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Businessman says accusations overblown Edgefielddaily.com web posted June 17, 2005 Nadine Horne and her group from Trenton Lakes and surrounding areas has approached the county for zoning regulations for their area in order to help them stop a chicken farm from going in on bordering property. The property at issue is the location Rodney Cato of Trenton intends to begin operations for a chicken farm. The property is an 81 acre tract and, “the entire operation will be contained on just three acres,” Mr. Cato said. “This has been five years in the process and we have been working with DHEC for well over a year,” from finding the location to meeting federal requirements to be approved for the farm. Mr. Cato said the concerns of run off and environmental impact are over exaggerated. “This is a dry farm,” he said, “we bring the chickens in as chicks and keep them for just eight weeks,” before they are shipped out and the houses are sanitized during a two week period after shipping. Most of the information that Mrs. Horne is using is based on laying houses Mr. Cato said, “they bring in chickens full grown and keep them for six months,” he said and laying hens produce far more waste than the young chicks for just eight weeks and the turn over keeps the houses very clean. “We contract with a waste broker who will come in and take all the waste and they take it to farmers and spread it on turned over fields,” Cato said, “We have no waste pits and will not store any waste on premises”. Mr. Cato said he was investing in “broiler chickens”, “This is a million dollar operation,” he said and promoted the fact that all the chickens were raised on a high protein diet and that no hormones or steroids were used to promote growth. “The chickens will put on about a pound a week,” he said using the high protein feed. Mr. Cato said he was going to be attending the upcoming council meeting and was unaware that the group had met with the planning commission or the joint meeting with county officials Wednesday night. “Nobody has contacted me,” about any of the meetings Mr. Cato said. “I would have been happy to have attended,” he said. One of the sticking points Building and Planning Director Howard Gibson said was the claim by Horne that Mr. Cato had lied on the application for permits with federal agencies. “If he lied on them it’s out,” he said. Mr. Cato said he could not comment on the legal aspects of the application or the land deal that was undertaken, “All I can say is everything is in order,” and that all parties involved have worked through the process with authorities. The legal challenges being pursued by Mrs. Horne and her group are not directed at Mr. Cato, “they have to fight them (DHEC),” he said, “we have done everything we were supposed to do.” Mrs. Horne agrees saying they have hired an attorney to dispute the permit that has already been granted and that does not involve Mr. Cato. Mrs. Horne said the group plans to meet again in coming weeks before going before the county council to request zoning being placed on the area. Mr. Cato said he would also be present at the meeting to answer any concerns anyone may have involving the chicken farm. Return to Main Page
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