Three people spoke during a public hearing tonight on a proposed solid waste transfer station.

The three who spoke had different takes on the matter, one saying the county was moving in the right direction, another against the old city landfill site and one, David Harvey, president of the county chapter of the NAACP, tying the matter to school consolidation issue.

“I like the direction you're heading,” said county resident Joe Liles. “You have to have options to handle our trash and reduce the cost.”

Liles said he believed there needed to be a recycling option in the county plans and the city's plans if it should decide to join the county. “This way we'll all reduce our tipping fee, plus, it's the right thing to do.”

Winston Leonard, who lives the near the old city landfill site off Deep Creek Road, said, “My problem is a credibility problem, the way Roanoke Rapids operated the landfill. The way Roanoke Rapids operated the landfill in the late 60s and 70s, they were cutting costs. They weren't concerned about the neighbors and the community.”

While the city had bulldozers, Leonard said trash, “Laid out in trenches for weeks.”

Leonard said he knows why the city needs the transfer station, a reference to the debt it has encumbered with the Roanoke Rapids Theatre. “Why does the county need a transfer station? Are we going into the solid waste business? What are the advantages of having a transfer station? Over the years I have seen the county consolidate jails, tax collections, purt'near everything.”

He added, as a reference to the county school consolidation issue, “Why are we putting trash in front of our children?”

Harvey asked why the city hasn't considered putting the transfer station in the city limits of Roanoke Rapids, to which Commissioner Rives Manning responded, “You live outside the city limits, you have to dump your trash somewhere.”

Harvey responded, “We don't want the city limits of Roanoke Rapids excluded.”

Harvey asked if Roanoke Rapids generated the most trash in the city, to which board Chairman James Pierce responded, “They don't generate more trash than Halifax County.”

Mayor Emery Doughtie explained to Harvey that of the 20 or so sites the city looked at, several were inside the city limits and one which was initially considered at the Public Works Department on Hinson Street was scrapped because of an outcry from the nearby Lincoln Heights Community.

Following the public hearing, Manning said he didn't believe the old city landfill site Leonard discussed should be considered. “The water I drink comes from Roanoke Rapids Lake. The Roanoke Rapids landfill site would drain into Deep Creek. I don't want to drink behind a transfer station.”

Lincoln Heights community activist Florine Bell, who led the opposition to the Hinson Street site, said following the public hearing no sites should be considered which are in culturally based communities, such as the Deep Creek Road site or the one on land near the old Harley-Davidson shop on Highway 158 where the Radar Circle community is located.