This town stinks... literally

Brian Drury, Clinton
Letter to the Editor

January 30, 2007 10:56 am

— Are the officials of Clinton actually pleased with the odors that surround this town? After reading the article “Odor complaints decrease,” that is what I would believe.
Here is a reality check for these people. This town stinks, literally! The citizens of Clinton have grown up with these smells. They have been conditioned to accept it as a part of living in this town. Most Clintonians don’t even notice it until someone brings it to their attention. Then they gag and say I wish you’d never mentioned it.
Is the reason that they are getting less complaints because the industries mentioned in this article are doing such a fine job of keeping our air clean? Or maybe the people of Clinton feel that complaining to the Hotline will do nothing to correct this problem?
Others I have spoken to on this subject feel that way! I have complained several times and have never gotten a response.
Any of the city officials with authority in this area should try watching a Clinton Junior Baseball game at Honeywell Park this spring and you’ll know what I am talking about. When our children go outside to play, they breathe in these disgusting smells and don’t know any better than to accept it as part of life, in Clinton anyway!
I work in the Quad-Cities. When people ask where I am from, invariably the response is “what is that smell, every time I drive through Clinton?” That is what outsiders think of our city. It smells!
The City Council, the chamber of commerce and other agencies have done a fantastic job of improving our town in recent years. Now they need to focus some of their attention on this long time problem. It is true that 80 percent of the time these smells are not noticeable, but during the 20 percent of time that it is there, it is unmistakably horrific.
I would like to encourage everyone to put the Pollution Hotline (242-7770) on their cell phones and call whenever they smell any of the terrible odors that plague this town. It may cost you a minute of your cell phone time, but if we were to flood the line with calls I would hope that the “powers that be” in this town would take notice and do something to finally eliminate this problem.