MOARK on Radar of MO Attorney's General Office

Mr. Clint Barnett, an environmental investigator for the office of Missouri Attorney's General, Jay Nixon, was in Neosho (Newton County) Missouri this week to check things out. A spokesman for Mr. Nixon, Mr. John Fougere, said that Mr. Barnett's visit to Neosho was routine, "He was doing routine follow-up to a consumer complaint about odor." The Joplin Globe, Friday, January 20, 2006, reported in a front page article that Mr. Barnett met with opponents of MOARK's expansion project, including Mr. Rick Bussey and Mr. Mark Adams. Mr. Bussey said that "He (Clint Barnett) was down here doing some investigating, meeting people, seeing what was going on. What I got from Mr. Barnett is that he feels his boss will be back down here with him. After the conversations that he had with different businesses and individuals, he has got to come back."

Bussey said that Barnett was referring to Mr. Bill Bryan, deputy chief counsel of the Agriculture and Environmental Division for the Attorney's General Office. He said he initially contacted Mr. Bryan to complain about odor and other problems allegedly affiliated with MOARK's large egg producing operation. He said that he was asking for the attorney general involvement with MOARK, the way the attorney general got involved with odor problems stemming from Renewable Environmental Solutions (RES) in Carthage. Bussey asked them "If you can do that for the people of Carthage, why can't you do this for me and the people who live around here?"