To the Editor:
I encourage your readers to support Andy Newlove for Commissioner because I believe Andy will make the
County a better place in which to live and work for all.
Many politicians have tried to ignore the environmental damage caused by industrial animal production
facilities, a.k.a. factory farms – even though manure runoff from large livestock farms is suspected as
one of the major sources of phosphorus that led to the Toledo water crisis. Andy has voiced concerns
about the thousands of Wood County residents who didn’t have safe drinking water in early August and
said we cannot continue to ignore the problems caused by Wood County factory farms.
Commissioners use tax incentives and infrastructure as planning tools for bringing new businesses into
our communities. Hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars have been spent repeatedly repairing County
and township roads damaged by heavy dairy traffic.  Banks lost millions of dollars when three Wood
County dairies defaulted on their loans. Wood County factory farms have captured hundreds of thousands
of (taxpayer) dollars in federal subsidies.
Fourteen years ago, Commissioners Jim Carter, Tim Brown and Alvie Perkins wrote a letter to an
Agricultural leader at OSU regarding the County’s ability to sustain large livestock operations citing
serious concerns about water withdrawals and waste disposal. They asked that Wood County be removed from
"any list of recommended sites for a large livestock operation."
However, Andy’s opponent was instrumental in bringing the first dairy factory farm into Wood County.
Furthermore, she has been applying manure from this large dairy operation on her family farm fields for
many years and continues to do so.
Wood County is lucky to have a qualified new candidate for County Commissioner. If you are concerned
about the consequences of factory farms in Wood County, I urge you to cast your vote for Andy Newlove
for Commissioner.
Vickie Askins
Cygnet