Organizers have canceled an Oct. 12 meeting they were planning to rally opposition to a slaughterhouse that American Foods Group considered building near Pembroke.
David Wimpy, who lives on John Rivers Road about a mile from the proposed site, said his group decided there was no reason to meet after the South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council announced Monday evening that AFG had dropped Christian County from consideration and would pursue a site (or sites) elsewhere.
“We take the parties at their word,” said Lindsey Clark, another opponent who was helping organize the meeting at the Christian County Cooperative Extension Service.
AFG, the country’s fifth-largest beef processor, is based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. According to local recruiters who were involved in talks with AFG, the company said it plans a 500,000-square-foot plant that would employ between 1,300 and 1,400 workers and slaughter more than 2,000 cows a day.
Local opposition developed quickly when word got out that a massive beef processing plant was looking to build in Christian County. During a community meeting on Sept. 27 in Pembroke, residents of the area named concerns ranging from the smell of cattle and manure, to truck traffic, wastewater treatment, groundwater pollution, the available workforce, housing for workers and school capacity.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
