1000 x 90

LETTERS / Another Asphalt Plant Bad For Health of Citizens, Property Values

Dear Editor and Watauga County Commissioners,

For several years I lived in a house near the intersection of 105 and Poplar Grove Road.  Maymead’s asphalt plant there created an economic dead zone that exists to this day.  The noise, stench, and truck traffic should not have been allowed on the shoulder of that scenic road.

Now they are trying to do the same thing in Deep Gap.  With the Food Lion and many other new businesses near the intersection of old and new 421, property values and tax revenues are clearly headed higher.  An asphalt plant will reverse that instantly.

That gap will trap particulate matter like nowhere else.  Anyone who has lived in Deep Gap knows it can be sunny in Boone, but raining and misty back at your house.  The persistent fog there means much of the pollution will be corralled in that area.  Parkway school parents take note.  (I did my student teaching there.)

My wife and I have taught in Thailand for 20 years.  We just built a house off Dogwood Knoll and plan to retire there.  We are returning to Watauga County March-April-May, not the best time to vacation in the mountains, but the best time to get out of northern Thailand. The burning of rice fields here is so bad everyone wears masks and kids are not allowed out for recess for 3 months.  When it comes to pollution, Thailand has weak laws and a general disregard for public health.

Ironic that my wife and I are facing the same situation in Boone, NC.

Mark and Karen Sengel

Chiang Mai, Thailand & Deep Gap, North Carolina