County should support O’Neal’s development
TO THE EDITOR:
As a citizen of Warren County, it concerns me the leaders of our community are willing to deter people from starting a new business venture.
Our county is in a huge economic depression from lack of industry, of which I foresee no immediate change. One of our life-long residents has a dream and attempts to make that dream come true and he gets shot down by the very people who should be supportive of his venture.
Dwight O’Neal has been in the nursery business all of his life, but had a vision of changing his use of farm land, and providing an income for himself and his family as well as the ability to hire local individuals who need to work. The family farm and agricultural industry in Warren County is changing and we, as farm families, must change with it to keep our land, land which means so much to us and our families.
Many of us who have been raised on a family farm realize it is increasingly hard to survive all the hurdles in agriculture, such as low prices for products and weather conditions that make it hard to make a living and keep the family farm in operation.
Mr. O’Neal has attempted to do just that and has been given hoops to jump through, of which he has done and now it’s not good enough for those who have made the requests.
Our county cannot and will not grow if our elected and/or appointed officials cannot agree or step up to the plate and do what they say. If the county is not responsible for the road into the development, why have county officials governed Mr. O’Neal and his actions, and why have they spent county funds to help with the project if they are not responsible for the road into the development?
It appears to many of us in the community that there are those within our county government who would like to see those like Mr. O’Neal fail in their attempts to fulfill a dream of keeping the family farm, providing an income for his family, and providing much-needed jobs for members of our community.
Tammie Gribble
Hennessee Bridge Road
Rock Island