After following the arguments regarding Brady Trucking’s purchase of the old rendering plant property, I am increasingly puzzled by the opposition. The Blue Heron Trail down river is in an industrial area and was either donated by or purchased from industrial operations. Now it even has a go-cart track that’s truly noisy compared to diesel engines. The city shops are also adjacent to it.

Why did industry suddenly get a bad name? Corn Lake was donated by Corn Construction to the citizens. And Connected Lakes State Park, which is connected to the trail system, was donated by Ken Nesbit, owner of United Companies, one of Grand Junctions largest industrial businesses. The simple fact is that without such donations, the trail system might never have made progress. And none of these businesses have damaged the wildlife or the scenic value of the river.

So why, if it was so important not to have industry at an old industrial site that was a rendering plant, and which by the way was extremely smelly to the point that no one today would venture near it if it still existed, didn’t it get fund-raised and snatched up by the people who are now complaining? They had years to actively try to put the entire property in the trail system, so why didn’t they find a way to buy it? Ken Nesbit, one of Grand Junction’s most generous and kindest citizens, must be shedding tears in heaven. He actively worked for the trail system and now his type of business, Industrial, is being snubbed. Is there no gratitude?

EILEEN O’TOOLE
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 28th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.