Yorkville residents are speaking up about a "Pewtrid smell" coming from sixteen chicken barns

JACKSON, TENN (WNBJ)-

Some people in a small town in West Tennessee are speaking up about what they call a "Pewtrid smell" coming from 16 chicken barns.

Yorkville is a community that takes up less than two square miles. It’s also home to nearly 300 people who live right next to more than one million Tyson chickens, Staying in 16 barns. Making it difficult for people to enjoy their community.

"We're out there drinking, you know, our sweet tea or whatever you're drinking out on your patio and you're smelling your smell and that putrid ammonia bird smell… we can smell it when we walk our children, smell it in our schools. Our churches are close by," said Yorkville resident Tammy Ladd.

Another Yorkville resident Edna Leitherland added, "At certain points of the day, you can't be outside, but it's like you can't go in your house and get away from it either because it goes through your central unit."

Tammy Ladd and Edna Leitherland both live less than half a mile from the barns. They’re tired of the smell and worry about their way of life.

"We're concerned about our town. We're concerned about the water quality, the environment. Any time you smell a smell like that, there's particles in the air," Ladd said.

Ladd claims she did some research and found out that the barns aren't even owned by Yorkville residents, "The people that bought the barns, they don't live here. They live in Cordova…. They're not vested in our community, so, therefore, they don't care. They don't care that we're smelling this."

Yorkville residents showed up to the Gibson County Commission Monday to voice their concerns.

"We want them to help us. We are begging them to help us," Ladd said.

The people want something done about the smell.

"You would think there's something that Tyson, as big as they are, could put in the litter or whatever it is that are the carcasses, the dead chickens that smell so bad that they could eliminate this odor," said Leitherland.

Ladd wants assurance that no more barns will be built in Yorkville ", They're going to circle tiny little Yorkville. They're going to kill our they're going to kill our community," she said.

39 News contacted Tyson for a comment on the resident’s concerns and has yet to receive a statement.

The people of Yorkville promise to continue making pleas for help to Tyson, the Gibson County Commission, and whoever else will listen.