Thread: Smithfield plans to build new plant

Great, lets just wipe the entire Oklahoma Panhandle out. This proposed Smithfield plant is 20 miles from the Seaboard Plant and once again noone cares what the local residents think. This mecca of corruption is a haven for Illegal Aliens. When I have to go back there to visit relatives it is a pitiful sight to see the rise in crime and the angry helplessness of the local residents.



Some question plant's effect on town
Residents worry about funding for schools, roads, sewage

By Paul Monies
Business Writer

A proposed meatpacking plant for the Oklahoma Panhandle town of Hooker has some residents concerned about infrastructure issues and growing pains when the plant starts production by late 2008.
Smithfield Beef Group Inc. and ContiGroup Cos. Inc. said in October they planned to build a $200 million beef processing plant just outside Hooker that would employ up to 3,000 people. State and local officials praised the economic development coup, but a group of residents wants more answers.

"This is a multinational, multibillion dollar corporation, and the taxpayers should not have to put up the funds to build the infrastructure for them to operate here,” said John Hairford, who has organized a group to oppose the plant.

With Hooker's population of 1,800, Hairford said the city isn't prepared to handle the influx of traffic and people. He estimates the 3,000 jobs will mean another 7,000 to 8,000 people moving to the area, straining schools, police and fire protection and water and sewage.

Hairford said about 140 people attended a Nov. 26 meeting in Hooker to voice their concerns. The group plans another meeting at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Hooker City Park. Guymon's rapid growth since a Seaboard pork processing plant opened a decade ago has Hairford concerned for Hooker's future.

"I would love for this little town to at least stabilize or grow, but I don't want to give it to someone else to grow it,” Hairford said. "Our unemployment is low, and there's no large labor pool, so they'll have to bring these people in.”

Hooker's longtime mayor, Bill Longest, said those concerns are unwarranted. He's been mayor for 13 years, and was Hooker's high school principal for 20 years before that. The area has depended on agriculture and some oil and gas activity, but he's tired of watching area young people go off to college and never returning to the Panhandle.

"The way we've been losing jobs and people, this may be our only hope,” Longest said. "I've sat here and watched our sales tax revenues and city budget decline. This will be a shot in the arm and generate lots of spin-off businesses like restaurants and hotels.”

Longest said he's been assured by executives at Smithfield that the company will help with growth and infrastructure issues. Smithfield did not return calls for comment.

"I can understand their concerns to a certain degree,” Longest said of plant opponents. "It's human nature to be hesitant about change.”

Leslie Blair, a spokeswoman with the state Commerce Department, said officials have put together a task force ranging from agriculture, education, employment and environmental agencies to deal with growth issues. The Commerce Department also is working with local officials to help them apply for grant money for improvements.

"Smithfield chose this Texas County location, but this change is not going to happen overnight,” Blair said. "This will give us time to plan.”

State Agriculture Secretary Terry Peach said officials have almost two years before the plant starts operations. Construction is expected to begin in January, and the plant will have roughly 1,500 workers when production begins in late 2008. It will take a little while before it fully ramps up to 3,000 employees, he said. Many of the workers are expected to commute from a radius of up to 100 miles.

"I think a $200 million plant and 3,000 jobs is pretty hard to be upset about,” Peach said.

Hairford said while local officials might have been consulted about plans for the plant, nobody thought to ask local residents.

"It seems like they decided, and we're getting this whether we like it or not,” he said. "I would love for this little town to at least stabilize or grow, but I don't want to give it to someone else to grow it.”

John Hairford

http://www.newsok.com/article/2986043/?print=1

Its not "We the People" any more, Its "we the corporations" and "we the illegal aliens"! And lets not forget "we the muslims". All else is secondary in America and of no importance!

Unfortunately that is very true!!!