LIBERTY QUARRY: CHEWING UP ROCKS AND SPITTING OUT GRAVEL - THE DEFINITIVE ANSWER TO THE QUARRY QUESTION
Temecula, California - I first became aware of what’s now become a hot button topic through an attention grabbing photo on the front page of the print mag, the Valley News. In that picture people spelled out the words, “No Quarry”, on a football field wearing orange hardhats. Since then I have been able to watch this whole question both get dug up and smeared by mud. There is no doubt that Liberty Quarry is trying to do everything it can to sway public opinion their way, in the manner the way a mainstream union organized company does, with facts, figures and findings. On the other side you have the passion of the people who will be affected, so you can understand when some of the scenarios presented there border on the hysterical imaginations inflamed by the proposed encroachment.
Years ago someone published a book called, ‘Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten.’ Well, as my readers know, I view the icon show ‘The Simpsons’ in the same fashion. So for a rock hard granite situation, you need the Homer Simpson alter ego, ‘Max Power’. So how would Max Power handle the quarry quarrel? He wouldn’t spent his time reading all the ‘official reports’ or standing by as hot air is blown up his kilt. What Max would do is get in his car and drive out to the scene, or where ‘X’ marks the spot. And it is here, at the spot and the surrounding area that decides the issue.
As you look up in the hills on the front side of the steep elevations that align the freeway, in this particular area, the Rainbow area, the steep hills are covered with these huge boulders that sit precariously on the sides of said hills. So precariously do they sit that ‘common sense’ tells you that the shock waves from the daily explosions used by the gravel company to dig the solid granite, no matter how safely conducted, could dislodge one of these boulders and send it careening down the hill and onto a car, a SUV, or even a truck, with disastrous results. Even if no traffic is hit, removing one of these solid rock boulders from the highway would require some effort.
Also functioning in this area is the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve which operates and does research with Matt Rahn PhD, from San Diego State University on a long abandoned ‘utopian’ chateau. The chateau is largely pristine except for having solar power and Wi-Fi computer access, some labs onsite and a small wild river that runs at the base of the hills that form the valley. The water is crystal clear and visitors/groups are closely monitored. The resulting blasting and digging could very well upset this balance of nature. Furthermore there is the question of a quaint mobile home court in Rainbow where people like Jerri Arganda live in close proximity to the proposed site.
So given the ‘Max Power’ way of sizing up the situation, minus all the blasé and expertly prepared reports, the answer to the ‘quarry question’ is for the Liberty Quarry folks to find a different location for their granite operation, perhaps several miles closer to Escondido or even closer to San Diego, since these granite rich hills stretch for miles southward. I believe the rest of the Full Value Review staff shares my opinion and viewpoint. Once again we see why ‘The Simpsons’ has remained on the air for so long. Though comical and irrelevant, the cartoon show delivers an insight that Mark Twain would be proud of.