<p>A retired Coweta County farmer has agreed to pay the government $625,000 of the one-point-seven (m) million dollars it spent to remove barrels of hazardous waste.</p><p>In the settlement announced yesterday, 80-year-old Paul McKnight will pay the money to the government after agents in white outfits descended on an old cotton warehouse he owns in Senoia eight years ago.</p><p>In 2002, the federal government sued McKnight to recoup the money it says the cleanup cost.</p><p>McKnight argued that he had been unaware that a tenant had stored the hazardous paint waste in the warehouse. The government countered that McKnight was nevertheless responsible.</p><p>McKnight said the cost would break him and fought the bill, with the help of the community and Georgia lawmakers in Washington. He serves on the Newnan Hospital Board and was on Coweta County's school board for 30 years.</p><p>McKnight could NOT be reached for comment. But his son -- Carl McKnight -- Coweta County's parks and recreation director -- says his father just wants to get the issue behind him. He says his father intends to sell land and buildings in downtown Senoia -- including the warehouse -- to settle the bill.</p><p>The family hopes to keep farmland outside town.</p>
