Soldier in Iraq about to lose home to hogs

While Warrant Officer Randell Hettinger is serving his country, his countrymen are helping themselves to his property. When Hettinger returns from Iraq, his farmhouse will be downwind from 4,800 hogs in an indoor hog farm a quarter-mile away.

As reported in today's Kansas City Star, placing the hogs so close to Hettinger's house is only possible because Hettinger's service in Iraq takes him away from his house. Under the existing rules in Knox County in northeastern Missouri, a buffer of one-half mile is required around such hog farms. But the builders of the hog farm are claiming the house Hettinger lived in up until his deployment is now "legally vacant."

Even more outrageous, is the lack of protection a serving soldier is getting from his elected officials. As the KC Star reports,

Hettinger “is in a war zone or dangerous area,” Commissioner Mike McGinnis said. “I wouldn’t want to be over there. This is what is making it such a difficult decision.”

According to a March 28 letter from the Knox County Commission, the evidence was running against Hettinger.

What is so difficult? A soldier is protecting his countrymen, allowing them to carry on their daily life, whether that is raising hogs or being a county commissioner. If Hettinger wasn't serving in Iraq, he would be living in his house and the county rules would bar the hog farm. Serving your country in Iraq has enough peril. Hettinger should not have to worry about the possibility of the Knox County commissioners allowing the hog farm.

This is another example of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan being fought by a small minority in America, while many of their neighbors pay no attention to the war or those who serve.
KansasCity

I guess this goes in the Fucking Unbelievable category.