Residents of Shiloh Road can breathe a sigh of relief.
According to Panola County Board of Supervisors President Jerry Perkins, he and supervisor Mack Benson were informed by Memphis Stone and Gravel that the company intends to go another route with its new asphalt plant.
Perkins said he was told by company representatives that they were 99 percent sure the new asphalt plant would be constructed on their present site located on Farrish Gravel Road.
"They wanted to come speak to us today [Monday], but I told them to wait until they were 100 percent ready to make whatever request they needed to make," Perkins said.
Becky Curtis, who acted as spokesman for a group of concerned citizens from Shiloh Road, presented the the supervisors with a petition containing 120 signatures of persons in opposition of the asphalt plant.
"This is something that I find shocking," she said. "But I am still concerned about the decision that the Land Commission didn’t really listen to us when they made their decision.
"I think they should be held accountable for their decisions," Curtis said. "The people on Highway 35 [where the new plant was proposed] complained about the same things we did and the commission voted against it.
"I just don’t understand how the commission can vote against something one time and, for some reason, support it if it is in a different location," she said.
Curtis said she believed the commission acted hastily when making the decision.
