NATCHEZ, Miss. – The Adams County board is getting its engineer to review plans for the oil-waste dump being proposed by Supervisor Kevin Wilson as his fellow supervisors determine whether it can operate.
The four other supervisors haven’t decided whether to permit the landfill, but they apologized Monday to Wilson’s most vocal detractor he had arrested last week for allegedly trespassing on the land he wants the facility to be located.
“This has got to stop,” said Supervisor Ricky Gray after hearing an emotional Millicent Graning tell the county board of her arrest as the public upheaval continues concerning plans for the disposal facility. Wilson’s company wants to develop the facility in south Adams County near Graning’s home.
While she denies she unlawfully entered Wilson’s property on Shieldsboro Road, Wilson alleges she trespassed to photograph construction work that’s already begun.
“It’s her word against his word,” said Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten, whom Graning turned herself in to Friday after a warrant was issued for her arrest at Wilson’s behest.
Graning said she’s appearing before a judge today to fight the trespassing charges and Wilson’s “false report” that she entered his property earlier this year to take the photos. She said they were snapped from outside his property.
Graning – who’s been attending county board meetings in recent months to express concerns about the proposed landfill potentially polluting the environment – has asked the Board of Supervisors to block the facility on the land Wilson owns near U.S. 61 about 15 miles south of Natchez.
The property is near the St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge on Shieldsboro Road. It’s also by the Plantation Oaks landfill that buries household trash from city and county residences.
Graning maintained Wilson had her “arrested for speaking the truth” as the county board president pursues “a dark road” to intimidate her and others who’ve spoken out against the landfill proposal.
“Now everybody in the county is going to be afraid to come to your public meetings” Graning told the four county board supervisors empowered with the decision on whether the facility is allowed.
Wilson stepped out of the Board of Supervisors’ meeting with Graning because ethics laws forbid public officials from involving themselves in government decisions which they could directly benefit from financially.
However, after the meeting, Wilson insisted Graning is guilty of trespassing. The angles and close range of Graning’s photos couldn’t be done without her being on his property, he said.
He also denied Graning’s claims that the supervisor had her arrested as intimidation for her outspoken opposition to the oilfield-waste dump being located in Adams County.
“I never spoke to Mrs. Graning or threatened anybody,” said Wilson, whose company filed a request March 20 for the county board to revise Adams County’s waste plan to demonstrate a need for the facility.
“I’m trying to bring a project to the county that will make money for the county,” said Wilson, whose company – Complete Oilfield Disposal – was formed last year by him and two Louisiana-based partners to operate a nonhazardous waste treatment and disposal facility.
A public hearing is to be held before the board’s other four members decide whether to give their consent. This comes after the county engineer reviews the details of Wilson’s plans and determines if more information is needed.
“We will take the proper steps to make sure this is done correctly” said county Supervisor Wes Middleton.
Adams County’s comprehensive waste disposal-management plan must be revised by the county board to include the oil waste dump before Wilson’s proposal can be reviewed by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for that agency to permit or not.
Wilson, who’s in the oil business, has cited a pressing need for such a disposal facility to take wastes generated by the oil-exploration industry in southern states. He formerly operated an oil-waste disposal site parceled out of a larger garbage landfill in Jefferson County owned by another company. However, he said state regulators closed that small disposal site because the landfill as a whole was not complying with environmental regulations.
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