Kudos to the City of St. Helens for stopping a mining operation in 2013- located off Jackass Canyon. The people who own about 5 acres in the canyon want to mine the area and go down an additional 18 ft. of the bedrock. Of course this would include blasting and removal of part of the bluff. The city said no to their request last year but the company known as St. Helens LLC has appealed their decision and the appeal comes before the council this week.

One road block that has stopped this company is the wet lands that are in the canyon. The company wanted to mine approximately 500,000 cubic yards of material and with the price of aggregate the company stands to make a huge profit if they succeed. Hopefully the city will continue to deny this proposal.

The amount of blasting and truck traffic that would incur from the operation would wreak havoc on our city roads cause traffic problems and impact the citizen's very negatively. The site would have to have a zone change from R5 to heavy industry and that would no way benefit the city or improve the livability of our community. Not to mention impacting other homes along the bluff and adjacent to the property on the west side and the duplexs that are located in the canyon along jackass canyon.

What is the matter with these people who want to make a mining site right in the middle of a town, in between two schools and amongst neighborhood's? The company wants to mine down the additional 18ft below grade and then fill the area up with material brought in from who knows where and then build homes on the site. Not a very bright idea.

I believe that the city is correct in denying this proposal and I hope the city sticks to their original decision and continues to deny St. Helens LLC from proceeding with their insane plan.

*** Jackass Canyon was named after an old fellow who lived on the bluff in a farm house with a barn full of jackasses.***