CAFO anger builds (01/22/07)

Jay County Commissioners continue to get intense pressure from some rural residents to regulate the number of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) and confined animal feeding operations (CFO) going up in the county.

Knox Township resident, Paula Confer, who along with Richland Township resident, Janet Walker, have expressed concerns the past few weeks about the number of concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) barns being constructed in those townships, addressed commissioners again today.

"It's time for Jay County Commissioners to "... get off the pot," Confer said this morning about controlling the number of animal operations.

"As far as the Ball State study, it's time for some butt kicking," she added about a study the county undertook in 2005 to see what could be done to help with county control.

That study was initially set for completion in December, but the county's planning commission, as well as commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Faron Parr, are still awaiting those results.

"We need some zoning in the county," Walker suggested about the number of barns.

"I live in a 'hot spot,'" Confer said, noting there are currently 12 CAFO barns in a two-mile radius around her farm located near West Division Road, and commissioners agreed some areas have seen more growth than others.

Commissioners have been under pressure the past two years to look at the concerns, but even after several studies have delayed adopting additional regulations to control such operations.

Current regulations are ones adopted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

Dave Lowe, also a Knox Township farmer who maintains CAFOs as well, said, "I apologize for having to come before you again, but I don't think any farmer is trying to tick off the neighbors."

"We want to make it the best it can be for everybody," he said about concerns of county residents.

Additionally today, commissioners learned from Jay County Treasurer Robin Alberson that the county earned approximately $520,000 in general fund interest from invested funds in 2006, with a total of $560,000 gained in interest in all funds. The interest is placed in various county funds, Alberson explained.

Commissioner Gary Theurer, was re-elected president of the board of finance, and Alberson is secretary.

Meeting as the drainage board, members agreed to make county surveyor Brad Daniels purchasing agent for a new truck for his department.

Daniels said he had received quotes from Fuqua Chrysler-Dodge in Dunkirk for a Dodge Ram truck for $20,596, and from Ken Kunkle Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac for a Chevy truck for $17,709.

Board members agreed to accept the Kunkle quote for a 2007 four-wheel drive vehicle that will include the trade-in of the department's 1999 truck with 145,000 miles.

Daniels also told board members that 29 survey cornerstones located in the county have now been certified by his office.

There are currently 1,900 cornerstones - used in surveying - that his department is in charge of, he said, adding that there are eight cornerstones per land section in the county.[[In-content Ad]]