Published: November 18, 2008 03:35 pm         

Officials on notice

Once again the will of the people has been shunted aside and beaten back by power and money.

In this instance, the “money power” Drummond Coal Company and RJR Mining has beaten back the overwhelming if not unanimous decisions of three duly elected/appointed bodies (the Kimberly Planning and Zoning Board, unanimous rejection; Kimberly City Council, unanimous rejection; and the Jefferson County Board of Zoning Appeals, 4-1, to reject their request for a zoning variance).

Yet the citizens of Kimberly and north Jefferson County found themselves in Judge Scott Vowell’s court left to their own meager resources defending the Jefferson County Board of Zoning Appeals decision to reject.

We found ourselves in court with three part-time lawyers who donated countless hours of their time.

The people of Kimberly and north Jefferson County incurred several thousand dollars of debt in court costs which they could ill afford and are still trying to pay off.

And in the end the money and power of Drummond/RJR Mining triumphs because we simply can not afford to appeal.

They out “dollar-ed” us as they knew they would.

As disturbing as this is, there are some bright spots: The Kimberly Community Action League came to life.

Several hundred Kimberly citizens gathered at their City Hall to have their say.

The Kimberly City Council meetings now see more regular participation by their citizens truly interested in all issues.

And let’s not overlook the fact that several city councils (Kimberly being among those) got strong messages from the voters that they expect different and better behavior from their elected officials.

Here’s the notice: Kimberly and north Jefferson citizens will be watching carefully to make sure all rules/restrictions put on this mining operation are followed to the letter every day.

And the rest of this notice is this: Citizens are sick and tired of their elected officials not doing right by them, squandering their money and catering to special interests and themselves — and the voters will replace you.

Ralph Lindsey

Kimberly mayor