Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 17, 1994 TAG: 9408170063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Medium
``Our goal is to preserve the way of life here, and that doesn't include a million hogs and millions and millions of gallons of animal waste spread across the countryside,'' said Stephen Merrill, an attorney for the Isle of Wight Defense League, a citizens' group that opposes the hog farms.
``It doesn't smell that bad to me,'' said Adolph Miller Jr., general manager for Carroll Foods of Virginia Inc., the company for which the hog farmers will contract to operate. ``It's not the overpowering thing that some people portray it to be.''
Two farmers, Robert P. Taylor and Henry L. Pulley, have applied for permits for hog farms. Taylor's application is under review by the State Water Control Board, and Pulley's permit has been approved.
Merrill said he will challenge the contracts in court. He said opponents fear the hog farms will devalue surrounding land and damage water supplies.
A public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 17.
One of the farms would be near St. Luke's Church, the most visited historic site in Isle of Wight County, and the other is close to the county courthouse on U.S. 258.
Both locations are a few miles outside Smithfield, an Isle of Wight town that is home to Smithfield Foods Inc., a leading producer of bacon and hams.
Carroll, which supplies hogs to Smithfield Foods, already has five company-operated hog farms in Isle of Wight, and Miller said there have been few complaints.
``If it's agriculturally zoned land, then why can't it be used for agriculture purposes?'' he asked.
But Merrill said Carroll's 20 company-owned farms and 12 farms that supply the company under contracts in North Carolina have caused problems in that state.
``It's an environmental and land-value disaster,'' he said. ``North Carolina has put up $100,000 to determine what can be done about the odor.''
by CNB