Dear Editor:

We would like to clarify some issues related to the proposed barns for the 8000-plus hogs near Beanblossom and Arnold Roads. We very much support agriculture in Darke County. We chose to live in this community years ago, we love its agricultural heritage and are proud of Darke County ranking near the top in the state in agricultural receipts.

We are not opposed to hog barns in general, or the landowners in particular who propose to build the 8000-plus hog operation. We think the location for this large of an operation is a bad idea. We feel there are too many people who live too close — over 100 homes in a one-mile radius. Greenville City limits are just over one mile east. There are two large residential neighborhoods there, directly east of this site. The quality of life and property values of many citizens will be affected.

We are also concerned about the approximately 100 water wells for the homes in this area and the potential environmental and health impacts caused by potential air and water pollution.

Depending on the turnover of the hogs in a year, there could be many more than just 8,000 a year occupying the barns. There could be more hogs living one mile from Greenville City limits that there are people in the city. They use a lot of water and create a lot of manure.

The location is a bad idea and creates a potential safety issue for the families nearby and the cars driving on these roads. Beanblossom and Seiler Roads were designed as residential roads. They are only 17 feet wide. According to the county engineer, one legally loaded semi is like 9,600 cars driving over the road. Is it the taxpayers who will pay for necessary road upgrades or repair of the damage caused by the truck traffic to service all those hogs all year?

We learned in a letter from Tyson Foods that “they have no plans to do business with the proposed facility.” On behalf of all the neighbors, we would like to publicly thank Tyson Foods for being the good neighbor it mentions on its website. We don’t know who the landowners will now choose to do business with, but we hope they will also be good neighbors and recognize what nearly everyone in the neighborhood believes — this is a bad location for this type of project.

Steve and Eileen Litchfield