July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.

Results of CAFO study complete (03/05/07)

Jay County Commissioners

By By MARY ANN LEWIS-

Results from a study on the impact of concentrated animal feeding operations in the county are expected to be reviewed by the Jay County Planning Commission on Thursday, Jay County Commissioners learned today.

Commissioner Gary Theurer, who serves as the commissioners' representative on the planning commission, told Milo Miller Jr. and Faron Parr today that the report is completed.

The increasing number of CAFOs and confined feeding operations (CFOs) in the county has been of concern to rural residents for the past several years.A report from Ball State University's Office of Building Better Communities was approved in late 2006 to study how that industry affects the county.

A report on the study in Randolph County was recently completed. A similar report for Jay County was completed in early January, and Theurer said at that time it was a "disappointment" to the planning commission since it only detailed the financial impact of the industry.

He said today, "I hope we're not disappointed this time."

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the courthouse.

Concerning those operations, two rural Jay County residents who for the past several months have been vigorously asking commissioners to implement tighter regulations, again expressed their concerns today.

Paula Confer, a resident of Knox Township, and Janet Walker, who farms in Richland Township, and who for the past few months have been vigorously asking commissioners to implement tighter regulations, were in attendance this morning.

"I'm just asking for zoning," Walker said.

"We have zoning," Miller said. "Everybody thinks we don't have any, but we do."

"We have a bare minimum," Walker said.

"We have to look at both sides," Miller said. "We can't make decisions on the spur of the moment."

"We're in a new generation," Walker said about the way farming is operated now.

"We're just fighting for more rules," Confer said.

Also today, commissioners learned that a request to fund home rehabilitation projects in Jay and three other counties through Community and Family Services Inc. has been turned down for the first time in a long time.

Program director Terry DeLong of CFS told commissioners today the local program, funded through Indiana Housing Finance Authority, had requested $300,000 that would provide assistance to low-income families to improve housing, but that the request had been denied.

He said a large chuck of funds available in Indiana had gone to Adams County to assist with a building project in Geneva to provide housing for migrant workers at the Red Gold facility. Adams County was awarded about $1 million for the project, he said.

Locally the project aids families in Blackford, Huntington, and Wells counties as well as Jay County. It received $223,500 in 2006 and assisted 15 families.

The next round of grants will be awarded in August and DeLong said he would be submitting an application for the assistance.[[In-content Ad]]
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