It was standing-room only Monday at Jackson Center Fire Hall as more than 200 people turned out for a community meeting about sewage treatment waste being spread on 848 acres in Jackson Township.

The dumping of waste from Allegheny County Sanitary Authority's sewage treatment plant as fertilizer on a Franklin Road farm has neighbors worried about the effect on their backyards..

"Is this safe for my children? I have three small children. I want a guarantee that it is a 100 percent safe," said Jamie Womer of 70 Coolspring Road. "If it was your children, would you live near it?"

Jackson Township Supervisor Brian Patterson said he would.

"I don't see any problem. I don't see any hazard. I see it as safe," Patterson said.

By the end of the month, 17,000 tons of solid waste is supposed to be dumped in fertilizer form on the property, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The DEP -- which has to approve a site where sludge is dumped -- told supervisors in Jackson and Worth townships on April 25 that NU Soil Farms Inc., Houtzdale, Pa., was given approval April 4 to spread the material on the farm. NU Soil was sub-contracted by ACSA to spread the biosolids.

NU Soil Farms, Inc., in turn made an agreement with Roy H. Neer, of 138 Quail Road Lane, Slippery Rock, owner of the Jackson Township farm.

Everything may be legal, but local residents are unhappy with the arrangement.

"Yeah, they say this poop isn't bad but why are they bringing it up here if its so wonderful," said Richard Snyder of 2204 Sandy Lake-Grove City Road, Worth Township.

"Don't be surprised when you get your deer out back in the fall that its horns may glow in the dark," said Robert Grant of 1536 Franklin Road, who sat up front and helped lead the meeting, reading information about sludge he had gotten from internet research.

People showed some anger when it came to lack of notification and the supervisors' role in the situation.

"I think the supervisors should be responsible to feed this (information) down to the citizens," said Snyder, after Patterson said that the supervisors received the information in late April and discussed it in the May township meeting.

"We need facts," said Mrs. Womer. "Isn't it our township supervisors and elected officials job to get them for us?"

Worth and Jackson Township supervisors received a 30-day dumping notice from the DEP on April 25. Dumping began on the farm May 16, according to residents. State regulations also require NU Soil to notify adjacent neighbors, but out of a list of 20 land-owners provided by NU Soil to DEP, only about 5 say they received letters.

"We are landowners that weren't notified," said Barbara Kish of 48 Parker Road in Jackson Township. "We were not notified and they are breaking the law. The supervisors should back us up. There is a way, there has to be a way. We'll block the entrance if we have to."

"Is there any way we can get a temporary restraining order," asked Jim Sayers of 2006 Mercer Road.

At least 13 residents claimed they had not received any letter from NU Soil notifying them of the pending dump site, and all 13 claim their property abuts or is adjacent to the 848 acres DEP-permitted site.

"Adjacent land-owners should have been notified with a 30-day notice," said Tracey Grant of Jackson Township. "They are in violation of the permit." But Grant told those present that the 30-day notice was the least of their problems. "That's nothing. How about pollutants, dioxins, intestinal worms, and airborne viruses. Jackson Township residents should be worried about the fact that toxic sludge is being spread in our community."

Another community meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Jackson Center Firehall.