LANDFILL DISPUTE Low turnout disappoints meeting organizers

The group needs to raise $50,000 to $100,000 to secure a legal team.
By MIKE VAN CLEAVE
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HUBBARD -- Organizers said they're disappointed that fewer than 200 people turned out for Tuesday's Hubbard Landfill and Land Preservation meeting.
Rick Hernandez, one of the founders of HELP, said the meeting was to organize the community into a more cohesive unit to stop Trans Rail America, a Maryland company, from developing an industrial landfill on a wetlands in Hubbard Township. The site would be along Mount Everett Road on property owned by Trans Rail America.
He said it is important that volunteers get Hubbard residents to attend city and township meetings, and also petition local politicians to join in their effort.
Others chimed in with various reasons for the turnout at city hall, including the meeting being set up on the same night as youth sporting events.
John Raica, who is a member of the Hubbard zoning board of appeals, said people weren't made aware of the meeting and he would like to see a better effort to get media coverage in the future.
Funding
Hernandez said the group needs to raise $50,000 to $100,000 to secure a legal team that is equipped to fight the landfill's development, and though he wouldn't comment on the how much the group has raised, he speculated that the group still needed a substantial amount to reach its goal.
"I will say this," he said. "We need more funds. We definitely need more funding."
At the past two meetings, the group has been selling T-shirts at the door for $10. Venders reported selling 75 Tuesday night and more than 150 at the previous meeting.
After the meeting ended, nearly everyone still in attendance lined up to enlist in the effort to spread the word and raise funds in their neighborhoods.
The group is yet to decide when it will hold its next meeting, but anyone who is interested in learning more about the effort or would like to buy a T-shirt can do so by calling (330) 360-9449.