ACCOMAC, Virginia — An alleged comment by the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission executive director Kerry Allison led the Accomack County Board of Supervisors to mull over whether or not to withdraw from the regional tourism commission.
A written comment allegedly mentioned outlawing poultry operations on the Eastern Shore. According to chairman Robert Crockett, Allison’s name was associated with the comment.
“They were like a slap in the face to me and my neighbors…When you say outlaw, that’s saying these people are not worth anything to our economy, is the way I take it,” Supervisor Grayson Chesser said.
The BoS motion directs staff to explore options outside of the Tourism Commission.
“I was alarmed when I saw that. I could not believe that was there,” Crockett said of the comment posted on the wall.
The Mirror attempted to contact executive director Kerry Allison but did not receive a response as of this publishing date.
Giant chicken farms bring in needed revenue but at the cost of water and air quality.
The chicken farms are consuming an enormous amount of water and emitting not only solid waste that has to be dealt with but an unhealthy and nausesting odor that incites the gag reflex for miles surrounding each facility.
Tourists and locals alike do not want to breath this polluted air and it detracts from the quality of life of the surrounding communities.
Tourism is a 24 billion dollar annual industry in VA. According to the VA Dept. of Tourism, the 3rd largest industry in VA.
The shore has a natural beauty unlike the rest of the state and tourism growth would provide income for many small businesses and individuals more so than that of the corporate chicken farms.
Kerry Allison and staff work hard to make sure that the shore is inviting to tourists and that tourism businesses are well represented.
If the chicken farms continue to spread, shore folks will need to wear gas masks or develop a tolerance to the smell of chicken feces and tourism will surely suffer.
Poultry provides the majority of protein consumed by the residents. Who’s backyard should the Eastern Shore’s main source of protein be produced?
Mr. Holden, the US has 50 States, many of which have substantial numbers of CAFOs, enough to feed the entire country. These States’ land is much higher above sea level than is that of the lower Shore. Additionally, none of these States is blessed with a unique, beautiful, ENDANGERED body of water like the Chesapeake Bay. Take a trip around the US; you’ll get an idea of the vast spaces in the country that can accommodate an almost infinite amount of industrial poultry production. Of course, the existing CAFOs on the lower Shore are here to stay. Expanding their number, however, is simply foolish.
Thank you Don Green, the environment here needs to be protected, the chicken farms are eyesores. I agree with your sentiments wholeheartedly.
The seafood that these waters produces, for the most part, is sold and eaten elsewhere so the poor waterman can buy chicken to feed his own family.
Why not just eat the seafood you have in your hand?
I walk out my front door and rake up all the clams and conch I want to eat.
I can catch as many fish and crabs as I want to eat.
Is it because watermen don’t want to eat seafood “5 times a week”?
Well stated.
Todd, that is a common statement which I often hear when it comes to corporate meat farms.
Do you have a chicken processing plant or farm in your back yard? If so, how do you deal with the nauseating air pollution?
I agree that chicken is a cheap source of protein for the masses but there needs to be more effort made to addresses the air pollution,etc that it produces.
Also, the majority of the world lives on plant based proteins which are much healthier and require a tenth of the land and resources that meat based proteins require.
Americans as a whole need to eat healthier due to the enormous amounts of obesity and health related problems that accompanies it. Less meat and more plant based diet will help solve these issues.
The majority of DelMarVa eat chicken 5 times a week. Who are you to tell people who are on top of the food chain what they need to eat or not eat?
I doubt that the “majority” of people on the shore eat chicken 5 times a week. Would be glad to see your evidence of that.
Besides, the obesity rate on the shore is obscene. Whatever they are eating they should stop.
Maybe the folks at “the top of the food chain” should eat a little closer to the ground in order to preserve their health, the environmemt and unburden the healthcare system.
Their poor culinary choices are destroying not just themselves but the panet as well.
Americans are the fattest people on the planet. It’s disgusting and insane. Shameful!
All those sharks trying to eat people this year apparently didn’t get the memo about humans being at the top of the food chain.
Silly things with their small brains, they actually think they are.
I would like a list of the things this commission has done for the shore! I see nothing being done! Our back roads have no shoulders for bike cycling and are very dangerous with the killer ditches! The boat ramps, Broadway Landing is a joke and impassible! There is no shopping along Route 13, like that in Chincoteague and Cape Charles! There are no parks of any account to play tennis or pickleball or even to take a walk! No hiking trails or camping spots! No PUBLIC SWIMMING in Accomack! I could go on and on!
You fools who don’t want the poultry are probably vegetarians and just can’t understand that the poultry business is a very important employer to many on the shore! Get a life and start worrying about the people who rob and steal and those who throw their trash in the bay and on our roads.
What you don’t seem to understand, Linda Mormile, is that all the things you whine about not having, your back roads having no shoulders for bike cycling and being very dangerous with the killer ditches, Broadway Landing being a joke and impassible, no shopping along Route 13, like that in Chincoteague and Cape Charles, no parks of any account to play tennis or pickleball or even to take a walk, no hiking trails or camping spots, No PUBLIC SWIMMING in Accomack, and you indeed could go on and on, is because Accomack County has committed itself to chickens, not humans, and it is a scientific fact that chickens neither need nor desire boat ramps, swimming beaches, parks, especially as chickens are not into playing tennis or pickleball or hiking trails, which is why you don’t find those things existing down there.
So suck it up, Linda Mormile, and face the fact that it is chickens that matter in Accomack County, not you, because the poultry business is a very important employer to many on the shore, and if it wasn’t for Accomack County being committed to chickens, and not you, those people wouldn’t have a place to work!
My advice would be to get a life and start worrying about the people who rob and steal and those who throw their trash in the bay and on your roads down there, as opposed to worrying about people who might be vegetarians.
Ask yourself why Accomack County would waste a dime on any of those things like parks and such you want for humans, when humans do not really figure into the future of Accomack County, except as workers in the chicken factories.
You can’t have it both ways, Linda Mormile, and the chickens won out, while you lost.
And Linda Mormile, when you are smelling chicken manure, which is great for clearing out your sinus cavities, you are smelling the gaseous admissions of the chicken manure, which include odorous volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), greenhouse gases, and particulate matter.
In fact, according to the scientific article “Strategies for eliminating chicken manure odour in horticultural applications” by C.S. RANADHEERA, R. MCCONCHIE, K. PHAN-THIEN and T. BELL published online 06 March 2017, the chemical constituents of chicken manure odor are as follows:
An unpleasant odour is inherently associated with poultry manure and is considered one of the major limitations in applying chicken manure to production land.
Odours originating from chicken manure result from a combination of up to 150 compounds including volatile fatty acids, mercaptans, esters, carbonyls, aldehydes, alcohols, ammonia and amines.
end quotes
So when you are breathing in the smell of that chicken ****, which is what Accomack County is now known for, that is the stuff that is filling your lungs and coating the inside of your nose, as well as your tongue.
Have you noticed your food tasting different these days?
Or are you attuned to the smell of chicken **** that you no longer notice it?
Another serious point you are totally missing here, the most important point in this discussion, Linda Mormile, and I am surprised that you don’t remember it from the “urban and community planning” section of your 7th grade civics class, where such basic citizenship knowledge is taught and supposedly learned, is that when a municipal subdivision like Accomack County publicly declares itself to be an industrial zone, which Accomack County has clearly done, not in your eyes, but in the eyes of the candid world and business world, then that makes human habitation a non-concern to the municipality.
In the eyes of the law, the designation of industrial zone to an area then frees the municipality from responsibility for maintain a healthful human environment.
The designation of industrial zone by the municipality allows the environment to become degraded, as you are noticing and commenting on above when you talk about worrying about the people who rob and steal and those who throw their trash in the bay and on your roads.
Your time to have brought that up was before the chicken industry was allowed in, and I would bet that you were either silent, which gives consent, or you were a vocal supporter and cheerleader, in which case, you helped bake the cake you now resent having to eat.
So of course you now have to worry about the people who rob and steal and those who throw their trash in the bay and on your roads – that, Linda Mormile, is what a degraded environment looks like in real life.
You cannot change and put in motion a massive change in zoning, which changes the environment, without changing all the environment.
And now you don’t like what you have down there.
Too late for tears now, however.
And Linda Mormile, chickens aren’t ducks, they don’t know how to swim, so Accomack County does nit have to worry about providing them with bathing facilities, which then keeps more money in the county coffers that doesn’t have to be spent on human creature comforts, which means more money for their own pockets.
God bless America, ain’t it, Linda Mormile?
Well stated Paul.
I am always surprised that people in this country are so ignorant of these most basic things, Don.
None of this is new.
Zoning and planning go back a long way, and this stuff I talked about has been true since the 1970s.
I am and have been going through it up here myself since the mid-1970s, and have filed a number of successful lawsuits on this subject of degrading residential zones.
I have defeated the attorney general of the state of New York in court, including at the appellate level, as well as several other full-grown, real hot-shot lawyers and lawyerettes concerning zoning, and I am not a lawyer myself, simply a citizen, so none of this is rocket science.
To the contrary, it is basic American citizenship.
I am going through the same thing up here where I am, where my CORRUPT town board has swept aside the law and the citizen concerns of those of us who live in zones that are residential, and has committed to making the town a regional garbage dump.
We are now people who live next to a regional garbage transfer station, which has greatly degraded the environment, and we are stripped of any rights to the quiet enjoyment of our property that we once had.
And let me say that I have been on my property since 1949, and when I got back from Viet Nam, I returned to that property, so I am not some “come here” who doesn’t want something previously existing in my backyard.
The garbage company, Waste Management, is the come here, and what I resent is them in my face, telling me that because I now live next to their regional garbage transfer station, I have to eat the **** they are feeding me.
These towns and counties are realizing that if you squeeze people out, or make them the essence of white trash, because who but white trash would live next to a garbage transfer station, then you have to spend no money on maintaining a healthful environment for people, because people no longer matter.
And Waste Management made a cash deal with the corrupt town board, who are mostly come here’s from elsewhere, like buzzards to a corpse for easy pickings, to pay the corrupt town board to turn its back on the environmental degradation, which turns our neighborhood into a lawless free-fire zone, but hey, what do you expect when you live next to a regional garbage dump?
Thanks, Mr. Plante, for this excellent post, though that poor woman really did give you a great platform! Wish I could have said it as well. This one is priceless: “Humans do not really figure into the future of Accomack County, except as workers in the chicken factories”. If I pass this one on to Mr. Crockett’s court, I promise not to take credit for it. Keep up the good work. Maybe there is something good about getting out of Vietnam reasonably intact– you can learn to deal with incompetents content with a degraded status quo, and you can learn to NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up the fight.
Amen in spades to that last, Don Green!
I wish I could have said it as well!
And please, feel free to pass it on and stick it right in that dude’s face and if he doesn’t like it – TOUGH!
This, Don Green, is how that same game is played up here where I am:
POESTENKILL CITIZENS NEWS
“JACANGELO GANG APPROVES CREATION OF POSTENKILL GARBAGE ZONE”
According to the Poestenkill Town Board meeting minutes for August 16, 2018, Poestenkill Town Councilman Eric Wohlleber made a motion at that meeting entitled “Consider for approval Waste Management Host Agreement,” with a second by Poestenkill Town Councilperson June Butler, to “authorize” Poestenkill Town Supervisor Dominic Jacangelo to sign a litany of lies, deceit and deception termed a “Community Benefit Agreement” between the Town of Poestenkill and giant waste hauler Waste Management of NY, LLC, which agreement benefits the “community” of the “Jacangelo Gang” and Waste Management of NY, LLC by creating the area around the intersection of Rts 66 and 351 in Poestenkill into a “Garbage Zone” under the exclusive control of Waste Management of NY, LLC, with protection coming to them from the Poestenkill Town Board, which in the agreement has created for Waste Management of NY, LLC a protected zone in Poestenkill devoted to the importation of regional garbage into Poestenkill, at the expense of what used to be a residentially-zoned part of the Town of Poestenkill, but is no more.
Thus, through the highly-skilled use of lies, deceit and deception, and outright thug-like behavior, the Jacangelo Gang in Poestenkill has managed to successfully rezone the Town of Poestenkill for the benefit of Waste Management of NY, LLC, while completely circumventing all the laws, rules or regulations pertaining to rezonings in Poestenkill, including citizen involvement, as the dictatorial Jacangelo Gang sweeps rule of law in Poestenkill aside to create a laissez-faire business climate in Poestenkill for the benefit of Waste Management of NY, LLC, at the expense of the people of the Town whose homes are now included in this Garbage Zone, by decree of “Boss” Dominic Jacangelo, the self-styled Caesar Augustus of the empire of Poestenkill which he as dictator reigns over.
According to the minutes, votes approving the creation of the “Poestenkill Garbage Zone” for Waste Management of NY, LLC, came from Dominic Jacangelo, the head of the Jacangelo Gang, and gang members Harold Van Slyke and June Butler, with former Jacangelo Gang member Eric Wohlleber sitting this one out, and Councilman Hass voting no.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul R. Plante
The “poor woman,” Don Green, made her own bed, and now she doesn’t like lying in it.
Good for her.
Was she really so stupid as to think the chicken industry was going to turn Accomack County into a cultural oasis where only the best of people would be drawn?
Getting back to this theme of corrupt town or county officials selling out the residents of their towns or counties to polluting industries or industries with criminal records looking for some laissez-faire public officials willing to turn their backs and look off in some other direction while the residents of their towns or counties get screwed to the wall, here is more on that situation up here near me.
Notice the violations that occurred in Virginia:
According to the POESTENKILL TOWN BOARD MEETING MINUTES posted by Conservative Republican Poestenkill Councilman Eric Wohlleber at p.8 of the19 July 2018 Advertiser, on Thursday, June 28, 2018, under “Waste Management Host Community Agreement,” a motion was made by Poestenkill Town Councilperson Harold Van Slyke and seconded by Supervisor Jacangelo to accept the Waste Management Host Benefit Proposal.
The motion passed 4-1 with Councilman Hass voting no.
The essential provisions of this document are as followe:
COMMUNITY BENEFIT AGREEMENT between the TOWN OF POESTENKILL and WASTE MANAGEMENT of NEW YORK, LLC
This agreement made this __ day of ___, 2018, by and between Waste Management of New York, LLC, a limited liability company of the State of Delaware, (hereinafter referred to as “Waste Management”), and the Town of Poestenkill, a municipal corporation of the State of New York (hereinafter referred to as “Poestenkill” and/or “Town”).
WITNESSETH
WHEREAS, Waste Management owns and operates a solid waste transfer station located at Routes 66 and 351, Poestenkill, New York (hereinafter, the Transfer Station); and
WHEREAS, Waste Management operates the Transfer Station pursuant to a solid waste facility permit issued by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (hereinafter referred to as “NYSDEC”), and receives and transfers Solid Waste (as defined in 6 NYCRR Part 360); and
WHEREAS, Poestenkill is familiar with the current and past operation of Waste Management’s Transfer Station and has confidence in the ability of Waste Management to continue to operate same in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations; further Waste Management agrees that Poestenkill will enforce applicable rules and regulations of the Town; and
WHEREAS, Poestenkill recognizes that a Planned Development District was established for the operation of the transfer station in 1993 which allows for the continued or future use of the Transfer Station by Waste Management to service solid waste generators other than those within Poestenkill, and
WHEREAS, Poestenkill and Waste Management have agreed that the community benefits to be provided to the Town shall be defined by the terms and conditions of this agreement.
*****
7. The provisions of this Agreement shall (a) constitute the entire agreement between the parties, superseding all prior agreements, and negotiations and (b) be modified only by written agreement duly executed by Poestenkill and Waste Management.
end quotes
Note the third WHEREAS, as follows: Poestenkill is familiar with the current and past operation of Waste Management’s Transfer Station and has confidence in the ability of Waste Management to continue to operate same in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations.
First of all, according to the history of the transfer station posted by Councilman Hass at p.5 of the 17 May 2018 Advertiser, Waste Management “suspended” operations at the transfer station nine years ago in 2009, so there have not been any operations for the last nine years for the Town of Poestenkill to be familiar with.
As to the past operations, they were a subject of an Albany Times Union article entitled “Residents denounce DEC’s trash deal – Waste Management’s fine fails to satisfy townspeople, who vow further action in state court” by Michelle Morgan Bolton, staff writer, on March 25, 1999, as follows:
While Waste Management has agreed to pay the State Department of Environmental Conservation $20,000 for alleged infractions of its operating permit, neighbors of the routes 66 and 351 transfer station claim the DEC has sold them out and plan to sue.
Waste Management signed a $25,000 consent order March 19 after months of negotiations – but the DEC suspended $5,000 as long as the company remains in compliance.
Neighbors have complained all along that their homes and lawns have been deluged with dust, trash, rodents and huge black blowflies, along with ear-splitting noise at all hours of the day and night.
“They’ve given the company a get-out-of-jail-free card,” said Paul Plante, one of the residents who claims the company is violating its permit.
“For $20,000, the DEC will keep its back turned.”
“We have been severed from any protection of the law whatsoever.”
Waste Management denied the violations named in the consent order, yet signed it and paid the fine.
All pending action against the company, including citations issued by the town’s code enforcement officer, along with the DEC’s criminal and administrative actions, are now null and void, the order states.
According to the document, 15 of the hauler’s trucks idled for more than five consecutive minutes on July 15, 1998, and July 30, 1998, and the business was open before its regulated 7 a.m. start time.
Waste Management was also cited for dumping trash on the floor, a direct violation of its operating permit.
end quotes
So where then, besides from thin air, does Poestenkill get this “confidence in the ability of Waste Management to continue to operate same in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations” from, given Waste Management’s proven track record of not operating this facility in compliance with all applicable rules and regulations?
That statement by the Town of Poestenkill is a solid indication that Poestenkill intends to do as it did before, which is to turn the blind eye to how this transfer station is operated, especially as Poestenkill Town Supervisor and Waste Management booster Dominic Jacangelo has already put into writing that he considers any Poestenkill town codes applying to the transfer station to be mere suggestions.
As to Waste Management’s track record, it was the subject of a NYSDEC hearing on the application of Waste Management of New York to operate a solid waste management facility in New York State (Towpath), on December 31, 1999, as follows:
Ruling, December 31, 1999
STATE OF NEW YORK : DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
In the Matter of the Application of WASTE MANAGEMENT OF NEW YORK, LLC for permits to operate a solid waste management facility, the Towpath Environmental & Recycling Center, in the Town of Albion, Orleans County.
(DEC Application No. 8-3420-00019/00005)
RULINGS OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE ON PARTY STATUS AND ISSUES
– WMNY Record of Compliance
As a required supplement to its application, WMNY (then known as Waste Management of New York, Inc.) completed a record of compliance form identifying other permits it had been issued under the ECL as well as various administrative law violations committed within the last 10 years.
Because the list of violations had not been updated since August, 1997, I directed that the Applicant furnish a supplement, which it did on July 30, 1999.
In addition, DEC Staff, in a submission of November 2, 1999, identified two more Region 8 consent orders which for some reason had not been referenced in WMNY’s disclosure.
All combined, the identified violations of the ECL and Department regulations, permits and consent orders raise enough doubt about the Applicant’s fitness that a reasonable person would inquire further into the circumstances of those that appear most significant.
The information already available indicates various violations the circumstances of which need to be explored.
For instance, according to DEC Staff, WMNY’s compliance record in Region 8 includes a 1991 order (modified in 1992) assessing a $71,000 penalty for placing waste at a not yet permitted location at the High Acres Landfill in Fairport, as well as a 1991 order assessing a $4,500 penalty for installing gas recovery wells at the Monroe Livingston Landfill prior to receiving a DEC permit to do so.
Apparently neither of these orders was mentioned by WMNY as part of its record of compliance disclosure, which raises a second ground for inquiry under the EGM: whether the Applicant made materially false or inaccurate statements in the permit application. (EGM, page 5.)
Also requiring further scrutiny are various more recent DEC violations related to waste handling by WMNY and its former subsidiary Waste Management of New York City, which is now part of the parent company.
Acknowledged by the Applicant, many of these violations resulted in substantial penalties:
$50,000 for 1999 violations including operating over permitted tonnage limits and beyond authorized hours, at a Goshen recycling facility (Northern Recycling);
$50,000 for 1998 violations including exceeding operating hours, at an Averill Park transfer station (Poestenkill);
$20,000 for 1999 violations including acceptance of unauthorized materials, at a Brooklyn transfer station (NYC Hauling);
$20,000 for 1998 violations including alterations to the physical plant and facility operations beyond those authorized by permit, at another Brooklyn transfer station (Varick 1);
$20,000 for 1998 violations involving physical plant modifications which resulted in changes to plans, at a third Brooklyn transfer station (BQE);
$40,000 for a 1998 violation of operating beyond the borders of the permitted area, at a fourth Brooklyn transfer station (Woodyard).
end quotes
Note the $50,000 for 1998 violations including exceeding operating hours at this same Poestenkill transfer station, and ask yourself why it is that Poestenkill Supervisor Dominic Jacangelo along with Poestenkill Councilpersons Eric Wohlleber, Harold Van Slyke and June Butler are shoving these violations under the rug and are openly lying to us about the ability of Waste Management yo operate this transfer station in accordance with the law when the history proves otherwise?
Getting back to that history from the DEC official records:
Finally, it appears from WMNY’s disclosure that it and Waste Management of Virginia, a sister corporation, were penalized $150,000 by a Virginia Court in 1999, and enjoined from transporting or receiving loads of solid waste that include regulated medical waste.
Also, Virginia imposed a $125,000 penalty after blood, bloody fluids and “sharps” were found in waste bales from a WMNY facility in East Rochester, which were to be disposed of at a Virginia solid waste management facility.
end quotes
Note that before this facility in Poestenkill was closed, eye-witnesses observed bloody fluids and “sharps” in the mountains of garbage that were being piled up on the ground outside the transfer station.
Getting back to the official DEC records:
– – Waste Management, Inc. Record of Compliance
The fitness issue in this case shall encompass a review of the compliance history not only of WMNY, but also its parent company, Waste Management, Inc. (“WMI”).
This is necessary to conform with the EGM, which provides that its guidelines should be applicable not only to the “immediate entity” (WMNY) but to any corporation which “holds a substantial interest” in the permittee or applicant.
WMI holds a substantial interest in WMNY because it owns it; WMNY is its subsidiary.
The compliance record of WMI is the principal concern of SPOC, as is clear from its filing for party status (Exhibit No. 9 A -D).
By a letter of November 12, 1999, Mr. Bernstein responded to the comments on behalf of the Applicant.
According to the Applicant’s disclosure, WMI is a large company in the waste management business, with over 70,000 employees and 292 landfills, 295 transfer stations, 104 material recycling facilities, and 615 collection companies in the United States.
Consistent with my directive, the 16-page disclosure summarizes 37 incidents resulting in criminal convictions or civil penalties of $25,000 or more.
Among the most serious is a 1991 incident in which Waste Management of Pennsylvania, a WMI subsidiary, paid a $3.8 million civil penalty for its employees’ creating inaccurate records about the volume of waste received at the Lake View Landfill in Erie, which resulted in the acceptance of waste in excess of the permitted maximum and average daily tonnages.
According to the disclosure, Chemical Waste Management, Inc., another WMI subsidiary, has also been the subject of substantial assessments: $10.1 million in penalties, costs, restitution and contributions for a 1992 guilty plea in a federal case involving failure to report hazardous waste spills during the clean-up of a Pennsylvania Superfund site, and a $1.9 million civil penalty for unspecified 1991 “permit interpretation issues and alleged violations of Illinois Environmental Law.”
The incidents described in the preceding paragraph are of sufficient gravity that the underlying documentation must be brought into the hearing record.
end quotes
This all serves to make an absolute mockery out of the statements of Supervisor Jacangelo and Councilpersons Wohlleber, Van Slyke and Butler that they have “confidence in the ability of Waste Management to continue to operate same in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations.”
And then there is the falsehood in the fourth WHEREAS, to wit: Poestenkill recognizes that a Planned Development District was established for the operation of the transfer station in 1993 which allows for the continued or future use of the Transfer Station by Waste Management to service solid waste generators other than those within Poestenkill.
That is a willfully false statement because the PDD, according to official Town records, was created for the exclusive use of Benson Brothers Disposal, Inc., not Waste Management.
Why are we being lied to by Dominic Jacangelo, Eric Wohlleber, Harold Van Slyke and June Butler?
On August 3 the EASTERN SHORE POST published an article about Accomack’s Board of Supervisors’ Chairman’s near-apoplectic fit when confronted by a simple, small poster containing the words, “Outlaw Industrial Chicken Farming”.. This article prompted me to send a short, supportive e-mail to Ms. Kerry Allison, who posted the sign. The EASTERN SHORE POST was kind enough to print my letter in August 17th’s publication, the text of which follows:
“Many thanks to Ms. Kerry Allison for her willingness to post the message …. Despite numerous meetings petitions, etc., the Accomack County Board of Supervisors continues to ignore and dismiss all opposition to the proliferation of industrial poultry houses in the county
I come from Somerset County, Md, the sixth largest poultry provider in the U.S. and … the poorest county in Maryland. Yearly, more and more acres of farmland in Somerset are removed from production because of saltwater contamination from the Chesapeake’s tributaries. This ruination of the land stems partly from the removal of fresh ground water to operate chicken houses and chicken processing operations. Brackish, salty water runs into the underground area formerly filled by fresh water.
The Chairman and a number of Supervisors simply will not acknowledge the connection between the decline in property values and the proliferation of CAFOs in Accomack County; the environment being created here is not one where [many] productive people want to live, visit, or contribute to the economy. [Most of] the best and the brightest, the potential creators of businesses other than Tyson and Perdue, leave the area after high school and do not return, at least during their productive years. ‘For Sale’ signs appear all over the county.
Apparently, the Chairman is uncomfortable in any forum that he and his acolytes cannot dominate, and the Chairman becomes enraged when confronted by any dissent. This oligarchy considers it healthy that the county’s economy is characterized by two large businesses, Tyson and Perdue.
I hope Ms. Allison will continue her efforts on behalf of those who want to diversify and multiply the number of non-poultry-connected businesses in Accomack County” [End of letter]
Later, Mr. Grayson Chesser, as part of an equally apoplectic fit, stated the following regarding the poster: “Words out of the mouth are like bullets out of a gun. Once you shoot them off you can’t take them back” [separate August 17 article]]. To Mr Chesser I say, “Sir, I was in Vietnam in 1967-68, and I assure you that words and bullets are NOT the same.” This county is poorly governed.
Don Green says: “Sir, I was in Vietnam in 1967-68, and I assure you that words and bullets are NOT the same.”
What a great line, and so very true.
Bullets cause less damage than do words in the mouth of a hack politician or lawyer.
Mr. Plante, Thanks for adding humor to this ever-so-serious exchange. You’re right; the shark IS higher on the food chain than the rather unimaginative person who claims to be at the top.
As for your second comment about the “hack politician”, I wonder whether even this description may be too complimentary to Mr. Chesser. He’s more like the court jester at Mr. Crockett’s court.
Thanks for your service and welcome home, Don Green!
Again you you talk about me but fail to leave that phone number. I can only assume you feel comfort in moderation.
Any Time.
To paraphrase some commenters here:
“Let the peons starve so I may occasionally eat freshly ‘danced’ clams…….., or the chicken farmers can learn to code, for Gaia’s sake.”
Nice……..real nice.
BTW, Chicken farms on ESVA have been there since the 17th century.
Former neighbor to a commercial chicken farm so don’t play that card.
“Chicken farms” ( a misnomer, because raising chickens isn’t actually farming) may have been on the Shore since the 17th century but not in such concentration as they now exist (and are expanding) in Accomack County. I grew up on a farm and helped my father raise chickens, but this activity was only an adjunct to a much larger, REAL farming operation. Yes, one can get used to the smell, but what about the people who come here to visit, maybe to buy a property or a business that’s been for sale for months–does any rational person believe that these people will want to get used to the smell and to the poisons in the air, ground, and water that underlie the smell? Get real.
“Man, that airport that I KNEW WAS THERE BEFORE I BOUGHT MY HOUSE really bothers me now, let’s get it closed down.”
“Man, that RACEWAY I knew was there before I bought my house really bothers me now, let’s get it closed down.”
“Man, that chicken farm that I KNEW WAS THERE before I bought my house really bothers me now, and I care NOT A WHIT about the people I put on unemployment but f them, let’s shut it down now.”
I guess as long as your upper crusty libby retiree’s aren’t inconvienced the pain and suffering of others is just finestkind.
And are you actually playing the ‘no true Scotsman” on me about farming?
“REAL farming!!!” Lemme guess, soybeans for export, corn for ethanol-the most vile substance on the planet, next to liberals- or ‘baby veg’ for fahncy restaurants?
Sniff, sniff isn’t it almost time for afternoon cocktails at the club, Thurston? Let the peons starve or learn code………..
My sweet potatoes are doing great this year, Mike, if only I can keep the deer from eating them.
A bad year for squash, however – too wet, which caused a lot of them to rot.
When the squash rots, I don’t eat, because I can’t afford chicken.
I can’t afford chicken because the corporate chicken farms have jacked up the price to make it a gourmet item so they can provide a higher return on investment to their corporate shareholders.
These people down there in Cape Charles eating chicken five days a week must be the rich folks who can afford it, which might be why they are so obese and have to have their bulk carried around in golf carts because they can no longer walk.
Hell of a thing, isn’t it, Mike, when corporations can take what used to be an American staple when people raised their own chickens and turn it into a luxury item only the rich can afford.
What is the country coming to, anyway?
Paul, go to your local apple orchard and grab up all the rottens and drops and put them as far away from the taters as you can on your property and the deer will feed off that, or a salt block equally as far away will do the trick.
OR, you can give me your address and I will gladly come up and thin your herd for you, and you’ll be eating venison all winter long. Chicken is cheap when you don’t have to buy beef.
I have no problems with ROI, but do feel that regulations play a large part in the cost increase. When we feed corn to our cars, it is more expensive for our animals. When we have 8 years of an administration that blocks our ability to drill for our OWN oil, we pay higher fuel prices.
And we all know that crap rolls downhill, and baby, we consumers are at the bottom of that hill.
And none so far down as the Upstate NY’ers who are suffering under the despotism of the lesser Cuomo. I bet his dictats have a large impact on your upstate prices.
Now, having come from a family of Public servants that included a health inspector, I am firmly AGAINST urban farming. Chickens have no place in an area that is almost %90 impervious surfaces and all the storm drains run to waterways. Plus the flea and other pest intrusion that comes along with them. Because we all know that humans vary in their desire to maintain.
Read a neat article where the Hmong in Minnysoda are raising them in the cities, and using the ol’ metal bucket fulla holes to hold the guts of the perch they poach so the maggots drop to feed the hens.
The perch they are air drying in the same area.
Oh, talk about SMELL……….
Be well, stay safe.
If you too poor to eat chicken then get a 2nd job. Royal Farms is hiring.
I can’t afford chicken because I’m a disabled veteran who is over seventy who is living on a disability pension due to wounds suffered in Viet Nam to protect the rights of these corporations to gouge us on the price of chicken.
What kind of job do you think Royal Farms is going to give me – shoveling chicken **** for minimum wage?
And what a world it has become in America when the common person now has to work two jobs so as to be able to afford to eat chicken.
Cheriton is hiring for all the jobs. Everybody getting fired up in there. The mayor done broke bad.
The powers that be created this monster called Tourism Commission to save The eastern shore they said. They gave it an absolute power to anyone on the Shore with Political aspirations praised them. I thank goodness some(accomack bos) have finally looked behind the curtain. It’s time to take back our shore and support the people who live & work here full time, not the Memorial to labor day crowd. We are rural, not stupid.
Note: Agreed.
HEAR!!!!!! HEAR!!!!!!!!
HEAR!!!!!!!!! HEAR!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course, until the last creative, productive, non-poultry-connected family leaves the area; until the County becomes a complete appendage of third-world countries, many of whose expatriates work at Tyson and Perdue. These companies grow, and the County becomes poorer (note the continuing decline in property values). A visit to Walmart often entails being surrounded by people who speak no English at all, but one can detect a bastardized Spanish and, of course, a patois that attempts to pass as French. County taxpayers will not tolerate this trend indefinitely.
No, they will pack up and leave, leaving behind them real cheap land for more chicken farms.
Mr. Plante, this time you REALLY hit the nail on its head. You’re right. The land WILL be less expensive. Quoting a full-page ad for a beautiful waterfront property in the Eastern Shore Post that has appeared repeatedly for a year, still unsold: “The adjoining land isolates this estate from the poultry factory farming onslaught by protective covenants so the pristine land will remain as one of the last protected, unspoiled land in Accomack County” Accomack’s Board of Supervisors is no friend of the real estate business. All of us would like to be able to sell our houses for a greater price (in non-inflated dollars) than that for which we bought it. Increasingly, this alternative is no longer possible.
And thank you, Don Green, for having the courage to stand up in here and express your thoughts on the subject.
As an aside, do you think that I, as a prospective buyer, would take much comfort from the words “The adjoining land isolates this estate from the poultry factory farming onslaught by protective covenants so the pristine land will remain as one of the last protected, unspoiled land in Accomack County” in an advertisement?
Do you think the stink of chicken **** is a respecter of “protective covenants?”
Your liberal diatribes are completely disgusting. You people do not sound American any longer. Sad. So Sad.
Just curious, but do the managers and owners of these industrial-scale chicken factories live next door to them?
Or do they live in a town where such things aren’t allowed?
Mr Plante, from everything I’ve read, the majority of owners of the new CAFOs don’t live ANYWHERE NEAR their operations. Often, they live FAR away, some in very desirable counties (Albemarle, for example), across the Bay. The Accomack operations employ lots of the third-world types I mentioned in an earlier post.
Regarding the smell, I grew up on a farm and helped my father raise chickens (on a much smaller scale). The smell in hot summer was ALL OVER THE PLACE. It seemed to travel for miles. This was in the ’50s and early ’60s, so we just got used to it. Somerset County was not quite the trash pit that it is today
I grew up poor in the country after WWII, Don Green, so yes, I know quite well the smell of chicken **** on a hot, muggy day in August when it seems to fill every sinus cavity you have in your head, and then some, as well as settling in your mouth and on your tongue so as to gag you.
I lived in a valley and the smell from a neighbor’s multi-story hen house would fill the valley and even inside the house where I lived, more than a quarter-mile away, the stink was everywhere.
Of course, back then, being both poor and ignorant, I didn’t know anything about protective covenants, so perhaps if we had had a protective covenant back then, the stink would have stopped at the property line, as it apparently is going to do down there in Accomack County so that that pristine land down there will remain as one of the last protected, unspoiled land in Accomack County.
If only we had known.