“Don’t Slaughter Our Cove” group aims to halt chicken plant proposal
Standing outside Pilgrim’s Pride in downtown Chattanooga’s Southside neighborhood, dozens of protesters on Thursday, May 31, announced their challenge to any plan to move the chicken plant to McLemore Cove in Walker County.
The protesters were responding to plans to carve out 300 acres of the 50,000acre countryside for a multi-building, chicken slaughtering facility. The area in question, McLemore Cove, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“We’re not against development, growth or jobs for our neighbors in Walker County. We’re against a chicken plant or any industry in the middle of protected, pristine land that’s of national, cultural and historic value,” said Ruth Almeter, a nearby resident of McLemore Cove. “We hope Commissioner (Shannon) Whitfield and any of the county leadership would use better judgment before ruining this national treasure __Commissioner Shannon Whitfield’s reply when asked about opposition to a commercial chicken processing plant in the McLemore Cove area.
and putting our families in danger. We will do whatever it takes to try to make sure this plant does not move forward in McLemore Cove.”
On Thursday, protesters announced their initiative, “Don’t Slaughter Our Cove,” which urges Walker County to keep Pilgrim’s Pride from putting a chicken plant in McLemore Cove. The group proposes Walker County’s industrial park as a suitable alternative, acknowledging the need for growth and jobs in the area. To acquire what’s been discussed between the county and Pilgrim’s Pride so far, the McLemore Cove Preservation Society filed a lawsuit seeking non-
disclosure agreement documents between the entities.
“McLemore Cove is thousands of acres of natural woods, rolling fields and historic farm land, and it is not suitable for a massive chicken plant,” said Blackwell Smith, business man and longtime resident of the area. “Putting a plant in McLemore Cove will harm property values, ruin a historic site, destroy country roads with chicken trucks creating safety issues and pollute the air and drinking water with dangerous waste and horrible smells. More than that, it