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MINE HILL, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A family in Morris County was left with a major bill to pay, after a history of mining in their town came back to haunt them.

As CBS2's Meg Baker reported, a giant sink hole just 14 feet from the family's Mine Hill home opened up last week. It's a remnant of an old mine that existed long before West Randolph Avenue did.

"I was coming home from work and walking up the steps and I noticed the big hole in the side of the yard," Andrew Kauf said.

He discovered the 19-foot deep hole on December 30. The next morning he said he was woken up by a loud thud. The hole had gotten bigger, creating another smaller opening.

The family was on pins and needles, afraid that the house will fall in.

Engineers assured them that will not happen.

The house has been in the Kauf family since the 1970s. He said he knew about old mines dating back to the Revolutionary War, but never expected after all these years that one would open up.

"A few houses down basements fell in," he said.

Luckily there were no gas lines below, and other utilities seem to be a safe distance away, but the cost to fill the hole is high at $10,000 and up.

Large boulders are needed, and it's not cheap to transport them.

The mayor said the Kauf's sink hole isn't the only one. Another one, about 20 feet deep, was discovered by someone walking their dog.

Sam Morris has been the mayor for five years.

"Since I've been mayor seven active holes that opened up, three residential, four on non," Morris explained.

Support beams were visible in the woods off Canfield Avenue.

"What you would call entry hole to mine shaft, clear hole in the bed rock which is what you need to get through to the iron ore," Morris explained.

The mayor has been working with state officials to find remediation funds.

"In the early 90s one of the governors thought it was a good idea to stop contributing to this and New Jersey opted out," Morris said.

State Senator Tony Bucco acknowledged that this is a serious issue.

"I have already engaged environmental and labor officials to identify adequate funding to provide to the community," Bucco said.

For now, Kauf is left to deal with the issue on his own. He's hoping that forecast rain over the weekend won't cause more damage.

Sinkholes from old mines are an issue in neighboring Rockaway Township, Randolph, Chester Township, and Ringwood.

MINE HILL - A popular natural spring has closed its gates, citing the high cost of mandated testing as the reason for shutting down the Canfield Avenue watering hole.

The water at Artisan Spring Hill at Canfield still runs as it always does, but now in addition to being protected from non-members by a steel cage, it’s under heavy lock and chains, preventing anyone from accessing the spring.

Tuesday, the gate appeared to be damaged and a box at the front of the cage contained pieces of paper with a statement from the Paschal family, the spring’s owners for nearly half a century, about the immediate closure of the spring.

“Due to the high cost of New Jersey mandated drinking water tests, we are forced to permanently close the spring immediately,” read the statement.

“The water laboratory projected the cost for fourth quarter water testing to be $540 – same as it was last quarter. We cannot afford to continue covering this cost, and have to avoid further fourth quarter water testing fees. We cannot legally provide this water without testing and reporting the results to the state of New Jersey.”

The costs for people to access the spring was a requested $10 donation per quarter, plus an initial $10 membership fee and security deposit.

“It is with deep regret that we can no longer keep the spring open, but donations could not come close to covering our mandated operating costs, and we can no longer afford to carry it,” the statement concluded. “Thanks to those of you who contributed on a regular basis and tried to keep the spring available to all.”

The spring’s website, http://www.springhillatcanfield.com/, which contained testing results and other information, is also no longer operational.

Phone calls to the number previously on that website are now greeted by an automated message, saying it closed due to high cost of testing on Nov. 2.

According to the website “Find A Spring,” Spring Hill was discovered by the Paschal family more than 30 years ago and produces about 125,000 gallons of water per day. It is one of less than a dozen New Jersey springs listed on the website and the only one in Morris County.

The water from the spring is 49 degrees year-round, and flows from a crack in a granite ledge.

Mottel Baleston stopped by the spring to fill three jugs Tuesday afternoon, and was disappointed to find it closed.

“I thought I had until December 31 to fill,” Baleston said, referencing a mailbox on the fence surrounding the spring that states a closing date of Dec. 31, 2015. “I just started using it four months ago and paid for the year.”

Baleston, 60, of Roxbury said he was saddened to see the spring closed, but not angry.

“Last time I was here there were three other people in line to fill jugs so there is a demand for it,” Baleston said. “It’s very good water, an important resource for the community.”

There may still be hope that the cage reopens to the public though, according to Mine Hill Mayor Sam Morris.

“The town would like to discuss with the owner possibly buying it after New Year’s,” Morris said. “It’s apparently very good water and I am hopeful we can have a meaningful discussion with them.”

The spring’s owners could not be reached for comment.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; [email protected]

MORRISTOWN — The former treasurer of the Mine Hill Fire Department was sentenced today to three years in prison for stealing $330,000 from the department over a six-year period.

Lisa Ayers, 40, of Mine Hill, pleaded guilty in October to theft, admitting that she embezzled the money regularly from 2007 through 2013 and used it for personal expenses, including her family’s mortgage and two car loans.

Under terms of the sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge Stuart Minkowitz in Morristown, Ayers must pay $228,631 in restitution and must serve nine months before she will become eligible for parole.

She may also apply for admission into the state’s Intensive Supervision Program, which would allow her to be released from prison a few months earlier than her parole date.

Ayers’ attorney, Paul Selitto, had asked that Ayers serve probation only, noting that she has already repaid more than $100,000 and stole the money only because she was “desperate to provide for her family,” which includes her husband and two daughters.

Crestfallen by the judge’s ruling, Ayers wept profusely as she was placed in handcuffs afterward. “I love you all,” she told numerous family members who were crying in the courtroom.

Earlier, Ayers had apologized to the court for her actions, saying, “I made a huge and terrible mistake.”

Deputy Attorney General Anthony Picione had asked for a five-year sentence. He said Ayers embezzled the money hundreds of times and the discrepancies were discovered after she failed to repay a loan for a new roof at the fire station.

The thefts included 53 checks totaling $77,661 to pay the mortgage loan on her home, more than $22,000 in payments for two car loans and 224 ATM withdrawals totaling $68,000, Picione said.

“People do various things when they are in a financial hardship,” Picione said. “Not everyone chooses to steal.”

• Mine Hill woman admits embezzling $330K from fire department to pay her mortgage, cars loans

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MINE HILL —Tim Taylor almost missed his deadline.

The Mine Hill resident had been working on his submission to the 2010 California Duck Stamp contest for days, staying up until dawn night after night to finish his work.

Taylor was completing his oil painting at the home of his friend and fellow duck painter Adam Grimm in South Dakota. To make it to California, the stamp had to be mailed by 9 p.m. in Sioux Falls - 48 miles away.

"At 8:15, I was still painting," Taylor said. "We got into the car and drove like maniacs."

Though it nearly cost Taylor a chance to mail in his submission, the attention to detail and hundreds of hours of effort were rewarded last month by a panel of wildlife experts who chose his painting to be the 2011 California Duck Stamp.

A duck stamp is required for hunting waterfowl in California, and the money generated from sales can only be spent on waterfowl-related conservation projects. Since it began in 1971, the California duck stamp program has raised nearly $25 million, according to California’s Division of Fish and Game.

Taylor, 48, is a glass etcher and carver by trade and first took an interest in duck painting in the early ‘90s after he read Wildlife Art News, which advertised the Federal Duck Stamp competition.

What Taylor learned after his first few entries were resoundingly rejected is that duck painting is an exercise in detail.

The California contest requires the duck be painted on a 13-inch by 18-inch piece of paper. The federal contest, which Taylor is also competing in this year, calls for a 7-inch by 10-inch piece of paper.

"The head of the duck is only two inches and the eyeball is the size of a pea," Taylor said.

Taylor works with a magnifying glass, wielding a brush with only two hairs so that the shading and color will be exactly right.

"You have to be so precise," Taylor said.

But before brush can meet canvass, days of preparation and study are needed.

Taylor was in South Dakota because he and Grimm would wake at 4:30 a.m., dress in camouflage and wade waist-deep in marshlands. There they stood perfectly still until the sun rose and the ducks were close. Grimm would snap dozens of photographs, which he and Taylor would spend months working to replicate.

The winning stamp, a pair of redhead ducks swimming against a backdrop of tules, is a composite of two photographs. The hen is from one and the drake and background from another.

There is no prize money but winners have the right to market and reprint their work, which can become valuable collectibles.

Taylor's work can be seen at www.timtaylorstudios.com.

"You’d be surprised how many people love ducks," Taylor said.