I attended Monday’s planning commission meeting on the compressor station in Buckingham. The pipeline is cutting my farm in half about three miles from the station site. I have a story to tell, to give some light on how bad the pipeline and station can be.

My neighbors, my husband and I are all in our late 60s. We believed this was our final place to live. My neighbor is a Vietnam vet with great hearing loss and PTSD. He built a beautiful log cabin and workshops. His wife has a degree and is an artist. They had chickens and two dogs. He kept his gate locked because someone just walking up to him would freak him out

And then the surveyors came.

When surveyors flagged his property for the pipeline to come right by his yard, he told them, “You can’t put it here.” Their reply was, “Yes, this is where it is going.” He served his country, he paid the price — and now he and his wife have given away or sold everything. All of his special tools, everything in the house, chickens, dogs … it’s all gone. In a few days, they will board a plane for a distant place.

It is beyond words for Dominion to destroy their lives; we will probably never see them again.

I have been a nurse for 45 years and know how big business kills people. The food industry, the drug companies and businesses like Dominion have no regard for individual life. We purchased 128 acres on three parcels of land in the James River District. We worked for almost three years building a beautiful log home. It is also for sale. I will not live near the compression station; I know the danger is real.

I worked for years at a hospital in Hopewell. On the Saturdays I worked, I felt great. By Sunday, I was tired. When Monday morning came, I could hardly get out of bed. As the week went along I got better. I tested the water and the food. That wasn’t it. It was in the air, outside and in the hospital — a hospital between two major chemical plants. I quit the job and never got sick that way again.

The danger is real; please stop it. Come visit our farm. Most of the animals are gone now, but I would like for you to see how hard we worked and what we will be leaving behind if we are lucky enough to sell, not to mention the loss of property value.

Beverly McQuary is a Buckingham resident. Her email address is beverlymcquary@aol.com.