page_52 < previous page page_52 next page > Page 52 uncle.' And Olin finally said, 'I don't think it's in the best interest, but because the rest of you are going along, I'll sign too.' We now had all five farms signed into this thing, at something like a dollar a foot to go through, which is cheap. "But the main thing we wanted to do was contain the amount of development they could have here in the valley. And at that point, Alan Musselman talked to Jack Buch. But one of the problems was that the restrictions were in perpetuity, so the supervisors said, 'That, we don't want to do.' That, they didn't want to handle! "So we said, 'All right, well make it restricted for twenty-five years. At least in twenty-five more years we'll see how more and more valuable this land is going to be as farmland in the whole picture of things.'" Earl Township's supervisors were to vote June 7, 1993, on the proposal for a direct, restricted sewer line, the proposal submitted by Alan Musselman of Lancaster Farmland Trust and the five farmers. Now, a mere thirty people were in attendancemostly people like Lydia Lapp, Rachel Petersheim, Ivan Zimmerman, Keith and Robin Olin, Doris Goehring, and Frank Ludwigall from Earl Township Farmland Preservation Trust. "When our proposal was presented to the township," Ludwig recalls, "they took one look at it and were they surprised! Because they had heard Olin wouldn't sign up, and here it was all done! In front of them with all five signatures! Their mouths dropped. They were so surprised. "And the first thing they said was 'Nope! We will not accept it!'" By a 2-1 vote the supervisors rejected the direct line in favor of a more circuitous route. Robert Anderson and Lee Lowry voted against the direct route; Jack Buch, for. According to the New Era, half the people attending the meeting "loudly stormed out in anger after the decision." 5 Ivan Zimmerman, holding his hands in the air said, "All that hard work.... We did all they asked for.... We worked hard. No more deals."6 One of the people who stormed out was Alan Musselman. Ludwig recalls that "he walked right out and threw his papers down in the parking lot. He was very upset. He thought there was an understanding between Lancaster Farmland Trust and the township that they were going to accept this." A volume of futile paperwork lay at Musselman's feet. Trembling as he spoke, Musselman said, "What they've said is 'go fly a kite' after they challenged us! The bottom line is that [the supervisors] not only want the Garden Spot Village project ... but they want the whole valley for development."7 Interviewed after the meeting, supervisor Robert Anderson said he voted  < previous page page_52 next page >