Politics & Government

County to Stay Course With Quarry Hearing

Officials decided against changing the time of an upcoming hearing on Liberty Quarry.

County officials decided today against changing the date of a hearing on the controversial Liberty Quarry plan.

The decided to meet on Tuesday, as they previously scheduled, instead of take a trip to Washington D.C. to meet with federal officials about an unrelated subject.

"There is no need to cancel the meeting for next Tuesday," said Supervisor John Taglione during an emergency meeting today, which was answered by a round of applause at the .

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To read about the planned quarry, .

Taglione and Jeff Stone, a former member and the supervisor of the district where the quarry is planned, were planning to meet with federal officials from the Department of Transportation to urge them to give Riverside County money for infrastructure projects, Stone said today.

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"It was very important not to squander the opportunity," he told the audience, numerous of whom wore orange anti-quarry shirts and hats.

The supervisors found another official to go to the meeting in D.C. in their place, Stone said.

The quarry plan was rejected by the late last year after numerous meetings that drew hundreds of residents -- both for and against the plan -- to in Temecula.

To read about the rejection,

Granite Construction, the Watsonville-based mining company planning the quarry, filed an appeal, leaving the decision in the hands of the Board of Supervisors. So far, the board held two meetings on the quarry, and at least one more is planned.

To read about the appeal hearings, .

He was thinking with clouded judgement when he made the plan to reschedule the quarry hearing in favor of the D.C. meeting because he feels so passionately for the infrastructure projects, he said.

"Our citizens are watching our infrastructure age and crumble before their eyes," he said. "I often lead with my heart, not with my political logic."

He then gave an apology couched to emphasis the importance of the county's infrastructure to him. "I regret my passion for this county has caused any inconvenience," he told the audience.

Taglione was also sorry for the inconvenience, because many audience members came from Temecula on short notice for what turned out to be a meeting lasting fewer than 15 minutes, he said.

"This is the process we have to go through, and it took us a little while to find a replacement (to go to D.C.)," he said to the crowd.

Some anti-quarry activists were glad the meeting will be unchanged.

"We're pretty excited about rolling it along," said Kathleen Hamilton, the head of SOS-Hills.

"I'm very happy with the result, because we get to move forward as a community," she said.

Paul Jacobs contributed to this report.


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