Well-last week Lil Dumplin and the old hillbilly went to have a "look see" at some more hillbillys in the Smokey Mountains again. We've grown kina fond of that place and all those fine folks! The crowds, traffic and high prices are not at the top of our list but those mountains sure are!

Whilst we were gone--a big humdinger of a problem surfaced just down the road a mite east of our house. I'd written about the huge hog confinment [6000 feeder hogs] that is pollutin the waterwells around here, stinkin up the entire area, pollutin the creeks and river just west of me. EPA? Forget it! They are apparently in cahoots sith the big Agri-business companies who sponser these polluted sites!

Well anyhow--seems Mr Hogfarmer didn't check on his hogs daily as required. Everything is automated--feed, water, heat etc. He finally show's up one day last week--first in over 14 days!!! The automatic waste disposal that "flushes" every little bit had continued doin what it was designed for. Problem was a big hog [market weight is around 270#] had died and stopped up the drain. REsult was between 450 and 500 head of market weight hogs had drown in their own sewage!!!! I can't imagine that happenin either! Mr Lazy hog farmer hired two men to go inside and drag out the dead hog, let the sewage drain and then drag out all those dead hogs. He set on his tractor with a endloader---drove to a little pit where he dumped'm. After all was taken care of, covered up etc. the EPA show'd up. They didn't like the way those dead animals were disposed of. He had to dig up all of'm and hire a back hoe to burry'm properly--while they watched. Took the backhoe 3 long, expensive days to finish.

I'm still scratchin my old head tryin to figger out why the EPA actually did something about'm this time. All the other times they just turned their collective heads and ignored the pleas of myself and neighbors.

Mr Hogfarmer says he's gonna sell out. I think he should! I don't want to see anybody go broke, sure hate to see animals condemned to such a slow and painful death but maybe it's time for "big brother" to kinda rein in those big hog factory sponsoring companies and make'm run their factories in a humane way!

I sure am glad I don't eat hog anymore. Quit all red meat about 4 months ago and replaced it with Iced T, chik'n and buncheds of veggies!

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Folks that's Jesus Christ the Book is talkin about. He's still alive and waiting to hear your prayer of repentance. Tomorrow may be too late. He's coming back and real soon. Old hoot. Matt.24:44

-- old hoot gibson (hoot@pcinetwork.com), April 16, 2002

Answers

Boy that's incredible Hoot. What a mismanged mess that sounds like! Sorry to hear you have a neighbor like that. Too bad the EPA couldn't just shut him down right then and there.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), April 16, 2002.

That's one of the sickest things I've ever heard. I'd hate to be in his shoes at the pearly gates. I like to think that Somebody keeps track of the suffering we've caused & the suffering we've stopped, and that we're dealt with accordingly after we die! (Congrats on your steps toward a more humane diet, Hoot! Every little thing counts.)

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), April 17, 2002.

I'm glad they are properly buried. I read in the paper a few years back during a heat wave that a confinement chicken operator had to bury a lot of dead birds that died because his air conditioning wasn't good enough. The thing is, the burial pit fermented and then blew up, just like a bottle of champagne. I am not a big fan of confinement systems but I had to feel for that farmer, who was going by the book and doing the best he could, and was having such troubles.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), April 17, 2002.

An update on the hogs. I just found out that Cargill loaded up the remaining 5500 hogs and shipped'm out the day this all was discovered. Seems that Mr Hog farmer doesn't have to worry about quittin business. It apparenty was decided for'm.

I stopped and talked to my neighbor just north of the hog houses. He said he'd heard hogs squealin and then sounded like they were gurglin some. He now knows it was the hogs drownin at that time. He also said he wished'd known at that time. He would've went down and opened a door and let the sewage run out on the ground. The ground is already saturated with the "soup" from several years of it "leakin" into the dirt.

Makes my new diet sound even better. Nothing wrong with pork regarding Christian teaching and beliefs. Almighty God said we are not to call anything unclean that He had made. I agee but with all the chemicals, growth hormones etc etc that's injected into the farm animals it is no longer "clean"! Beef, turkeys and chik'n are all unfit to eat now unless they are fed organic feed without all those nastys injected in the meat.

Many are the things that cause cancer in humans. Herbal treatments are now available that will kill the cancer cells without Chemo and radiation and no sideeffects. In case anybody is interested in those cancer cures check out the herbal webpage where I buy my herbs. www.drherb.com is the website. I don't need the herbs for cancer as I've already been healed of it by the Mighty Power of Almighty God. [Gen. 1:19, Is. 53:5, I Peter 2:24] I do want to keep anything else from creepin in on me unaware.

Hot here this afternoon with temps close to 90F. Come on summer!!

old hoot. Matt.24:44

-- old hoot gibson (hoot@pcinetwork.com), April 17, 2002.

Hey guys! The site addy I gave [drherb] is wrong. Try www.herbalhealer.com. Sorry about that senior moment. old hoot. Matt.24:44

-- old hoot gibson (hoot@pcinetwork.com), April 17, 2002.

Lazy is lazy and yee reap what yee sow. As to the injunction against cloven hoofed animals. Worms. You don't even have to cremate pork anymore as mom cooked it years ago. As to vegan, our appendix would not be atrophied and we would not still have canines if our sole source of food was meant to come from plants. Even Chimps hunt meat.

-- Dennis Enyart (cowboy405@yahoo.com), April 18, 2002.

eating meat isn't a 'humane diet"? That sounds like an oxymoron to me.

Hoot, thanks for that website. Lots of good info there.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), April 18, 2002.

Grandpa Hoot, it figures, nothing new in town for years, but just leave for a little vacation, and all kinds of new things happen! That is terrible what happened to all the hogs. I guess that just goes to show that even with all the new automatic gadgets, things can still go wrong! Glad to hear He healed your "C". But I know that you still have lots of stuff to teach us young uns!! God bless. P.S. Did Calvin forgive you yet for locking him in the vehicle?!?

-- Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania (kirklbb@penn.com), April 21, 2002.