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Missing checks delay appeal in Opp Mine case By Sara Murphy Just two weeks after saying they wouldn�t turn to the Land Use Board of Appeals, owners of the Opp Mine did just that � but it looks like their filing fee got lost in the mail. Officials at LUBA said a notice of intent to appeal a Jackson County land use decision was received from Medford attorney Bob Robertson Wednesday, but it was sent back to him Thursday because it didn�t include the $175 filing fee and $150 deposit. The letter was open when it arrived, a clerk noted. Robertson, a 15-percent partner in Jackson County Sand Co., was in his law office Thursday but did not return calls seeking comment � leaving the issue a mystery of whether his check was lost, stolen or never included. His intent, however, was clear: Jackson Creek Sand Co. plans to take its case � a request for a conditional use permit to extract aggregate at the Opp Mine near Jacksonville � to the state land use board. "We just wanted to make sure we were covering all of our bases," said Frank Hardin, company president. A family-owned business (with the exception of Robertson), Jackson Creek Sand Co. also filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court last month that names Jackson County, the city of Jacksonville and its City Council members and mayor as defendants. The suit seeks $50 million to compensate the company for devaluation of the 150-acre site on Reservoir Road because local governments won�t allow mining on it. Earlier this month, Robertson told the Mail Tribune he did not plan to take the case to LUBA but considered the lawsuit to be an avenue of appeal. Thursday, Hardin said the partners had reconsidered their position. "The law says you have to exhaust all of your legal avenues before you can sue," he said. Since September 1999, when the request was first denied by a Jackson County hearings officer, the case has become a tangled web of legal challenges � including a previous appeal to LUBA and a lawsuit filed by Jacksonville against Jackson County, both of which were dropped. In addition to the current lawsuit and possible appeal to LUBA, the case includes an Oregon State Bar investigation of Robertson�s conduct. Jackson County counsel Michael Jewett and Jud Holtey, an Ashland attorney and partner of the Lombard, Knudsen & Holtey firm that represents Jacksonville, asked the State Bar Disciplinary Counsel to investigate Robertson�s ethical behavior in September. The attorneys allege, among other complaints, that Robertson sent letters to neighbors of the mining site threatening to sue if they testified at a public hearing on the request for a conditional use permit. In a written response, Robertson denied the allegations: "... My letter of Aug. 18, 2000, merely placed the neighbors on notice that if they attempted to �legally� interfere with the issuance of a conditional use permit that they might be held to be liable ... There was no intent to intimidate or threaten anyone that they would be sued for merely testifying in the conditional use hearing." Reach Ashland bureau reporter Sara Murphy at 482-4655, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.