Inland activists are holding a giant garage sale in Indio at the end of the month to raise money to keep a large landfill from opening close to Joshua Tree National Park.
A federal judge in Riverside sided with the activists in 2005, but an appeal filed since then is seeking to overturn his decision.
The sale will be held on Saturday, March 31, at the K-Mart Town & Country parking lot near Highway 111 and Clinton Street in Indio.
But the activists are asking now for any donations of furniture, tools, and odds and ends that can be sold. And they are asking for volunteers to set up on the sale, help customers and clean-up after the event.
To donate furniture or services, call Donna Charpied at 760-347-7586. She's the director of Desert Communities Protection Campaign, part of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice. That's the Inland group best known for its work with the notorious Stringfellow Acid Pits and the perchlorate contamination in the Rialto and Colton area.
Charpied said that while the attorney works at a discounted rate it still costs a lot. She has long led efforts against the creation of the landfill, in part, because it's within two miles of the national park's wilderness.
Ontario-based Kaiser Ventures, which owned the old iron-ore mining operation there, has appealed the 2005 ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Timlin. Los Angeles County bought the landfill for its garbage, pending the outcome of lawsuits.

Leave a comment

Name: (required)

Email: (required; will not be displayed)

URL:  (optional)

Remember personal info?

Comment: (you may use basic HTML tags for style)

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.

Note: You will need to re-enter the captcha field after previewing