Misinformation prompts tense Barry County meeting, chicken houses

CASSVILLE, Mo. — Dozens filled the Barry County Commissioners room in Cassville, upset about what they heard was happening on some farmland in Northeast Barry County.

"We did not want it to become hostile in any way. We wanted to have open dialog. We wanted to have a conversation because what we knew to be fact was staunchly different than what a lot of the people who had come to this meeting outraged about," said State Rep. Scott Cupps (R) for the 158th District.

Many were there to voice their displeasure about plans to have 68 chicken houses on one land.

However, that's not what's actually happening.

It's six to eight chicken houses.

"What we do know is fact is that there is a family farming operation that has applied for the permits that would be necessary through the Department of Natural Resources to construct eight new construction poultry houses on a piece of property that they have purchased in northeastern Barry County. It's 500 plus almost 600 acres, and they have been working with an engineering group and an environmental audit and permitting agency to make sure that everything is above par and that when that original letter from the engineering company went out to neighbors because that is a state requirement that they inform neighbors that of potential plans," said Cupps. "When that original letter went out that said that they were planning on constructing eight poultry houses, somehow that got translated into 68 houses and then with the rumor mill got turned into quite a bit more than that."

Misinformation spread like wildfire, angering residents enough that Cupps told the group he was inundated with dozens of calls on Thanksgiving and felt he needed to clear the air.

"The reason I chose to come this morning was I had an incredibly large number of my constituents that had reached out," Cupps said. "They said that they were all coming to the courthouse to keep it from happening and in the lynch mob fashion. I wanted to make sure that I was here to interject some facts into this conversation."

Chicken houses aren't anything new to the area, but the number being exponentially higher than average caused many concerns.

The number of chicken houses wasn't the only rumor that sparked a negative reaction.

Near the newly purchased is a plot of land where homes are being constructed to be moved when sold.

A rumor that arose was that those homes weren't moving at all, but would house workers brought into the Barry County area that were working on the now-debunked 68 chicken houses.

"The rumor was that they were going to build all these, these houses and that the reason that they were building these, these homes was to house the migrant labor that would be necessary to work the poultry complex, that could not be further from the truth. They have absolutely no relation. As far as rumors go, it's a pretty good one, I guess, but there's just blatantly no truth to it at all," Cupps said. "I understand a little bit how someone could make the assumption that those two projects had any sort of a relationship with one another, but they don't at all."

We talked to the owner of the homes who says it was frustrating when he learned his separate venture had been looped into the rumors.

Cupps says regardless of any potential rumors in the future, he'll make sure the upcoming chicken houses will be followed by the book.

"The one thing that I will do at all cost is to make sure that we do believe that that these people, it's Missouri, we're a right to farm state. We have a very robust, healthy agriculture industry. We're also have a very freedom-loving demographic. We do believe it is those people's right to do what they want to with their land," Cupps said. "The promise that I am making personally to their neighbors as their state representative is that at all costs, we will make sure that they are following the law to the letter that currently exists to make sure that that situation exists."

As of now, there's no timetable for when the chicken houses will be complete.