BY ERIC MANN, Decatur Daily Democrat
What began as a local dispute over a large hog-raising operation in central Adams County could have some national repercussions.
That was mentioned in passing on Monday as two lawyers from Decatur, Adam Miller and Jeremy Brown, received the approval of the county commissioners to go ahead with an appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court of a recent decision against the county plan commission by the Indiana Court of Appeals.
Speaking of that 2-1 ruling, Brown said, "If we leave it as is, it's bad law for various reasons." Brown, who wrote the county's appeal that was filed with the appeals court, said the three appellate judges were split on the matter.
Brown noted that, although the appeals decision of a ruling in favor of the plan commission by Adams Circuit Court Judge Fred A. Schurger, was 2-1 against the county, the two judges who said the county was in error offered different reasonings for that belief, while the third judge said the matter should have been left up to the county to handle.
Because of no unified opinion by the two-judge majority, Miller, who is the attorney for the plan commission, and Brown said the case must be carried to the state's highest court to seek a more definitive viewpoint.
However, Brown added, he is not certain the high court will accept the case. If the court does accept it, a ruling could come this year, he stated.
The matter could have national implications, said Brown and Miller, because people in other states are looking at how this case comes out, since large livestock operations and disposal of waste products are big issues in many places around the country.
The plan commission approved an arrangement last year for Jonas Hilty of rural Monroe to start an intensive livestock operation on County Rd. 100 South. However, two of his neighbors, Rick Cook and Dan Funk, filed a civil lawsuit, saying Hilty did not follow county regulations by having a "long-term lease" from someone on whose land he will spread the manure from his pigs as fertilizer.
The lease was for one year with automatic renewal year by year.
In the initial case, Judge Schurger upheld the plan commission's decision to approve the Hilty request.
Cook and Funk appealed and won at that level, with one appellate jurist saying that one year is "not long-term."
Miller defended the plan commission, calling Hilty's one-year lease with automatic rewewal "a good lease" and indicating that the plan commission is to be notified immediately if the lease is ever cancelled.
Miller further said a supreme court ruling is important because there are many other livestock operations in Adams County with the same lease provisions as the one Hilty has.