Centralia residents claim ‘fraud’
Holdouts in borough above mine fire claim town demolition a government plot to swipe coal mineral rights.
MICHAEL RUBINKAM Associated Press Writer




ALLENTOWN — Centralians have long believed the government’s demolition of their beloved town in the 1980s was part of a plot to swipe the mineral rights to anthracite coal worth hundreds of millions of dollars — and not, as state and federal officials said, the solution to an out-of-control underground mine fire that menaced the town with toxic gases.

Now, in a last-ditch effort to save their homes from the wrecking ball, the few holdouts who remain are taking their claims of a conspiracy to court.

In a filing late Monday, four property owners and the borough of Centralia said a “massive fraudâ€

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