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your homegrown newspaper July 19, 2023
Vol. 19, No. 44
Good Old Days pg. 5
Pride pg. 14
Janet Camel explains the plan for the proposed small meat processing facility.
Ronan clears up confusion around proposed meat processing plant By Taylor Davison / Valley Journal
Raspberry pg. 16
TAYLOR DAVISON / VALLEY JOURNAL
RONAN — The Ronan City Council held a public meeting on July 12 to address community concerns as well as clear up some misunderstandings about a proposed meat processing plant. The project was first brought before the council in May, but they decided a public hearing would be best to conduct first to consider public impact.
The proposed meat processing plant would be located on 30 acres of land off Mink Lane and Main Street SW. The facility itself would only use a three-acre piece in the northwest corner of the property and contain a small 3,000 square foot plant meant to process 18-25 animals per week. Primarily intended for hunters, most of the animals would not be slaughtered at the plant but rather in the field, and
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also inspected for wasting disease. Those that are slaughtered onsite would only be kept overnight, slaughtered humanely and without using guns. A USDA inspector will be on site on kill days. Any hunter would be allowed to bring their meat to be processed, regardless of tribal status. If the CSKT gets the funding to go through with the project, it’s estimated that it will take approximately three years
from December to get up and running. Ronan Public Works Director Dan Miller and CSKT Land Use Planning Director Janet Camel addressed the crowd that filled city hall with a thorough explanation of the proposed meat processing project, including visual aids. The first misunderstanding addressed was that this project is not already set in
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