KOA owner threatens to sue city
Preble: 'You don't get a chance to ruin my business' with water tank

Walter Preble, owner of the Rusk KOA, said he plans to sue the City of Rusk concerning the construction of a water well near his property.

"If the city had been willing to negotiate we would have dropped our objection, but we have no choice at this point. You don't get a chance to ruin my business," Mr. Preble said.

Mr. Preble purchased his property from the city 18 months ago and according to the terms of the sale has not made a payment. The first payment of $22,500 is due Jan. 1, 2008.

The city received word Thursday that it could move forward with the construction of the new water well on the city owned property on FM 343. Complaints had been filed with the Neches and Trinity Valley Groundwater- Conservation District's board of directors. Complaining were Mr. Preble and Nan Durham, who own property near the new well site. Mrs. Durham fears the new well will damage her four wells.

Adam Stockton, the city's engineer of Schaumber & Polk, explained to the board that the city's new well will be drilled into a different aquifer.

Mr. Preble said, "My customers will not want to look at a ground storage tank. People don't want to come to a campground and look at wells and storage tanks. Our advertising says a million dollar view and it certainly does not say anything about visiting an industrial park at Rusk," Mr. Preble said.

The city of Rusk has five working water wells, all between 46 and 62 years old. "The city has enough water to meet the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's water standards, but a new water source is needed in order to plan for growth and to build some redundancy into the system. A new source of water is needed for future development and growth," said Mike Murray, Rusk city manager.

Mr. Preble questioned whether the new well is needed or not.