I moved my family and business to Stockton for a quiet, open environment that is conducive to creative work. Fifteen years later, broken windshields, constant noise, interminable dust, blazing lights through the bedroom window at 5 a.m., heavy trucks lumbering along at 10 mph in a 60 mph zone -- all seem to have become the norm in our little town.

The gravel pit in Stockton is a bastard child born through a legal loophole that Tooele County officials saw fit to exploit. Now dual-trailer trucks are permitted to enter a state highway less than 100 yards from a steep grade -- one that they cannot climb with any rate of speed due to the tons of rock product they carry. Imagine what that does to the guy traveling along the highway at 60 mph. There have already been at least three cars forced from the road, not to mention the constant rocks found in the now-broken roadway, and several resultant cracked or broken windshields.

Stockton was once a very quiet town, with the loudest noise coming from minimal highway traffic. Now there is a constant roar that echoes over the town as an imperfect mate to the pall of choking gray dust that hangs everywhere. One can see the dust layer from the Alex Baker Memorial ballpark, or Rush Valley or from any off-road trails -- from everywhere, in short. The industrial park built at the gravel pit from what looks like scrap metal is now the dominant feature of the Stockton landscape.

The owner of the land wanted to put in a gravel pit two years ago, but wiser individuals paid heed to the warnings of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the University of Utah Department of Geology and Geophysics, and the Town of Stockton. Unfortunately, greed overcame integrity and the Tooele County leadership inexplicably allowed this operation to sneak in under cover of night to ruin the landscape and the quality of our lives.

Stockton residents now pay the price at every turn: endangered drivers, the pollution brought by the 10,000 watts of light, dust, noise; the damaged landscape; and worst of all, the negative impact on our quality of life.

This gravel pit is in every breath we take, and every sound we hear. And it continues to get worse.

Stockton receives no compensation for the noxious neighbor forced upon it. Tax revenues from the gravel pit go to Tooele County to fund more of these life-altering business ventures that are seemingly on the edge of legality.

Tooele County officials should be ashamed. You should compensate those who have suffered loss of property value thanks to this poorly-thought-out operation. Better still, you should remove this mess from our backyard.

Douglas Spotted Eagle is a Grammy- and Emmy-winning musician who lives in Stockton.