to promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare of the Town and  citizens.

That language is so ridiculous and patently false it is almost laughable if it were not such a serious issue. The EPA Superfund cleanup of the old Alabama Plating Company incident is a prime example of a serious lack of "high public safety and health" prevalent in the Town of Vincent:

EPASuperfundHazardousWasteRemovalVincent 

If quarries were capable of such positive effects perhaps they should be placed next to churches to assist the preachers with their Sunday sermons. Those are ridiculous and incredible claims and show a lawyer clearly outside of his field of expertise with no working knowledge of zoning ordinances and how they are usually drafted.


One of the last things the council heard was the great promises of money to the Town budget and how immediate some of those sums would be. In other words, we are reminding you that even if you are recalled or the Town is annexed into Harpersville, you will have the opportunity to have access to some of the money immediately. That comes so close to a bribe it's dangerous.


As they have done all along they play to the greed and corruptibility of the officials. The same thing happened in Florida and three county commissioners went to prison for making "back room deals" with the mining companies.


It certainly is not against the law to make promises to the Town of Vincent; but it does have the appearance of buying your way in, no matter how you word it. SOP with industries like this in every community they target.


If nothing else was accomplished last night, the need for an independent study was made even more clear based on all the hired truth stretchers paraded out by "Team WRQ." 

Perhaps these "experts" really believe their claims based on their experiences and knowledge, however, if the Town of Vincent were against the quarry and was able to pay the money WRQ is paying these individuals, to represent their interests, we have to wonder how different their assessments of the effects of this quarry would have been.