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Trimble County residents consider selling homes if sludge farm moves in

R&R Septic and Excavation is still trying to find a place to install a sludge farm and no one seems to want it.

TRIMBLE COUNTY, Ky. — R&R Septic and Excavation is still trying to find a place to install a sludge farm and no one seems to want it.

Henry County said no, and now people living in Trimble County, Kentucky are joining them to also say no way. A permit shows the company recently bought land in Trimble County to dump the waste after people in Henry County told them to go somewhere else in April.

The people of Trimble County are doing whatever it takes to stop the waste farm from coming to their part of town. Diane McKinney said she learned about the permit in June and discovered her home of 38 years would be right next to the waste farm. Since then, she created a Facebook group with more than 391 members opposing the proposal and has organized a petition. She said some of them are also speaking with an environmental lawyer.

"This county needs to be protected,” McKinney said. "There is a big public outcry over this. Like a thief in the night, they snuck in without anyone knowing it and bought the land."

R&R said the sludge is a byproduct of a warehouse that makes jams, jellies and salsa.

“They can say that it’s just fruits and vegetables or whatever, but down the road what are they going to be bringing into this county ten years from now? Will it be Septic?” resident, Jackie Jeffries said.

R&R representatives were working out in the field Monday. They did not want to speak with WHAS11 reporters, so we reached out to the company's office but we did not get a response. In April, WHAS11 News spoke with the company’s attorney at the time, John Talbott, after Henry County denied the waste farm proposal. Talbott said the farm is an organic and environmentally-friendly way to recycle the waste.

"The thing that really concerns me is leaking down to our main creek which is Hardy Creek and that runs into Little Kentucky River," Jeffries said. "Our livestock drink out of this creek."

A fiscal court hearing will take place Monday night to determine whether a planning and zoning commission ordinance should be passed in the county.

"If we had planning and zoning we could've definitely stopped this, but they want to tell you planning and zoning won't stop it,” McKinney said.

It worked in Henry County after the residents at the Planning and Zoning Board of Adjustments' shut down the proposal. If it fails, Trimble County residents are worried it will allow R&R to run its sludge farm without restrictions.

McKinney and Jeffries said they are considering selling their homes if the sludge farm is a go. Some of the residents have been speaking with State Rep. Rick Rand sharing their concerns. McKinney said Rand is talking with R&R in hopes of setting up a public meeting in the future.  

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