Historic church's members fighting Fayette County mine blasting.

[Divernan]

Neiswanger Construction has been illegally strip mining on farmland next to a pre-colonial church for the past year. They got a permit from DEP, but did not get the zoning ordinance variance from the local govt. necessary to stip mine on land zoned for farming. The Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church was founded in 1772. The Church's priceless, antique, stained glass windows were imported from England.

"The seven-acre cemetery includes graves of Native Americans, as well as veterans of the French and Indian, Revolutionary and Civil wars. There is also a mass grave of residents who died in a smallpox epidemic about 115 years ago, said Ms. Scully.

The original church -- built log cabin style with beeswax coating the windows -- was replaced in 1898 with the brick and stone structure that stands today. The church has a foundation only of cut stone, said Clark Junk, Ms. Scully's father and the church's clerk of session for the last 40 years, which he believes could make it vulnerable to blasting.

The church is now applying to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, said Ms. Scully. A previous application was denied because the building had a new roof, she said.

"It just seems like people nowadays, if you try to protect your environment or anything, they call you tree huggers," she said. "We are not against stripping that coal at all, but we are against blasting."


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