Groves’ leadership shirks its duty

On Oct. 13, the town of Loxahatchee Groves and Palm Beach County became “ground zero” for a huge animal-cruelty bust. Two of the three illegal slaughterhouses raided were in the Groves.

The evil, heartless individuals arrested, and others like them, hide in agricultural areas and allegedly attempted to use the “Right to Farm Act” to carry out their crimes. They allegedly violated this act in many ways, including improper dumping of animal waste. Law enforcement can make arrests, but it took years to make these happen.

Town Manager Bill Underwood took a proactive approach and had placed, on the Oct. 20 Town Council agenda, an item to discuss creating a work group to review slaughterhouses and possibly consider eliminating them.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Town Council removed two items from the agenda: a recreational-vehicle resolution and the slaughterhouse review. So there was no discussion of what can be done to confirm that slaughterhouses are operating legally, complying with health codes or disposing of waste properly.

As one concerned resident put it, the turtle is part of our logo, and these council members have decided to pull their heads into their shells. Jupiter gas stations could charge what they wanted, because people will pay.

Drivers can quickly influence that, just by not getting gas in Jupiter. I coordinate my errands with getting gas in Palm Beach Gardens or other places, saving sometimes 30 to 40 cents a gallon. If we stop paying higher prices, simple economics says that “demand dropping equals prices dropping.”

If just one Jupiter gas station drops pricing equitably with Palm Beach Gardens pricing, I predict the Jupiter station will have more business than it can handle, and it will earn all of my business. The only people they’ll make unhappy are other station owners.

We do have voice.