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3 Declaration of War Last December, when the siting commission first announced the 10 candidate areas, a local woman said, “. . .They’ve already picked their site. It’s in Allegany County. . . .”I didn’t believe her; I swallowed the candidate-area story. I thought there was some reality to the process the state said it was following. . . . I no longer think so. A hundred things have convinced me that Allegany County was pre-selected. I don’t know when, I don’t know by whom, I have only a vague idea about how, and I’m only now beginning to understand why. But I’m finding out, and so are a lot of others. Our education is just starting. And none of us will ever be the same. —Joan Dickenson, reporter for OleanTimes Herald September 17, 1989 A U G U S T 1 , 1 9 8 9 — “SO YOU’LL COME BAIL ME OUT if I get thrown in jail?” Mary Gardner, the Media Coordinator of CCAC, asked. She was talking on the phone with CCAC treasurer Glenna Fredrickson, but their conversation had nothing to do with finances, money raising, or the media.Tomorrow, Mario Cuomo, governor of NewYork, would be visiting Alfred University where he would present the NewYork State College of Ceramics with ten million dollars to build an incubator so that small businesses could develop and market new ceramic products . No governor in the previous thirty years had visitedAllegany County, and the anti-dump activists were not going to let the occasion go unchallenged. “Of course I’ll bail you out,” Glenna replied. She paused, wondering whether she should again try to dissuade Mary from her proposed midnight adventure. “Don’t you want to talk this over with someone else?” “No. I know you can keep your mouth shut. I can’t tell my husband. He already thinks I’m nuts. Since all this started I’m no longer just a stay-at-home mom taking care of kids and cooking meals. I’m changing and he doesn’t like it.” 61 SUNY_Pet_ch03.qxd 9/13/01 2:05 PM Page 61 “You have changed,” Glenna responded. “A couple months ago you wouldn’t have told Steve and Jim to shut up like you did at last night’s CCAC meeting.” She chuckled, “You surprised them so much that they forgot what they were fighting about.” Mary laughed, “They still see me as a ditsy blond housewife. But this lady’s finally growing up. Doesn’t that sound funny coming from a woman with three young kids?” She continued, not waiting for an answer, “I was Queen of the Maple Syrup Festival in Andover in 1975 and thought I’d done it all.Then I got married right out of high school and started playing wife and mom.” Glenna understood completely. Having grown up inTennessee, she knew all about domestic roles and social expectations. “Now you’ve got your own weekly radio show and are quoted in the newspapers daily.” Laughing, she added, “‘Mary says this; Mary says that.’” “Isn’t it funny that I feel so completely free when the siting commission is strangling our county? Three months ago I’d never think of sneaking into an airport at midnight. It’s a rush!” “You’re making it sound better than sex. Why don’t I come along and we’ll kick some butt together?” “Steve Myers is going to be angry as hell if I’m caught. If you get caught too, he’ll have a heart attack. Besides, who’s going to bail me out if you’re in jail?” ❖ Isolated from larger and more progressive urban areas and surrounded by farms and forests, the village of Wellsville still retains some nineteenth-century cultural ambiance. Along Main Street at the north end of the village are fine homes (called “mansions” in Allegany County) with manicured lawns, where the remnants of the old oil elite still live. Oil was first discovered south of the NewYork border in Pennsylvania—oil and gas wells spread into theWellsville area soon after. The wealthiest people gave money to build a stunning public library, architecturally inspired by the chateaux of the LoireValley in France. It still defines the center of the village and embodies local intellectual and artistic ideals. An amateur theater company presents plays on the stage of a large auditorium in its basement. Musicians play concerts and artists exhibit their work in a large drawing room just...

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