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I don’t have any kind of dog in the fight over the Cumberland landfill. I don’t live close to it or have any family who are in that part of the county. But it still just surprises me how some folks can’t seem to grasp why people are up in arms about it. 

Just read through some of this stuff and then ask yourself if you’d like to live anywhere near it. And c’mon now, the company is really gonna try and sell us on this whole idea the landfill won’t smell? I’m gonna say that again. They want me to believe a landfill isn’t going to stink. I know what goes in that kind of place. I’ve tossed plenty of bags in one myself. Sorry folks, but that dog won’t hunt.

But back to my point. That Cumberland landfill was originally being planned to bring in 5,000 tons of garbage a day. Not 5,000 tons total. Not 5,000 on the property. Each day, that’s how much would come in. And then in this latest change, they drop that back to 1,500 tons a day. That’s still a lot. They also let residents know, hey here’s how kind we are, we’re only gonna run 75 trucks a day down your road, starting at 6 a.m. Would you want to deal with that? My wife says I’m a grumpy bear before coffee in the morning, but I guarantee if I’m dealing with truck after truck after truck coming through, all in the early hours, grumpy ain’t the word for it. Who wants to deal with that? 

Look, yes Cumberland has its problems. We’re not exactly even on Farmville’s level, when it comes to business. But that doesn’t mean we just need to bow down and say thank you, as a company looks to get rich(er) off a landfill here. I mean really, that’s what you want to tell people? ‘Yeah, one of our biggest ways to fund the county is through trash. Just ignore the smell, you get used to it.’ Except you never do. And you can never replace what gets taken away in a case like this. This is a county of farmers and folks who like living in a rural area. If you want to bring a business here, if you want to make money here, then do something that fits that mold. 

Dennis Deems

Cumberland