Last week, I attended a large convocation regarding truck trailer use of our local highways. It was situated in the Aurora Inn, organized and chaired by George Farenthold, of Aurora, and had an unusually large attendance, compared to similar meetings I have attended in the past eight years.

I got there late because of an earlier commitment for another meeting, so I missed the first half of presentations.

What I saw was a similarity to every other anti-truck meeting I've been to in the past: a group of irate citizens, looking to ban all heavy trucking through their backyards, and a second group of elected and bureaucratic officials, with a wide disparity between the two. There was a major difference this time though: concerned and irate citizen speakers from largely dispersed geography, not just in little old Aurora/Ledyard.

There were citizen speakers from Ithaca, Trumansburg, Skaneateles and other counties as well. So now we have a major groundswell instead of just a vocal few of our locals looking to shift the burden. More on that in a little bit.

There is a plethora of reasons to divert heavy trucks to the Interstate, but all I've ever gotten in approaching bureaucracy has been deferment to Albany or the federal government at a high level. The sub rosa reasons you get for being stonewalled are simple: too much revenue generated by the highway use tax and state law guaranteeing use of the roads to trucks as well as taxpayers.

This has been an issue for at least 20 years, and other towns and areas have tried, unsuccessfully, to control truck traffic through their domain. The only winner in this contest that I know of is the town of Sparkill, and NY 5, between the Tappan Zee Bridge and the George Washington Bridge. Sparkill tried to ban trucks for years, and the only way they won, was when too many bike riders, joggers and walkers were turned into postage stamps by 18 wheelers.

I live on NY Route 90, in the village of Aurora, and it is a highway designed for minimum traffic and no parking on either side. The design goes back to the '20s through the '40s. It is so narrow, that to drive a large truck of any kind through the village of Aurora, you must put the drivers front wheel on the left of the midline painted on the road. That means that 20 or 30 tons is over in the oncoming lane.

It's a very good thing that cars are now made smaller: you can get around trucks that are wrongfully over in your lane as you approach from the opposite direction. On the other hand, if you are hit, you could look really swell glued to an envelope.

But there is now a happy ending in sight: this meeting and other efforts have made an impression on our elected officials. Sen. Michael Nozzolio has gotten a law through the state Senate requiring commercial through trucks to use the Interstates. It is in conference at the state Assembly and needs encouragement from the local level to pass.

In addition, I hear that Sen. Chuck Schumer has taken the issue to the federal government.

So stay tuned for the results of their efforts, which will be determined by the huge lobbies on the opposing side.

George Farenthold and other outspoken villagers have long been proponents of this issue, but Farenthold, in his quiet, firm way, organized and managed a very effective and successful meeting. We owe Farenthold, especially, and all the other activists in this cause, a debt of gratitude.

William Dugan is former supervisor for the town of Ledyard.