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Opposes hog confinement

To the editor:

In recent months Iowa Select Farms has submitted applications for a proposed 5,000-head hog confinement to be constructed one mile from the city limits of Clare.

I speak for myself, but I know in my heart this is a voice and message for us all in and around Clare. While we may be a small community surrounded by other larger ones, we are certainly not without larger-than-life family, faith, pride and heart. Many of which are direct descendants of our forefathers that settled here in Clare. Among those are our friends and family who are also livestock producers whom we are so proud to have here.

This proposed site by Iowa Select Farms would be but another nail in the coffin of our way of life here in our Clare community in Webster county. The site would deplete our already fragile ecosystem of water, as well as add potential contamination to our local streams and waterways. It would add an infestation of insects and other vermin. It will most definitely decrease our property values by more than half. Our fresh clean air will be tainted with the overwhelming smell of manure. Not to mention the unappealing eyesore the site will be in the present and future.

Some may ask how I know these things will happen. It is a fact. Iowa Select Farms is not the first. Our small community already has seen what these companies will do. Not one, not two, but more than three failed abandoned confinements already consume a 10 mile or less radius of Clare, Iowa. They were abandoned, left unsecured and contaminated many years ago. We have already been subjected to this type of infestation and will not be subjected to it again.

We need to stand together and we need the help of all to stop Iowa Select Farms from destroying our way of life, our businesses, our farms, our community, and our natural resources.

Please join us Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 10 a.m. in the Webster County Courthouse to show your support and voice your opposition to Iowa Select Farms.

Lori Rial

Clare

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