Published: October 15, 2008 11:21 am         

Kimberly mining trial begins

By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Key players in the Kimberly mining issue were front and center Tuesday morning at the Jefferson County Courthouse.

A bench trial, presided over by Judge Scott Vowell, started at 9:30 a.m. after an attempt to settle out of court failed this summer.

The trial pits RJR Mining Company, Inc. of Cullman against the Jefferson County Board of Zoning Adjustment. Attorneys on both sides expected the trial to last at least through mid-day today.

RJR Mining is appealing the zoning board’s decision to deny a variance, which would allow RJR to strip mine an 89-acre plot of land in Kimberly.

RJR’s position, according to the company’s attorney during his opening statement, is that land owners should be able to use their property as they see fit, as long as it doesn’t cause injury to others.

He further argued that mining the area would not cause harm to anyone, including land owners whose property adjoins that of the proposed mine site.

He said that is because the actual mining site would be 89 acres, although the company has obtained permits for 116 acres.

The entire site, however, is about 500 acres of land owned by both RJR Mining and Drummond Coal Company.

That means that Drummond is the only land owner whose property will be actually touching the mine site, according to civil engineer Leslie Stephens, vice president of Perc Engineering of Jasper, which was contracted by RJR to obtain permits and help plan the mining. Stephens was the first person to testify for RJR on Tuesday.

Attorney Scott Morro of Morris, in his opening statement for the county, argued that strip mining the Kimberly site would indeed harm Kimberly citizens by creating unsafe conditions and lower property values.

Assistant Jefferson County attorney T.A. Lawson II, who is representing the Jefferson County Board of Zoning Adjustment in the case, followed up Morro’s comments by saying that strip mining the land would cause “loss of value, loss of appeal and a loss of vision.”

He said the vision is for Kimberly to recreate itself as no longer being a mining town.

“A variance will create a hardship,” Lawson said.

Attending the trial were several Kimberly and Morris residents and property owners, including Mayor-elect Ralph Lindsey, Councilman-elect Brad Stark, real estate developer Jean Deason, property owner Elaine Akers, Morris Police Chief Brian Cochran, Morris Councilman Joe Pylant and many others.

Lindsey and Deason were slated to testify against the mining.

Lindsey, who takes office as Kimberly’s mayor on Nov. 3, has previously said that for him and other Kimberly residents, there is only one suitable solution: No mining in Kimberly.

“We told them that as far as we were concerned, the only settlement would be for them not to strip mine this area,” said Lindsey. “It’s just not the best and highest use for this piece of property.”

The matter has been winding itself through the system for at least a year.

The Kimberly Planning and Zoning Commission denied RJR’s mining request on Oct. 15, 2007. At that time, Lindsey was on the commission.

In January 2008, the town of Kimberly voted to de-annex 280 acres owned by Drummond Coal Company, which contained the proposed mine site. The site then fell under the jurisdiction of Jefferson County.

RJR Mining, which reportedly purchased the site from Drummond, then had to go the county for permission to mine.

Look for the outcome of the trial in Saturday’s edition of The North Jefferson News.