CONCERNS

typically don’t get an updated deed for months.” our properties because we pay a lot in taxes,” he declared. “But the biggest concern is the potential for health issues.” doing right now. I just want to move my family there, and have our pigs for my own personal consumption.”

Ernie Lazos, a physician surgeon from the Shadow Lake community who previously led the charge for a dog ordinance to be passed in Shamong, and made many past public complaints about gruesome noises emanating from what had been a kennel operation on a parcel reportedly adjoining the one now the subject of concern, all of which led to the 2019 arrest and sentencing last year of a Shamong woman for having 161 dogs living in “inhumane conditions” and another 44 dead dogs packaged in plastic bags and stored in freezers, was the first to inform the township committee on April 4 that Piney Pig & Poultry Farm had “closed” on the sale of 543 Oakshade Road.

“The rumor is that is the person who purchased it (the owner of Piney Pig & Poultry Farm) for the sole purpose of escalating a pig farm operation and bringing it to Shamong,” Lazos said. “If that is the case – and this may be a little premature, but I think we would like to get ahead of the game of what could happen. Our community has a lot of concerns.”

Lazos, appearing to be a representative for those from his development in attendance at the meeting, asserted that “we get the fact this is a farming community and that there is the Rightto-Farm, but this is also a residential community.”

“And we have a right to reside,” he declared. “And we have a right to not be hampered with health issues, or be at risk of not being able to utilize our properties the we way we want to utilize them.”

Lazos then presented the township committee with a number of articles and studies, first focusing on one published by The Guardian detailing what he claimed is the “life of someone living next to pig farms.” of asthma” were all observed to have been found in those living near such operations, contending part of the reason is there are “gases emitted from liquid manure.”

“It is pretty graphic,” Lazos asserted.

Di Croce thanked Lazos for the submissions, promised a review of the content and remarked, “the fact this person bought the property may be an indication of where we are going,” and conferred with attendees if the property in question is about 10 acres.

He said it was also mentioned that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were “measured at hog farms,” including “one possible carcinogen,” and in addition to that, there were more instances of bacterial infections and kidney disease reported in areas in “proximity” to pig farms, versus that that aren’t in close proximity to ones.

It was something that Shamong Mayor Michael Di Croce, who immediately took notice of the large crowd that gathered for the township committee meeting, immediately denied knowing about, asserting, “I don’t know if the property has closed” and “I don’t know of any news or what they plan to do with the property.”

“It has,” Lazos advised the Shamong committee, maintaining “rumors are that 543 Oakshade Road was purchased for purposes of farming, and a possible pig farm.”

Shamong Township Administrator and Clerk Susan Onorato, in response, told Lazos “we

The “main concern” of the residents, he maintained, involves potential health issues brought about “if this becomes a bona fide pig farm.”

“I love pork and love bacon, but I think there is a place (for these things), and certain things need to be looked at and curtailed, especially with the fact that the property borders directly behind the Shadow Lake community and the property is right on wilted grass,” Lazos contended.

After pointing out that the homes in Shadow Lake “sold for significant amounts of money,” Lazos maintained that it is “well documented” that pig farms put other properties “at risk” and “reduces the value of properties by 11 percent.”

“We really don’t want to lose anything from

Lazos, however, continued to cite from the materials he presented to the Shamong committee, including a 2018 Duke University article detailing how North Carolina “has a huge issue with pig farms and health issues.”

“This article basically states residents living near large hog farms have elevated disease and death rates,” Lazos contended.

The physician surgeon then pointed to “collaborative studies” on the topic that Duke was a participant in, which he claimed, according to the report, identified there is a “cancer risk to humans.”

Lazos then summarized a Wikipedia article that discussed the “environmental impact of pig farming,” and contended “tension, anger, fatigue, confusion, respiratory symptoms indicating toxicity, as well as headaches, runny nose, sore throat, coughing, diarrhea, burning eyes, reduced function of the immune system and higher rates

Essentially, he maintained of what he read, it amounts to “pig waste” getting into groundwater, the which “really poses a huge problem,” and that among the concerns is “we are talking about salmonella, and also talking about nitrogen, phosphorus and MRSA.”

“We are not talking about one to two miles here, we are talking about feet,” Lazos asserted. “That is what we are. We are talking about some pretty serious stuff.”

Lazos pointed out that the Shadow Lake residences rely on a “very shallow aquifer,” and that the potential ramifications of any local pig farm operation could extend far beyond Shadow Lake because the property in question “drains” into other area lakes.

“Any kind of runoff from these toxins goes into the water source, unless somehow this lady is going to be able to contain it … and my well is 70 feet!” Lazos said.

The physician surgeon asked the township committee to think about the source of lettuce contamination that occasionally prompts

(Continued from Page 3) See CONCERNS Page 14 things, and you can translate that to whatever you want to do to meet the criteria,” before saying, “I truly believe” it is over a “personal matter to him.”

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