With the Broad Street Pilgrim’s Pride plant as a backdrop, Betsy Reed, right, stands with Mary Lou Reed, center, on West Main Street and participates in a protest of a proposed chicken plant that may move into McLemore Cove in North Georgia.Several outdoor organizations are monitoring a lawsuit filed against Walker County that claims government officials are secretly “conspiring to install a large-scale chicken slaughterhouse” in McLemore Cove.
Area residents worry it could bring foul smells and heavy traffic to the site, a detriment to the county’s new outdoor marketing plan.
The 50,000-acre McLemore Cove sits about 3 miles south of Chickamauga, Georgia, in the valley below the convergence of Lookout and Pigeon mountains. The cove is home to several creeks and is used for caving, cycling, Ironman and other outdoor activities because of its natural beauty and scenic views. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and is an area the county wants to market as an outdoor destination.
“One of the reasons people like to bike and hike and rock climb is it’s a beautiful location. We don’t want to encourage this type of operation in a place like that,” said Blackwell Smith, an outdoorsman who has lived in the cove for about 30 years. ” It seems like a bad idea.”
Walker County Economic and Community Development Director Robert Wardlaw and Commissioner Shannon Whitfield have said they can’t discuss any potential plans because of nondisclosure agreements.