'The house shook': Neighbors rattled by Dexter mine blast

DEXTER, Ore. - Arlen Markus was sitting in his house Tuesday morning when he heard a blast.

"And the house shook and the windows rattled," he said.

Startled, he went outside to check on his wife."My wife was in the barn and she said she felt the blast up through the floor of the barn."

He said it came from Parvin Butte, less than a mile from his house in Dexter.

"It's a total disregard for the safety and well-being of this community," he said.

Down the road Donnie Teague also felt the blast.

"This is something that affects everybody around here," said Teague. "It's just a beautiful setting and it's sad to see something is going to be destroyed."

For more than a year Markus and other neighbors have been fighting to keep Lost Creek Rock Products from mining Parvin Butte.

"We have a lawyer and we have a group that we formed to deal with this issue," said Markus.

In February, a county official said a site review wasn't required for mining on the butte, at least according to the way the county code is written. But Marcus said he was told differently.

"The mining right now is in litigation, so we're kind of surprised to blast like they did," he said. "No one was notified. It's become a nightmare."
    
Calls to Lost Creek for comment about the blast were not returned Wednesday.
    
For now Marcus said he just wants his peaceful surroundings back.

"We would like this to stop and we would like this to be settled."