Laurenn Barker is a Fallbrook filmmaker who has produced a documentary about the proposed quarry west of Interstate 15. (Photo by Don Boomer - Staff Photographer)
FALLBROOK ---- As the owner of a small De Luz flower farm, Fallbrook resident Laurenn Barker was never a fan of the Granite Construction Company's proposal to open the Liberty Quarry in the valley near her home.
She said that when she read the draft environmental impact report on the proposed quarry, in which sand and gravel would be mined for large construction projects, she "realized there were so many flaws" that she had to do something more than talk or write letters.
"This is probably the most controversial thing I've ever created," Barker said. "But to me the issue is very straight forward and clear and the message just isn't getting out."
So she put her life on veritable holds, she said, and made a seven-minute mini-documentary film on the issue. She began several months of researching the subject, shooting the video and photos, purchasing additional footage, and producing a combination of still slide show and video snippets set to music, she added, unsure who would ever see the finished piece.
Then, just a few weeks ago, she showed the finished film at a meeting of the American Association of University Women, where a fellow member who happens to be a juror for the Fallbrook Film Festival offered to show it to festival's panel of judges. When a last-minute slot opened up, the festival judges agreed to include her film in this year's line-up.
Barker said she was thrilled to have a chance to showcase her work to festivalgoers and looks forward to the "usual response" to the film.
"People just don't realize that they are blowing up a mountain over the last free-flowing coastal river in California," Barker said. "They say, 'wow, I didn't know it was going to be so enormous,' or, 'I didn't know a road was going to be blasted up through hillside'."
"Dave Johnson of Granite says that all there is is rock and brush up there, but it is some of the most fertile, beautiful land in Riverside County," Barker said. "The (draft environmental impact report) clearly states that there will be significant air and water pollution even after mitigation."
Karie Reuther, the spokeswoman for Granite, said that while she understands some people passionately oppose the quarry, that those people are "going off of emotion" and the facts don't support their concerns.
"I've seen no study that proves any of that," Reuther said.
She added that in the Napa Valley area, several wineries have quarries within their vineyards, and that they have seen no negative effects on their grapes.
Barker also questions the need for the quarry, quoting Gary Nolan, the aggregate manager for the Rosemary's Mountain quarry, which sits a few miles from the proposed Liberty site.
"He announced at a quarterly meeting that they are not able to sell the aggregate they produce ---- even at only 10 (percent) to 15 percent of capacity."
Reuther said that Granite is thinking beyond this year and the current economic downturn and more toward the long-term needs of the company and the industry.
Trucks now travel long distances to bring needed rock and sand to North County, she said, and by taking them off the road, the quarry would lower the cost of the raw materials and actually help improve the area's air quality.
The film will be screened at 7 p.m. Saturday. Barker said that after the initial screening groups interested in showing the piece can obtain a copy from the anti-quarry group Save Our Southwest Hills' Web site at www.sos-hills.org or www.nogravelquarry.com
