Pleateau executive testifies

An executive for earth-moving company Plateau Excavation testified for his side Friday afternoon as the first week of a lengthy, complex trial wound down at the Oconee County Courthouse.  The witness was Brad Carroll, Plateau’s senior vice president and chief operating officer.  Carroll was preceded on the stand by a pair of what the court accepted as expert witnesses.  In the trial, Plateau is attempting to convince the jury that it is entitled to damages from both OconeeCounty and the county’s former airport consultant Talbert and Bright engineers.  The lawsuit, which includes a counterclaim by Oconee against Plateau, arose over a project to lengthen the airport runway.  It was a project plagued by the arrest of a Talbert and Bright engineer and the discovery by state and federal authorities of project sediment in LakeHartwell and the pond of nearby farmer.