A seven-page ordinance that tries to walk a fine line between protecting Jackson Township residents from possible health problems and protecting the township from possible lawsuits will be presented to the public Thursday evening.

Township solicitor Robert G. Kochems, who is also a Mercer County assistant district attorney, recently prepared an ordinance a little over a year after complaints from residents exploded concerning the delivery of treated waste from Allegheny County Sanitary Authority onto about 900 acres in the township owned by Roy J. Neer of Slippery Rock Township.

Despite complaints and the formation of different citizen action groups against the sludge hauling, residents and supervisors found that there was little they could do to stop the hauling already in process. Kochems, in drafting the ordinance, had to make sure the township didn't open itself up to a lawsuit by seeming to outlaw the delivery of treated waste.

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