Report from the December 30 meeting of the Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors

Joyce Otto attended the December 30 meeting of the Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors. She reports:

The meeting was a disappointment overall, but especially when Trevor and Larry voted to approve the permit. When using the words “approve the permit” it sounds fairly harmless. In reality they gave approval to sentence the community around Fremont Farms to suffer more, with the addition of 1,050,000 laying hens. Those living near this factory farm are victims—increased odors, increased levels of toxic gases, more water pollution, decreased property values. Suffering of the everyday citizens just so Fremont can become richer. I feel Trevor and Larry have actually caused harm to the quality of life and property values in Poweshiek County.

Their argument? They passed the Master Matrix (460 points out of 880 points) and money. Oh that's right, money and unjust laws are more important than the life of citizens. They will someday look back on this day and feel regret. Or maybe our county will be so saturated with CAFOs that their families will have to live with these horrible effects just like a lot of us do. Bad decision.

So, that means we have a lot of work to do.

Write your note/letter to the supervisors and tell them what you think and feel. Do it now. January 2nd is the last day to get your opinion to them since they will mail their decision along with all of our comments in to DNR on January 3rd.

• Larry Wilson, Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors, 1512 Fourth Avenue, Grinnell, Iowa 50112 (poweshieksupervisorwilson@gmail.com)
• Lamoyne Gaard, Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors, 931 Summer Street, Grinnell, Iowa 50112 (lamoyne@iowatelecom.net)
• Trevor White, Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors, 3751 V18 Road, Brooklyn, Iowa 52211 (tnpwhite@netins.net)