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CONEJOS COUNTY CITQEN is Jars, CO (COnejor Count') Thu, 668 COLORADO PRESS CLIPPING SERVICE III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 2~2 7/4 2 (~,~ P•age3A Residents fighting to close gravel mine get county hearing By Frederick Sanchez Although digging stopped in De- zember at the Griffin pit south of An- .onito, the pit remains buried in con- .roversy in which Conejos County :omm issioncrs, land owners and attor- reystake diffcrcntpositions. Atlrasttwglandowners,wholt~e appesad work at the pit since it begsot IastGctoher, wanttheeemmissiotwrs topraventany maedigging thetw 77tet maa tvlteownstheland wants to keL'p d stns. The commissioners Friday listened to testimony and conccros of residents who arc petitioning the county to pre- vent moo; excava[ion of grovel onthe' Griffin land, for which a mining per- mit wasgranted in November 1990. With only two commissioners, Chairman Avelino Muniz end Com- missioner Johnnie Marquez, present, Manassa attomey CaaGard~, on be- half ofhis clients, Olive and Demetrio Valdez, requested drat the commissfir- ers•netgranlB.D. GrifGnpermissigl toGnishmining Corgravayt Mr. Garcia also requested that the board revoke the conditional use permit gmnted by the board on Nov. 15,1990. As a basis for prohibiting further excavation in the Antonito Griffin gravel pit, NM. Garcia said shat sit1;E Elam Construction of GrandJunctJpt had wrongfully tttinedmore than tom' aFresiJpnedter pepplespmperty, t~ permithad ~eeusatisAa. The attomey also made it clear that he thought the commissioners had not had a valid meeting on Sept. 4, 1990, when the Griffin pit was originally discussed. Hcsaidhisclicntshadnever been notified about the meeting as required by law. As a rebuttal, county administrator Miguel Lujan said no- ticeswere mailed to everyone, includ- ingthe Valdezes. OCGcials from several entities, such as ditch companies, the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad and the town of Antonito,and individual fanners and ranchers protested that the gravel pits were nuisances, which could be dan- gerous when (ull oC water and disas- trous to the water rights of farmers depending on every drop of available watcr.luay protested ~~gigigg'y~ water righst to1Mr. Griffin wautd n geagreea§IetW hashan:holders olB~e ditch companies near of the graJlll holes.$ Felix Valdez, an attomey from La Jara, represented the Griffins and told the commissioners that his clients had proceeded according to the law an~1 only wanted to complete the tcnns of the conditional use permit already granted by the commissioners. The G ri f fi ns wan red to f n i sh excavat ingthe remaining 2.4 acres, which remained from the original permit for the exca- vation of 6.4 acres. Martin Gonzales, an attomey Crom Alamosa, represented the county ,and Beth Garciaassisted herhusband,Cas, in representing dte Valdezes. Attar hearing arguments and testi- mony for and against the granting of permission for furtherexcavation artd for and against the revocation of the original conditional use permit for the Antonito Griffin pits, Mr. Muniz said the county attomey, with the help of the other attorneys, would advise the commissioners about thcirauthority to expand or revoke the permit. Coro Conswction was fined 53,000 by the Colorado Mined I-and Reclama- tion for wrongfully mining into prop- erty of adjaccntlandowners. f3611awi11 +i also have to replace alt the grACel ~Ity la)ternfknrt dteraraptlp- and the company will have to reclaim an old gravel piton the prop- erty, asadded punishment.