Leaders of a historic Missouri village say state parks and historic sites are threatened by big hog farms and they want stronger protections for them. They say their town is a prime example. A farmer less than two miles from the historic central Missouri village of Arrow Rock wants to raise 48-hundred pigs. The community of 79 people says the operation will damage property values, cause health problems, will put a big dent in the town’s only industry–tourism–and will hurt the state park next to the town. David Finke, the President of the new Citizens to Protect State Parks and Historic Sites, says the strong renewal of the parks and soils tax last August proves Missourians want to preserve state parks and want them “unencumbered by foul odors from agri-industrial operations on (their) borders.” He wants the legislature to order a moratorium on development of confined animal feeding operations and to give the natural resources department more power to control their develoment. Another Arrow Rock resident has told lawmakers DNR lacks the authority it should have to protect irreplacable historic resources and state parks.
