At Thursday night's candidate forum, candidates for Callaway County Presiding Commissioner gave their views on the potential Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) coming to Kingdom City. Current Commissioner Gary Jungermann, Republican, said the commission has concerns regarding the potential hog farm. However, he said the DNR is the big player in CAFOs.
"My duty is not to stop this CAFO right off the bat. My duty is to make sure that in the future everything is monitored and controlled like it's supposed to be," Jungermann said. " I don't think it's my job to stop it. I think it's my job to make sure that the DNR who has rules and regulations put into place do their job and stay focused."
The Callaway County Commission voted in August to form a health committee that would determine if the county needs a health ordinance related to the potential 10,000-hog facility coming to Kingdom City. Thursday night, Jungermann's opponent for Commissioner on Novemeber's ballot, Janet Gruer, Democrat, asked where that health committee is.
"I would like to know where this panel is and who is going to appoint people for this panel," Gruer said. "And I want to make sure they are not related to each other and they are from both sides of this story."
Jungermann previously told the Fulton Sun that the commission is waiting on legal advice from Prosecuting Attorney Chris Wilson before proceeding with the committee.
Ed Lockwood, the Democratic nomination in the House District 43 State Representative race, said CAFO's are necessary.
"CAFO's are a necessary evil," Lockwood said Thursday night. "We have billions of people in the world and they all need to eat. They would all be starving without factory farms."
He added that the big farms are not family farms and should be treated differently. He said CAFOs are big business.
"All the waste that's going to be generated from 10,000 hogs - you've got to have a way to deal with it," Lockwood said. "You have to have a plan for it."