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 Home A. J. Bos Factory Farms Jo Daviess County Residents Media Why You Should Oppose This Factory How to Help Donate Money 
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Latest News! We're in Court! The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) approved this facility on Friday, May 30th. On Tuesday , June 3rd, HOMES filed a lawsuit against the IDOA and the applicant to stop construction. On June 16th, the applicant broke ground and started to construct this facility even though this lawsuit will force him to stop construction. Sept. 29th and 30th, 2008: Next Court Date Our next court dates are September 29th and 30th, both at 9am, in the Jo Daviess County Courthouse in Galena. The public is invited! However, we're scheduled for the small courtroom, so there will be very limited seating. Special Meeting in Stockton Join us on Tuesday, September 9th at 6:30 pm at Holy Cross Church Hall at 223 E Front Ave in Stockton for an informational meeting. Click here for a timetable of our fight. Community Meeting HOMES invites you to attend our community meetings. We meet every Tuesday night at 6:30 pm at Hixster's, right above the BP station in downtown Warren. History A wealthy California businessman wants to build a 13,000 head factory dairy in Jo Daviess County, right next to Nora. The waste from all of these cows will drain into several ponds with a total surface area of around 70 acres. According to this investor's engineer, these ponds will not be aerated, which will allow the waste to ferment, releasing methane and ammonia into the air. Eventually, hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated waste will be pumped onto 10,000 to 20,000 acres of adjacent farm land. Due to the rolling hills that make this unglaciated part of Illinois so beautiful, some of that waste will accumulate, run into drainage pipes laid beneath these fields, and get transported to rivers and streams where it can kill fish. This unsustainable concentration of animals will pollute the air, water, and soil. The smell will drive down property values for miles around. The chemicals released can cause adverse health affects in people living nearby. The low paying jobs created will not help the local economy. The flood of cheap milk will further harm the endangered family owned dairies. And tourists who come to Jo Daviess County to spend money and to get away from the noise and smells of the city will be enveloped in a cloud of particulate matter and foul smelling air for miles around the plant. The profits will all go to California. The waste will all stay here. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Call the Governor. He appointed the state Agriculture board that is allowing this project. Let him know that you don't want this factory located anywhere in Illinois. Click here to find talking points to explain why you, personally, don't want this plant. Governor Rod Blagojevich 207 State House Springfield, IL 62706 Phone: 217-782-0244 or 312-814-2121 TTY: 888-261-3336 Illinois.gov/ContactTheGovernor Call the director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Tell him to honor the wishes of the county board and the citizens of Jo Daviess County, and deny this application. You can read up on all of these issues here. Tom Jennings, Director State of Illinois Department of Agriculture P.O. Box 19281, State Fairgrounds Springfield, IL 62794-9281 (217) 785-4789 FAX: 217.785.4505 Next, call YOUR elected state officials. Let them know that you don't want these plants anywhere in Illinois. Simply follow this link, and type in your address, to find all of your state and federal officials. Your elected official: Click here to find their address (Elections.illinois.gov/DistrictLocator) Still up to making calls? Then contact Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and thank him for asking the county board to vote no. His support for our cause is needed to help convince the Department of Agriculture to deny this application. Lt. Governor Pat Quinn 214 State House Springfield, IL 62706 Phone: 217-782-7884 Fax: 217-524-6262 StandingUpForIllinois/contact 
Finally, if you visit this area, let the hotels, restaurants, stores, etc. that you frequent know that you are upset about this. We need all of them to rally around and keep this economic and ecologic disaster from happening. | |
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