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Federal Judge Remands HOMES Case Back to State Court
HOMES Scores a Third Major Legal Victory by Having Lawsuit Returned to State Court
Rockford, IL - On Tuesday, April 28, 2009, Judge Philip G. Reinhard, United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, remanded the case of HOMES vs. A.J. Bos back to the state court in Jo Daviess County, Illinois.

This move is the third major legal defeat suffered by millionaire California investor A.J. Bos in his attempt to build an industrial-scale dairy in Jo Daviess County. The final court case was originally set to start in Jo Daviess County in May, but on February 26, 2009, lawyers for the investor petitioned the federal court in Rockford for a change of venue because they were unhappy with their losses in state court.

Their petition relied on the right of a defendant living in a different state from the plaintiffs to ask their case to be heard in a federal court, subject to the laws of the state of Illinois. Once the State Judge, Kevin Ward, dismissed the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) from the case, lawyers for the investor believed they could easily move the case to federal court.

However, since the IDOA was removed involuntarily, federal judge Reinhard, citing case law, agreed with HOMES' attorneys David Albee, Charles Cronauer, and others, that this case should not have been transferred to federal court. Therefore, he remanded it back to the state court in Jo Daviess County.

For the full text of the Press Release, please click here (PDF format) For the full court ruling, please click here (PDF format)

Judge Orders No Bond Required from Plaintiffs in Mega Dairy Injunction.
On December 18, 2008, Judge Kevin Ward ruled that the plaintiffs opposed to the 5,500-head mega dairy being built near Nora, Illinois, do not have to post a bond for the preliminary injunction he issued on October 20, 2008. This ruling is the second major court victory for the plaintiffs, who include the non-profit group HOMES and about a dozen individual citizens living near the proposed facility, which would endanger their health by heavily polluting the surrounding air and water.

For the full text of the Press Release, please click here for the Press Release No Bond (PDF format)

Judge issues Preliminary Injunction!
On Monday, October 20, 2008, Judge Kevin J. Ward of Jo Daviess County signed a Preliminary Injunction Order restraining the operation of a proposed 6,850 animal unit concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) dairy less than a mile from the town of Nora, Illinois in eastern Jo Daviess County.

In the ruling Judge Ward said:
"Groundwater contamination from Defendant Bos' proposed livestock management facility would constitute a substantial future harm and the proposed facility presents a high probability of creating a public and private nuisance by creating an environment injurious to the health and welfare of surrounding neighbors and the public at large. "As such, Plaintiffs have no adequate remedy at law and irreparable harm is likely to result if a preliminary injunction is not granted."

For the full text of the Preliminary Injunction, please click here for the Prelim Injunction (PDF format)

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. Thank him for his support of HOMES and for giving us an Environmental Hero award. Kindly encourage him to take whatever action he can to protect the residents, family farmers, and the environment of Jo Daviess County from the mega dairy. 

Governor Pat Quinn
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: 217-782-0244 or 312-814-2121
TTY: 888-261-3336
Click here to send a message to Governor Quinn:
www.standingupforillinois.org/contact/

Next, call YOUR elected state officials. Let them know that you don't want these industrial facilities anywhere in Illinois. Simply follow this link, click on the "address" or "zip +4" tab and type in the required information to find all of your state and federal officials.

Your elected official: Click here to find their address (http://www.elections.illinois.gov/DistrictLocator/SelectSearchType.aspx)




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.