Poweshiek CARES meeting: April 2, 2013

Poweshiek CARES met at 7 p.m. on April 2, 2013, at the Presbyterian Church in Grinnell (State Street and Fifth Avenue). The agenda included:

• Discussion of the March 28 meeting of the Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors
• Individual responses
• Proposals for further action
• Possible discussions with proponents of the new confinements
• Discussion of a letter for Poweshiek County businesses
• Turnout for the April 6 Legislative Forum

Joyce Otto welcomed us and announced that the main purpose of the meeting was to reflect on the disappointing result of the Supervisors' meeting on March 28 and to suggest ways of making further progress. She complimented us on getting a high turnout for the meeting and on speaking very well.

A number of courses of action were suggested and discussed:

• We could petition for a vote of no confidence in the supervisors, in the hope of making their re-election more difficult. At the very least, it was argued, this would attract press attention.
• The Grinnell Herald-Register did a big writeup on the meeting. Several people from Poweshiek CARES were interviewed for the article.
• We could contact the county auditors in the other ninety-eight counties to ask whether there is any opposition to the construction of hog factories in their counties.
• We could contact peer organizations in Greene County, Jefferson County, Wapello County, and elsewhere, and work our way out from there. Iowa CCI might help us collect information about other groups, and might be willing to put out an announcement for us.
• We could continue our efforts to win the local supervisors over to our point of view and to give them a heightened sense of responsibility for the local environment.
• We could lobby the state legislature, in small groups or en masse. We tried to draw up a list of state legislators who would be sympathetic with our goals. We could ask allies from all over the state to write letters to their legislators.
• We could seek a wider audience on Facebook.

Angela Winburn reported that she has finished compiling her spreadsheet listing everyone who has signed any of the Poweshiek CARES petitions.

We discussed the group's legislative agenda. As a first step, we could advocate a moratorium on sites with more than 1250 head, and then work on classifying hog factories as industrial sites.

We decided to try to arrange a meeting with Senator Maxwell and Representative Kapucian after their public meeting on Saturday. After we know whether they can stay, we can telephone our membership and invite them to attend.

The residents of Sugar Creek and Pleasant Township who will be directly affected by the confinements that the supervisors have just approved should start organizing a lawsuit and meet on their own with lawyers.

Eighty or more employees of Grinnell College signed a letter opposing CAFOs and describing in some detail the consequences of their proliferation. It was sent today to the President of the College.