A test blast set off to measure ground and air vibrations around the perimeter of City Stone products' surface mining operation in Brookfield has a Hubbard-Thomas Road family aggravated.

"They said the test blast would be the same as last week's blast," Kathy Pasquerilla said Tuesday afternoon. But, "if I hadn't been waiting around for it, I would never have known it happened," she said.

But the company owner claimed the charge was actually stronger than was set off last week.

"That was just to ensure that the readings are correct," said City Stone owner John Annichenni.

The company set off a test blast Tuesday after several homeowners in the area complained of structural damage to their houses.

A company employee set up a basic seismological ground- and air-testing machine in Pasquerilla's home to measure the vibration levels. Two other homes were tested Tuesday, he said.

The Pasquerilla home is east of the blasting site off state Route 7. Annichenni said the home is "pretty far" from the blast site and should not have been affected by it.

The Pasquerillas, who have at least three cracks in a foundation wall that faces the blast site, said the blast was nothing like one last week.

"It felt like a tree hit our house," Mrs. Pasquerilla said, adding that her 20-year-old daughter thought the same thing. "The house shook, the windows shook. Today's blast was nothing. They are playing games."

She and her husband said Annechenni visited them last week to check out the damage and to tell them about the test blast.

"He seemed sincere, but he insinuated that we had a crack already and were taking advantage of the company," said Pasquerilla.

Pasquerilla said Annichenni told him other homeowners had showed him cracks that he thought predated the blasting.

But Annichenni said that wasn't the case, and that he is taking every complaint seriously.

"Basically what we're doing is responding to everyone's call, to look at each situation," he said. "I'll be here to address everybody's complaints and concerns. We have been doing everything within the guidelines of the law."

In the meantime, the Pasquerillas are concerned about how they are going to fix the damage.

"I'm not trying to impede the man's business, but I can't have this. We had no cracks before this blasting began," Pasquerilla said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Sherris Moreira-Byers at

sbyers@sharon-herald.com