Joice residents to speak out against meatpacking plant

Some residents of the tiny northern Iowa town say they’ll speak out tonight against any move to locate a meatpacking plant near their community. Excel is apparently studying Joice in Worth County as a possible location for its proposed 100-million dollar beef-packing plant. Curt Evans of the group “Concerned Citizens of Worth County,” says he and others will speak out against the plant at tonight’s town council meeting. Evans says their number one concern is the impact the plant would have on the air and water in the area. He says they also have concerns about Excel’s low wages and poor working conditions. The Joice Town Council meets tonight at 7 o’clock. The beef-packing plant is a joint venture between Excel Beef, the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and the Iowa Department of Economic Development. Residents in Des Moines, Cambridge and Iowa Falls have already shunned the plant.