TONIGHT- January 4th, 2017 is the BADA Meeting on Section 610 of the Berryville Zoning Ordinance- please come out to the Berryville Government Center to join us in this meeting. Unfortunately, the land that the proposed strip mall and McDonalds will be developed on, is privately owned and is a Use By Right piece of land. This means that the local government has no say in what the land is used for, and it is ultimately up to the landowner. This means, in addition to presenting our cause to the Berryville Town Council next Tuesday, I will also be presenting it to the landowner- Mike, from Mario's Pizza. Mike is the owner of the land where the proposed Business Commercial District would be put. I'm not really sure why a local restaurateur would be the one to sell out to a corporation, when it will be his business that is hit the hardest. This could be short term thinking, wanting money now, not really caring about the fate of his business or the character of our town, or it could be something else. Either way, I can stand by a prediction that people would be more likely to buy a cheap, fast hamburger at McDonalds than go to Mario's for a sandwich or sub. Big agriculture and factory farming goes against everything that the small, farm town of Berryville believes in, however it is what fuels fast food and keeps their profits high, food cost low, and quality...Mediocre at best. A town that has deep roots and rich history in taking care of the land and animals, and relying on the soils and sun to give us our harvest, year after year, would be disgraced by a factory farming supporter like a big food chain. Local restaurants source ingredients from local farms, provide the freshest produce to their customers, and provide the farmers with income- all money that stays in Clarke County. Fast food influences the farming industry in ways that are unimaginable. Big food companies such as Monsanto and Tyson exist today because of fast food chains. McDonalds and other fast food chains sell beef, chicken, potatoes, and lettuce to billions of customers each day, and in order to keep up with demand, the big ag business finds ways to decrease quality while increasing yields, such as "mono-cropping", or growing the same crop in the same fields, over and over, degrading the soils, which leads to more chemicals and fertilizers being leaked into our water supplies through runoff. Not to mention the animal cruelty that exists in big agriculture today- like chickens being fed hormones and steroids to grow as fast as possible, resulting in leg deformities and heart attacks- most of these chickens cannot even walk for more than a few steps before falling back to the ground. If Mike has no concern in keeping Berryville local, the only thing we can do is support our local businesses and educate people. We should propose a public health initiative to help people gain the knowledge to keep themselves and their families healthy. Whether this consists of a simple pamphlet handed out to people, or community health education, people need to care about what they are putting in their bodies- cells and tissues regenerate using the nutrients you eat, so you literally ARE WHAT YOU EAT.