MARGOT MCMILLENS THOUGHTS ON HOW THE DNR CAFO MEETING WENT LAST NIGHT IN HATTON Here is an important point from her notes below: We can all give up factory meats, even if its just a boycott for a day or a week or a month. In Callaway County, its easy to get family-raised meats. I gave up factory meats in 1996 on the basis that if its not messing up our neighborhood, its messing up somebody elses. This means giving up meat from Sams, Wal-Mart, etc., and ASKING at restaurants where meat comes from. Sometimes you have to have a vegetarian meal if the wait staff doesnt know the answer, but thats not going to kill you! ______________________________________________ The morning after the DNR hearing: Last night, we accomplished much. I hope that EVERYONE jots down a few of their feelings this morning so that we can collect them. We may not feel like winners... yet... but weve taken a huge step on the way to success. We showed we have a lot of support and the CAFO does not. Everyone told their stories in their own, personal ways and thats what the hearing was supposed to bring out. We are learning how to play the game, something that the pro-CAFO guys learned 20 years ago. Amazingly, their best players were noticeably absent—UMC extension was absent, Pork Producers were absent, commodity groups were absent. This was the most amazing part of the evening to me. It was great to see Callaway Commissioner Doc Kritzer at the meeting and to hear the statement of the county commission. They are going to be noncommittal, but thats a step forward. Up until now theyve been silent. I was especially touched that many Boone County folks were there and some other out-of-towners, from St. Louis and from Putnam County, came a long way to support us. If I was a Pork Master, I would feel abandoned by the Eichelbergers and not terribly clever about hooking up with them. We were also very respectful and DNR noticed that and appreciated it. FORAG got a lot of media attention, which was excellent. We can keep this going and put a few more strategies in place. One of the media (Daria Kerridge from KOPN) had been to the JFAN meeting in Iowa. This is a group that started like ours and has grown in Iowa to 500 members. Shirley has put some of their stuff on our Facebook page. Daria suggests that we begin thinking in terms of a bi-state organization. Ideas: Bring more attention to the historic and resource-rich nature of the neighborhood, especially Prairie Chapel and Hatton School. On a personal level: We can all give up factory meats, even if its just a boycott for a day or a week or a month. In Callaway County, its easy to get family-raised meats. I gave up factory meats in 1996 on the basis that if its not messing up our neighborhood, its messing up somebody elses. This means giving up meat from Sams, Wal-Mart, etc., and ASKING at restaurants where meat comes from. Sometimes you have to have a vegetarian meal if the wait staff doesnt know the answer, but thats not going to kill you! The Farm Bureau lobbyist was at our meeting last night, by the way. She left about ¾ of the way through. She probably also have noticed the distinct lack of support for the CAFO. Maybe shell take that back to the office!
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 17:31:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015