Jan. 6—A hearing Wednesday to determine a request for a temporary restraining order to prohibit Camden County from closing on a deal to purchase a proposed spaceport site has been delayed because of a reported illness by the judge overseeing the hearing.

According to Megan Desrosiers, president and CEO of the environmental group One Hundred Miles, Stephen Scarlett, chief Superior Court Judge of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, rescheduled the hearing for 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 11 at the Camden County Courthouse in Woodbine.

Scarlett will consider arguments from lawyers representing James Goodman and Paul Harris, two Camden County residents who are asking for the purchase of the site from Union Carbide to be banned until voters get a chance to decide the issue in a referendum.

A petition has been delivered to a Camden County Probate Court judge, who will call a special election within 90 days if there are enough valid signatures by registered voters to determine if county officials will be allowed to purchase the Union Carbide property. One Hundred Miles helped petition organizers with a mail drive to gather enough signatures to force the referendum.

Opponents argue the more than $11 million already spent by the county will never be recouped even though the Federal Aviation Administration has approved the Record of Decision, clearing the way for a launch site operator's license.

Opponents say a license to launch rockets from the site will be never be approved because they will fly over homes, historic structures and environmentally sensitive areas on Cumberland and Little Cumberland islands.

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