Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen:

As you are all probably aware this is to be my first official speech since I was treated for cancer of the vocal cords, and I therefore promise you that I shall keep it short and sweet and to the point.

The Commission was faced with a major problem about four years ago on the use of confined animal feeding operations within the boundary of Saline County. There were meetings held whereat an attempt to solve all the problems at the local level were discussed, but meetings without an agenda, forum or direction produce no results or bad results.

Therefore, the Saline County Commission went about setting up a local Land Use Study Group with the assistance of our local University Extension personnel and University of Missouri personnel partnered with local citizenry chosen from all parts of the county to represent all walks of life and as many different viewpoints as possible without becoming a group so large in number that we could not hear each other.

We then went about trying to establish a dialogue and a deliberation to explore areas of agreement and disagreement among diverse interests. We recognize that all interests and citizens have opinions deserving respect and that we should try to chart a course to find the solutions in the best interest of the county and its citizens. Hopefully, as people understand why other people have differing views, they will seek new solutions that all can live with.

This is an ongoing study which has produced much agreement among differing views for we have all learned that the old adage "A man is not an island unto himself" is true.

Therefore tonight, we have a treat for you to not only enjoy, but to also study--because we want you to feel that you are not powerless to affect local decisions and to not be skeptical, or distrustful of your fellow citizens but rather to become involved with the Land Study Group, chaired by Mark Belwood, who along with his able assistants Cynthia Crawford and Darin Starr present to you a PowerPoint presentation entitled "The Heart of Saline County".