As a 35-year resident of the town of Macomb, St. Lawrence County, I have seen much come and go in terms of development in the county. Incinerators, landfills, co-generator plants, rooftop highways, nuclear waste dumps, 765 KV lines, low-level military flights, chipboard plants, winter navigation on the St. Lawrence River, etc. Some come, some stay while most go.

Did I mention the Bion 87,000 beef-cow operation? Perhaps I shouldn't. My character might get assassinated for voicing an opinion. Ask Jon Greenwood. I served with him on a committee tasked with finding a site for a landfill in St. Lawrence County before the Rodman landfill saved us from ourselves. Jon had strong opinions, as did many of us, and many disagreed. Everyone escaped unscathed when Jefferson County agreed to take our solid waste. I had numerous encounters with Legislator Greenwood during his stint in the county Legislature, an elected position.

Speaking as a farmer and spokesperson for the Farm Bureau, Jon Greenwood has come under attack for being self-serving and perhaps more than a little bit unethical for using his Farm Bureau position to state opposition to a Bion feedlot proposal in his part of the county by an entity new to the county and the north country.

I've known Jon Greenwood for at least 15 years and disagreed with him for most of that time. I have never doubted the man's integrity for a minute. He doesn't necessarily speak for me or for every farmer in the county. He has the best intentions for agriculture and the future of this county, as he knows it.

To attack an individual for this kind of displayed integrity is a travesty, and Bion is to be condemned for it. Why would St. Lawrence County want to do business with people who behave in this fashion, attacking well-respected, knowledgeable people who happen to hold an opinion contrary to theirs? If Bion becomes established in the county, is this the type of behavior their neighbors can expect from them when problems arise? Who needs this kind of behavior from a company wanting to join our community? St. Lawrence County can do much better. Thanks for speaking up, Jon Greenwood.

David B. Duff

Hammond