A proposed turkey farm in Bladen County is one step closer to approval. The county Health Department says it can't find any reason why a turkey farm would pose a health threat to residents around the proposed site in Dublin. Residents are reacting.
"Very disappointed," Dublin resident Douglas Butler said.
That was one Dublin resident's reaction when the health department made its determination. A turkey farm would not present health risks to residents, but residents say otherwise.
"There's no way you're going to dump poultry waste on that land and contain it to where it doesn't run off and contain it to where it doesn't flow into my wetlands," Resident Jimmy Freeman said.
Water quality was a factor when the Health Department assessed the potential poultry farm. Members of the board visited other turkey farms in the area, and at the meeting presented their findings. The board says if Prestige built a facility like the one members visited, runoff wouldn't be a problem. Residents aren't buying it.
"Folks are upset. This is being put on them by outsiders," Freeman said.
The county Board of Health says water containment issues are state regulated, so it doesn't have much control over them anyway. It can enact setback laws. Those are rules that dictate where a turkey house can be built. The board did agree to review set back laws that would require a poultry house to be at least 1000 feet from any home.
"I reckon we got a little bit more than we expected but we didn't get near what we wanted," Douglas Butler said.
Even so, Jimmy Freeman says that's too close and vows to keep fighting.
"Any American wants to protect his home and family," Freeman said.
The Board of Health says at this point, it's likely that the turkey farm will go forward. It has already been given a permit.
IT IS ALL ABOUT MONEY HONEY.
IT IS ALL ABOUT MONEY HONEY. I CAN'T SEE A TURKEY FARM HURTING DUBLIN, IT CAN'T BE ANY WORSE IN THAT AREA. THERE IS A PLANT FULL OF HOGS POLLUTING THE WHOLE COUNTY JUST DOWN THE ROAD.
thats so true
that hog plant has ruined this county . smithfield has destoryed this county. it has brought in thousands of outsiders cars and hog trucks that never stop now thinks to that nasty plant. it is down right sicking and the people in charge of bladen county need to be brought up on charges
Eliminate the Board of Health
Why don't people in Bladen County do away with the "ignorant" board of health all together. It seems as if these self proclaimed engineers and air/water quality experts know a whole lot more than anyone on the board of health does. If yall are such experts on modern day poultry facilities, I'm sure you were aware that they have three ft concrete sidewalls on top of six inches of clay floors. I don't know if you realize how much water it would take to fill a 500 ft house with three foot walls over to get runoff.
"Do the Johnsons or Murphy's have anything to do with this?" You mean to tell me that you aren't affiliated with them? I'm shocked, I figure that as much as you knew about poultry you had to be.
While yall are trying to turn over Bladen Counties Board of Health, go ahead and call immigratin services while you were at it. I'm sure it will take about 15 or 20 illegal aliens to run a 4 house poultry operation(sarcasm). If you are so worried about them poisoning your food, heres some food for your thought, get off your rear and grow your own food.
Obviously, no one who posts or reads any of these comments know anything about agriculture or how tough it is to make it nowdays. Farmers have idiots like this against them all the time. Fuel prices are rising, land costs are rising, and commodity prices are staying the same.
turkey farm
New Hanover county is a prime location for one. There are thousands of turkeys on the loose int the county now.
Keep the Funk out of the
Keep the Funk out of the PortCity...
gobble gobble
Turkey for the girls and Turkey for the boys
My favorite kind of pants Are corduroys
Gobble gobble goo and Gobble gobble gickel
I wish turkey Only cost a nickel.......
How much will it end up costing you, Bladen County?
North Carolina is Still An Agrarian State....
...and Bladen County is a rural county.
Where do you folks think turkeys come from? They're grown on farms that take up quite a bit of land. No one is going to shell out $500,000 an acre for a beachfront turkey farm in Brunswick or Pender County when they can buy land for $4000 an acre in Bladen County. This will be just another one of ten gazillion farms in rural North Carolina.
So where would you like this farm to relocated - anywhere but in your neighborhood, right? The NIMBY reaction, plain and simple. Who cares if it's an ideal location, close to a mega-processing plant?
Look at the positive side - yes, turkey farms occasionally stink, but the smell may keep the Dublin area from some day resembling Wilmington. The smells of farming in rural America are far preferable to people being dense-packed into a county the size of a postage stamp. If they'd bulldoze Porter's Neck and Figure Eight Island and built turkey farms there, I'd be cheering. I'll take stinky turkeys over another "Northern interloper who's here to straighten the dumb hicks out" neighbor any day.
Smells
I agree, turkey, chicken, and pig farms smell bad, especially if you are downwind from one. I know they are usually located out in the country where it is lightly populated. You do bring up a very interesting point. People crowd into areas, paying huge amounts for land and houses. With the population in these areas being so dense the developers have to install sewer systems. This waste, just like animal waste has to go somewhere. Yes, as a starting point you flush your toilet in your house, but there has to be an ending point too. If you think animal waste stinks, you should be downwind of a human waste facility. Animal waste smells sweet compared to this stuff. And for those important people who are too good for us farmers think your stuff don't stink? Yeah right! Think again!
Dublin Turkey Farm Will Pollute the Air with Noxious Odos
I have ridden in my car by turkey farms, and the smell of turkey excrement--a sickly, nauseating odor-- penetrated the interior of my car.
I live in the Dublin area, and I enjoy sitting in my yard and on my porch. I enjoy breathing fresh air. Is it too much for me to want to breathe fresh air? Believe me, if the turkey INDUSTRY (not a farm) locates in my area, the air quality will plummet drastically along with the quality of my life.
This is an issue that may have disastrous consequencies for our citizens, so it cannot be ignored. The people in and around Dublin should fight this proposed turkey INDUSTRY loudly and vigorously, and never give up.
It happens...
Follow the money trail. Did anyone in this area pay attention to the bird flu scare news? Do they even care? It clearly must not be located in the backyard of anyone on the Bladen County Board of Health.
Big industry strikes again, this case in a small town. To be sure this will affect the quality of life of those nearby. The only thing that possibly smells worse than a hog farm is a poultry farm. The Health Board there ould have stopped this in a second if they wanted too. A permit for this should never have been issued pending meetings and consultations. Last minute meetings and consultations of big poultry farms should not have allowed to let this move forward.
Dublin ought to propose a tax on every single bird that is raised there and sent away for processing. At least the town could get some money out of the deal until they could attract a less polluting form of business.
Water quality should be monitored now and air quality standards need to be taken now to form a baseline to have to compare future pollution levels. These factor in on the "quality of life" case that the affected citizens would need to show in a Civil lawsuit that they need to be preparing for in the future.
Boycott turkey and any place that will hire illegal aliens to work at places like these. And yes, they will be there, Smithfield Foods right up the road has hundreds of illegal aliens working there that may pass TB, E. Coli and other diseases down the food processing chain to your children.
Surprise, surprise...
Doesn't surprise me a bit that the forces of industry are able to overwhelm an ignorant county board and persuade them that turkey farms right next door are a great thing. After the bird flu scare, what else could make them see this as a good idea? It is general knowledge that avian diseases can be spread a plenty from airborn particles of waste matter introduced to the immediate area.
How would you like your kids to play in a backyard like that?
Bird flu in the air
Im curious, can bird flu be spread hundred miles or so in strong winds. I mean aint germs microscopic? Cant they be caught up in storm winds and carried all over. Remember how smoke from forest fires travels same thinjg should be alble to happen with bird flu or any disease.
Do the Murphys or johnsons have anything to do with this?
what difference does it make
what difference does it make if the murphys or johnsons have anyting to do with this
what difference the murphys/johnsons make?
what difference do they make you ask? ham and egg bisquits pollute our drinking water.