SLUDGE VICTIMS

It's a safe facility, and there aren't any public health risks."
Aside from complaints of nausea and headaches, opponents say the facility has damaged property values, in some cases has cost them their livelihoods and has made it impossible for them to sell homes.
Ben Steele, a retired Phoenix tailor, said he has spent $ 125,000 (to) build campground for youth groups on his land in Vicksburg.
He plans to complete the project but figures it will make just one-third the income he had planned.
"I might get groups to come out here," he said. "But once they smell the air, they're not coming back. I'll tell you that."
Phoenix Councilman Calvin Goode, a landowner in Vicksburg, also is upset.
"Those people in charge out there didn't think it needed to go through certain permit process. That was wrong. The people should have been able to protest."
The company has responded to resident's complaints, as well as to pressure from the county and the state Department of Environmental Quality, and has taken steps to kill the flies and reduce the odors.
Greg Upton, a newly elected La Paz County supervisor, said the facility never should have been allowed to open. He blamed former members of the Board of Supervisors.
One of them, Duce Minor, said he sees nothing wrong with Arizona Soils.
"To me, it's jobs for La Paz County. It's a tax base for La Paz County. And it's as close to being in the middle of nowhere as you can be," Minor said.
So there the controversy sits.
Residents have complained for months, and are talking about a class-action lawsuit.
County officials say they're watching the situation but don't plan to take action.
"There's no secret about what they're doing out there," Suskin said. " I question that remains is who said what three or four years ago.
"It looks to me that any way the county goes on this thing, we're going to be the defendant in a lawsuit."