State Representative Myron Dossett and Christian Fiscal Court Magistrate Philip Peterson—both of Pembroke—met with representatives of American Foods Group of Green Bay, Wisconsin Thursday morning and told them Christian County wouldn’t be a good fit for their proposed beef processing plant.
Representative Dossett says they met with company officials on behalf of themselves, Pembroke Mayor Judy Peterson and the people of the Pembroke community who spoke at a public meeting Monday night and expressed their objections to American Foods bringing the plant to Commerce Park #2 just outside the city limits of Pembroke.
Squire Peterson believes the people of the community have spoken and don’t want the 500,000 square foot facility that’s being called a “slaughter house” by its opponents.
Supporters of American Foods locating in Christian County point to the 1,300 jobs paying between $18 to $25 it would create and they say it’s heavily regulated by multiple federal agencies. A group associated with the South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council, including Executive Director Carter Hendricks, visited an existing plant from the same company and reported no odors or other outward nuisance created by the facility toward its neighbors.
Even so, Representative Dossett fears there would be odors at least periodically and believes it would diminish living conditions and property values for nearby homes.
The company representatives did not give Dossett and Peterson any assurances either way on whether they’ll come to Christian County, but Dossett says he believes they spoke clearly for the people of Pembroke.
Both Dossett and Peterson say they told the company they hope they’ll consider alternate sites in Kentucky.
No timetable has been announced regarding when American Foods Group may make their decision regarding Christian County.