Warning: This is a rant.
Sugar beets are being harvested here in mid-Michigan and it stinks. No, not the actual pulling out of the ground part. It's the processing part that stinks. It smells like burning beets. Try it - put some beets on the stove and keep cooking them until they're black. That's the smell. It's very foul. But the smell doesn't really bother me. Most of the time I don't even notice it. Friends come over and say, "what's that nasty smell?" and it takes me a minute to realize what they're talking about.
I live about a mile (as a crow flies) west of the the processing plant. With the winds usually out of the west most of the time, the smell isn't a constant thing. It only makes it to my neighborhood when the winds turn around. It's very intermittent. Maybe a total of 14 days every fall. Is that something to complain about? Apparently my neighbors think so. I think NOT and here are my reasons:
There's always something wherever you live. Like bad neighbors - need I say more about this? Or trains - I've heard the sound of trains in every house I've ever lived in. Or planes - one of my houses was near a rather large airport. Or traffic - one house backed up to a major Michigan freeway. Or industry - yes, I've lived where there are jobs and I'm glad for it!!!!
If you've recently moved to the area you can just shut up. I moved here in 2000. My neighborhood was build between 1998 and 2003. My neighbors seem to think that living here gives them a license to complain. They call the company and are downright nasty about it. Whose fault is this? The sugar beet plant that's been here for ages? Or the stupid people that move here and now expect them to shut down? People, just shut up or move out! They even had the nerve to sign a petition drive and become part of a class action suit against the company (just for the money no doubt!). I want to stand up for the company.
Jobs are a good thing! Here in Michigan, especially mid-Michigan, we need all the jobs we can keep. What's going to happen if we drive all the industry out? NO JOBS! DUH! People please, let's not be so stupid. This place is not sending out toxic plumes of radioactive beet smoke. It's just the smell of cooking beets. Get over it or plan on moving away because there will be no jobs to keep the community going.
Ok, I'm done. I feel better now.