The Jefferson Township supervisors' vote Monday to reject Summit Township's request to run a sanitary sewer line through Jefferson is the latest proof that public involvement can influence decision making.

The sewage line plan had drawn considerable public opposition from Jefferson residents during the two months that the proposal was under consideration.

Residents feared that the presence of the line might encourage the state Department of Environmental Protection to force Jefferson properties to tap into the line, causing a financial burden to residents.

Another basis for opposition was the estimated 40-foot-wide path that would have to be cleared for installation of the line. Residents objected to the damage that would be done to the picturesque Thorn Creek valley.

Plans called for the line to run the length of Thorn Creek on its path to Summit's Herman area.

DEP has ordered sanitary sewage for the area in and around Herman.

The cost of the line, which would have connected Herman to the Saxonburg Area Authority's plant on Renfrew Road, was listed as $3.75 million. Jefferson would not have had to pay any of that cost, had the township supervisors given the OK for the line.

Time will tell whether Monday's decision was the correct one. If DEP sets its sights on Jefferson in the future because of ongoing development, township residents affected by a DEP order might face a stiff cost for complying with that order a big bill that they might have averted by allowing the now-rejected line to pass through Jefferson.

Jefferson residents were justified in their concerns about the proposed line, but the longtime rejection of sanitary sewer service by some areas of this county especially in the county's southern sector has begun to exact a huge price from many property owners because their municipalities now are under state order to provide that service.

For Jefferson then, Monday's vote was and will remain a gamble, and township residents will have to deal with any consequences of that decision. But without any state order forcing the sought-after approval, residents had the right to fight the plan.

Right or wrong, they merit praise for their involvement and for proving again that the people do in fact still have power to influence the course of events in their community.

For Summit Township, the future regarding sanitary sewage service is unclear, now that Jefferson has spoken. One option might be to build its own sewage system to comply with DEP directives.

A significant number of Jefferson residents probably would have looked kindly on tapping into the line serving Herman. Instead, they'll now have to wait to see how events shake out in future years.

Whether Monday's decision remains a bargain or evolves into a curse will be a situation of Jefferson Township's own making.