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ATTENTION RESIDENTS OF FORTSON, GA!
What is happening?
By: D. H. Gibson
Florida Rock Industries has applied in Muscogee County
and Harris County to extend its granite mining operation northward into Harris County.
They want to rezone an area between I-185 and Fortson Road covering approximately 100
acres of Muscogee County and 150 acres into Harris County, taking it past
Heiferhorn Creek to the power lines that cross Fortson Road. This request would change an area
that is currently agricultural (A1) to Heavy Industrial (M2) which encompasses any thing from
a cement factory to a land fill. The rezoning signs have been posted in Muscogee County, and now,
also in Harris. Concerned residents are rising to the challenge of preventing this expansion from
happening.
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The Future of the heart of Historic Fortson is in jeopardy.
The location of a quarry in this area is sure to
destroy one of the few remaining crossroads in Muscogee and Harris Counties. Historic
Fortson was established in the 1870’s when the railroad was built near Thomas Willis
Fortson’s farm. The four structures that make up Historic Fortson are:
- The Fortson house, built in 1858 and currently listed on the National Register of
Historic Places.
- The Getzen house built in 1882. It was home to Samuel Luther Getzen, founder of
the Getzen Memorial Baptist Church, and Fannie Mealing Getzen, founder and teacher of
the first school in Fortson, GA.
- The Fortson Post Office and General Store built in 1904.
- The Getzen Memorial Baptist Church built in 1904.
In addition, the area to be rezoned is bisected by the Heiferhorn Creek (pictured left).
This is a major tributary of Standing Boy Creek. We are very concerned about the rock
quarry’s effect on the ecology and health of this body of water.
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What can you do to help?
A lot of work remains to prepare our case in gathering
information to be presented to the various governing bodies. We need all the help we can
get with not much time remaining. Please check out the list below and contact us by emailing
to: stopthequarry@savehistoricfortson.com
How can you help the fight against the quarry?
- VOLUNTEER! VOLUNTEER! VOLUNTEER!
We need people who will do internet research, write letters, make & distribute
signs, make phone calls, send out emails, print & distribute flyers.
- CONTACT YOUR NEIGHBORS! Print out the
Petition and get
as many signatures as you can. VERY IMPORTANT: ONLY ONE SIGNATURE PER LINE! Email your neighbors
a link to this site or print information from this website and take it to them, post it
on local bulletin boards, store fronts, etc.
- CONTACT YOUR COUNCILMEN, COMMISSIONERS! or other
pertinent organizations. You can send letters, emails or make phone calls. Click here for
contact information.
- ATTEND THE PUBLIC HEARINGS!
We will post the dates and times of all the public hearings for Muscogee & Harris Counties
on this webpage. Currently, we are holding community meetings in the sanctuary at
Grace Community Church
on Fortson Road, located just past the Harris County Line close to the intersection of
Fortson Road and Almond Road. The following committees have been formed:
Legal, Communications, Public Relations, Research, & Budget. We need your
help in the short time left to pull all this together. Please contact us via email if
you would like to serve on a committee. We especially need more people to write letters,
put out signs and get petitions signed.
- SIGN OUR GUEST BOOK! If you have had any
issues related to the blasting, dust, etc, let us know about it. This is a public
site, so make sure you only express that which you would say in public. No profanity,
please.
- KEEP INFORMED! by checking
the website www.savehistoricfortson.com., doing internet searches, watching the news,
reading the paper, etc. Please let us know of any information that needs to be posted
on this site.
- PICTURES/INFO FOR THE WEBSITE! We are trying to collect
some photos of structural damage. We only want pictures that have good enough lighting and
detail that they can be viewed on this site with clarity. Please email our webmaster about
your photos first. She will reply back about where and how to send the photos. Send website
related emails to webmaster@savehistoricfortson.com. If you find any information or links
that would apply to the topics on this site, please notify the webmaster.
PLEASE NOTE: Some of the pages in this site are
still underconstruction. If a link doesn't work, it is likely that the page has not been
put out yet. Please be patient. Our volunteer programmer is typing as fast as she can in
her off-time. Thank you to everyone who is contributing to this campaign against the Florida Rock Quarry.
Email the Commitee: stopthequarry@savehistoricfortson.com
Email the Webmaster: webmaster@savehistoricfortson.com
Working Together We Will
Succeed!
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