OPINION/EDITORIAL Letters to the Editor

sion you think of them - send a little something to help on upkeep.

Please, as you go to the cemetery, find the box or person or mail a donation to their cemetery for this upkeep of your loved ones’ final resting place so it can be cared for properly.

in rural Grundy County, Missouri. We live at the far end of the water line traveling from Trenton, Missouri, moving through the countryside for 10ish miles.

usage to night time hours instead of during the day.

The infrastructure is not here to support this “large user”, as the Water District calls them, and the Grundy Countians living in the area.

Thank you, Rick

Neff

I just want to remind everyone as you are placing flowers or decorations at the graves of your loved ones that the cemetery they are resting in NEEDS your donations for them to continue to care for their resting sites.

It seems we forget that a cemetery needs constant care and maintenance - as in the way of mowing, weed control, gravel or clearing of the driveways and hundreds of other expenses. As you have these expenses for your home, you know the cost has risen over the years for these basic needs. Memorial Day, their birthday, or any occa-

Marsha Kerr Chula

My story of Easter morning 2023 and our new CAFO neighbor

It was Easter morning of 2023, I had my face half shaven, and two toilets filled with human waste that I couldn't flush.

The water had just completely shut off, and as I calmly emptied our coffee pot into the sink so I could use it to finish shaving, my wife and I were at wits end because this had been going on for 4 weeks and I had not been able to do anything about it.

The whole situation started several weeks earlier.

Around mid-March, we noticed a sudden decrease in our water pressure for our home

We patiently waited for a couple weeks, but it continued to happen, with low water pressure all day with intermittent times of several hours with absolutely no water.

Finally it dawned on us what has recently changed–a new 7,000 head hog concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) that had been installed between us and Trenton, and since they had started operation, there was not sufficient water for both the CAFO and residents of Grundy County. The CAFO is owned and operated by a corporation not based in Missouri.

This started a journey of numerous phone calls to our County Waterboard, Senator Rusty Black, the Grundy County Commission and various other representatives and officials.

Then came Easter Sunday morning.

Finally, around the last week of April, the water pressure was restored, but only because the CAFO has moved their water

Local citizens and independent livestock farmers are living in fear of not having water for their families and livestock this summer; and local citizens are afraid of speaking up.

As the summer months continue to warm up, water usage will spike and we are headed for a full-fledged humanitarian disaster.

Coupled with bad roads and local township boards with no oversight from the county commission, life in rural Missouri is turning out to be very similar to living in Kenya, which we visited several years ago.

As a lifelong conservative, it seems like the only answer is to start voting differently until we get the attention we need and deserve in rural Missouri and the infrastructure we are helping pay for.

The Republican-Times welcomes letters from its readers. We require that all letters to the editor be signed by the writer, including a telephone number where the writer can be reached. The writer’s name will be published. Subject matter of the letters is limited to issues and matters of local interest to the general public. Letters of a personal or family nature (i.e. thank you cards, memorials, etc.) will not be accepted. We reserve the right to edit, shorten or correct grammatical or spelling errors. The publisher reserves the right to reject any letter submitted for publication. The deadline for letters is 4 p.m. on Monday of the week they are to be published.

Send your letters to PO Box 548, Trenton, MO 64683 or email news@republican-times.com

Barnes Greenhouses

BTC Bank

CFM Insurance, A Mutual Insurance Company

Chumbley’s Hometown

Billiards & Bar

Drs. Paul and Andrew Cox

Crow Miller Insurance Agency

Dave’s Body ShopDave & Ruby Woodson

Doodlebugs Daycare & Preschool

Duvall, Roeder & Black Agency

Eastview Manor Care Center

Farmers Bank of Northern Missouri

Farmers State Bank

Member FDIC

Green Hills Superior Care

Grundy County Lumber Co.

Grundy Electric Cooperative

H&R Block

Honey Creek Veterinary Hospital

Hy-Vee Food Store

Immanuel Lutheran Church

Klinginsmith Home Center

Landes OilTrenton & Jamesport

LifeFlight Eagle

Lockridge & Constant, LLC

MFA - Trenton/Laredo

Mid-States Services, LLC

Modine Manufacturing Company

Moore's Home Center

North Central Missouri College

The People's Co-op/Mr. Tire

Republican-Times

Dr. Joe Slonecker & Staff

Sunnyview Nursing Home

T&L Auto Supply/Carquest

Trenton Coca-Cola Bottling Co., LLC

Trenton Elks Lodge #801

Trenton Hardware

Trenton Municipal Utilities

Trenton Ready Mix

Wright Memorial Hospital

Memorial Day

Monday, May 29

Laredo

Carol Wilford

Carol Wilford visited Jim and Brinda Marsh on Friday, May 12. She returned a small, child-size piano that Nora and Don Reeter had let the Wilford children and grandchildren play with several years ago, as well as an electric keyboard she had borrowed from Jim when she taught music at Chula School.

Jerry and Goldie Wilford of Highlands Ranch, CO, attended the First Baptist Church of Milan on Mother’s Day. Following the morning worship, they went to eat at Jackson’s Place in Milan, then drove to Trenton to Delvin and Jennie Wilford’s to get together with other family members, Larry and Barbara Stoops and Murlin and Janice Osborn of Mission, TX. Laurie Frisbie and her

Southside Farm Club

daughter, Shaina, dropped by for a little while also.

Bill and Kathy Waits went to the home of Denise and Junior Hamilton for Denise’s birthday celebration on Friday, May 12. The Hamilton’s kids had made homemade pizza; and the Waits’ brought a big salad for an enjoyable evening together.

On Friday, May 12, Vickie Bowe and her sister, Mary Binney of Lee’s Summit, attended a Mother’s Day Tea at Sunnyview Nursing home where their mother, Jean Hughes lives. Charles and Vickie Bowe, Ken and Cathy Bowe, Chuck Hughes of Kansas City, and Mary Binney all went on a camping and fishing trip at Longbranch Lake near Macon from May 1518.