CA: Deal in works to keep dairies from park honoring black settlers

AP on Bakersfield Californian ^ | 3/20/07 | Olivia Munoz - ap

[NormsRevenge]

Tulare County supervisors approved a permit Tuesday to build a pair of mammoth dairies next to a state historic park devoted to black settlers, but a deal was in the works to keep the farms far from the monument to a freed slave.

The plan to put more than 12,000 cows within two miles of Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park pitted Sam Etchegaray against environmentalists and park supporters who said the dairies would be an offensive neighbor, bringing stink, flies and pollution to the black utopia founded in 1908 by the former Army chaplain.

Supervisors said they believe an environmental impact report they approved was thorough.

"A modern dairy is very different," said Supervisor Steve Worthley. "If I thought for one moment that the proposed projects would be injurious to the state park, I would be the first one to deny the approval."

Local farming and business groups supported Etchegaray's plan. Tulare County leads the nation in milk production.

Despite finally gaining the permit approval Tuesday, Etchegaray is now considering selling the land or development rights to the Trust for Public Land, said his attorney, David Albers. He first sought the dairy permits eight years ago.

Etchegaray, however, would still build the farms elsewhere, Albers said. "It has always been his goal to build these dairies to leave to his two sons," he said.

The proposed deal with the Trust for Public Land likely would give the land over to the state parks agency, said Roy Stearns, a spokesman for the state Department of Parks, which also has sought to create a buffer zone.

"The park is so important. It's a part of the California story," said Tim Ahern, a spokesman for the Trust for Public Land.

Environmentalists, who have fought so-called megadairies in the San Joaquin Valley as major polluters, have threatened to sue to block the dairies.

Caroline Farrell, an attorney with the Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment, said her organization will meet with residents in town of Allensworth, located just outside the park, to see if they want to pursue a lawsuit.

Last month, a group of state lawmakers introduced an Assembly bill that would make it illegal to operate animal feeding operations within five miles of the park. The bill has not yet been up for a vote.

Park supporters have filled the county board chambers through several hearings including a great-great nephew of Col. Allen Allensworth.

"My great-great uncle built a town for African Americans to live free on their own," said Charles Allensworth, 56, of San Francisco.

"I always thought he was a man ahead of his time. But here it is almost a hundred years later and we're still confronted with the same issues," he said Tuesday. "I think he would be disappointed today."

[ThomasThomas]

As one who drives though Loma Linda and Chino it only really smells when it rains. And as every one has herd it never rains in California.