Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Division of Water Pollution Control manager Jim McAdoo of Nashville holds TCB Farms' nutrition management plan during the public hearing in Friendship on Tuesday.

But complain was all they could do. Tennessee has no safeguards against nuisance odors, said Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Division of Water Pollution Control manager Jim McAdoo, who hosted the meeting.

"We have no regulatory authority over smell," said McAdoo. "Odors, smells, particulates in the air - those are all issues for the TDEC Air Division."

Friendship Elementary School Principal Mary Marvin explains the problem students encounter from the odor as Frank Brasfield, father of TCB Farms owner Shawnee Brasfield, listens. [Click to enlarge]

The concern was focused on the permit for TCB Farms, which already runs a 2,400-pig barn on East Road, to double the size of the operation to 4,800 animals. The operation is contracted with Henry County pork producer Tosh Foods.

TCB Farms is owned by Shawnee Brasfield and Alan Whitby. Brasfield was at the meeting with an attorney. Neither spoke. Brasfield's father, Frank Brasfield, said the public outcry over the odor "seems to be a vendetta against my son."

The elder Brasfield said goat farms, horse farms and cattle farms don't get the attention the swine farm does, and the smell in Friendship could be attributed to a cotton gin.

Friendship Elementary School Principal Mary Marvin said she was concerned over the students playing at recess "and those with asthma."

A school bus driver told McAdoo he should witness the sight of students getting on the bus in the morning holding clothing over their nose and mouth or pinching their noses shut.

McAdoo again directed the comments to water issues.

Susan Perry said disagreeable smells are part of American agriculture.

"I love this country and this part of it," she said.

Friendship resident Viki Parker said she worried that Pond Creek, which flows by the swine farm into Dyer County and the North Fork of the Forked Deer River, could be further harmed by the pig farm's location in the watershed. The stream had high levels of harmful bacteria from feces even before the pig farm was built.

TDEC surface water regional expert Jack Wade said the creek is continually monitored to check if any differences can be detected in organisms or contaminants. If TCB Farms violates his permit, "it will be known," he said.

Cathy Seratt said her husband, who suffers from a lung ailment, can't handle the odor.

"We have to shut the windows," she said. "I don't know how we can survive this stench."

McAdoo said he had traveled "the length and breadth" of Crockett County and did not smell any odor from the farm.

"There are other sources of odor in this county," he said. "I want to remind you of that."

Danny Moore asked if the permit for a CAFO -- Confined Animal Feeding Operation -- is an agricultural process or an industrial one.

"It's an industrial operation," said McAdoo.

Moore asked who in Crockett County would be responsible for permitting an industrial process.

"Let's ask the city mayor and the county mayor," said Parker. "They're both here."

Neither Friendship Mayor Casey Burnett nor county mayor Larry Griffin made comment.

April Davis asked about a buffer zone or setback rule.

"He has documented that he will abide by the requirements," said McAdoo, which mandate a 100-foot space between the CAFO and waterway.

McAdoo said the Friendship situation is unusual "because these CAFOs are usually way out in the country, away from everything. Most are not this close to homes or schools or nursing homes."

"This is unfortunate for you because you happen to be in a valley and the prevailing winds bring it right into town," said Wade.

Another resident asked about declining real estate values because of the closeness of the swine operation to Friendship.

McAdoo said TCB Farms "got off on the wrong foot" when the first 2,400-pig barn began to operate because Brasfield did not apply the manure to the fields properly "because he didn't have the right equipment. That has been corrected."

The waste from the animals falls in what McAdoo termed "a giant concrete vault" underneath the barn able to hold 18 months of manure.

"Manure is not waste," he said. "It's a commodity. It's black gold for farmers."

The window for application of manure is once in the spring, before planting, and between crops in the fall.

"That's when it's most likely to be noticeable," said McAdoo.

McAdoo reminded the crowd that Brasfield had turned some of his property over to the state for management of Pond Creek.

McAdoo also cautioned the gathering about relying on information from the Internet. He said research on manure and public health turned up three occasions in North American of people becoming ill. Each case, he said, was from an uncovered mass of manure that had entered the water system by a broken well.

"We don't have that situation here," he said.

Jeremy Tillman, who owns an automotive repair shop off Highway 412, asked if Brasfield could find an addition to the pigs' diets to reduce the odor.

"That's the $64,000 question," said McAdoo. "If there was, everyone would be using it."