Mount Vernon Optic-Herald

A group of 10 citizens from the Park Lane area expressed concerns at a proposal to drill for oil near their  property at the August city council meeting. All unanimously said they were against any such drilling and urged the council to keep the current ordinance against such drilling in force.
“I don’t want anyone in our back yard doing that,” Nathan Rutledge, a five year homeowner, said. “... I don’t want to see the property value going down any more.” “The Mount Pleasant paper said it was three football fields from any houses - well it is half a football field from mine, maybe 3/4,” Jan Bland Bolin exclaimed. The proposed location of the well is inside the fenced in area belonging to Tom Scott Lumber, directly south of the Prosperity Bank drive through area, east of Hwy. 37. “I believe the city should stay behind the 1980 ordinance. If you give an inch they will take a mile, and it would be opening a can of worms if that [oil drilling] is brought in,” Mrs. Bolin said. For more details, see the Sept. 2 edition of the Mount Vernon Optic-Herald.