AXTELL, Texas — A small town community came together Saturday for a party they ultimately do not want to have.
Axtell residents held a fundraiser to oppose the City of Waco's plans to build a landfill next to a local cemetery.
The fundraiser featured music, dancing, drinks and a silent auction to raise money for lawyers who will help Axtell's fight to move the proposed landfill somewhere else.
The diagrams of the TCEQ proposal show the proposed landfill's west disposal area would only be about 40 yards away from the TK Cemetary, where hundreds of people are buried.
The City of Waco said a buffer would be put in place between the disposal area and the cemetery, but residents said that isn't the point.
"It's a nice community, nice school district, friends, neighbors," Axtell resident Brian Frankum said. "We all get along everything's great. We just don't know why they want to put a landfill in our end of the county when they already have property that they have bought for that purpose."
Lacy Hollingsworth, a spokesperson for the Save Axtell Families and Environment organization, said she believes Axtell has what it will take to take on the City of Waco.
"We're not just a bunch of dumb country bumpkins out here," Hollingsworth said. "We're a community full of educated people and people who are, who are willing to unite."