After years of bombarding the Alachua County Commission with intelligent arguments and legitimate evidence opposing the cement plant, someone has discredited the fight of these opponents by vandalizing the office of Florida Rock Industries. The commissioners can only look down upon such an act, and will feel justified in thinking opponents of the plant have gone too far. So many people have worked so hard to get where they are today, only to be disgraced by an unthinking vandal with nothing more than a few broken windows to offer the fight.
Peaceful assembly works.
Protests and public hearings have furthered the anti-cement plant cause. But attacking the property of the so-called enemy and breaking the law to make a point only makes light of what so many take very seriously. The vandal or vandals have put fuel in Florida Rock's fire. Now while the public has been swayed toward sympathy for the residents who do not want a polluting smokestack plant creating a public health hazard in their backyards, favor has been cast in Florida Rock's direction. They are now the victim of a senseless vandalism.