- South Georgia D.A.'s request to intervene in citizens case against Safer Human Medicine accepted.
- Community members opposing pending primate project held a third community town hall.
- Watch the story to hear what happened and how the primate company is responding.
Despite a state court ruling, people in the Bainbridge community are still pushing against a pending primate project.
The Joe L. Sweet Center on Potter Street was a full house Thursday, during what primate opponents called the Monkey Gate Expo.
"We were to full capacity and overflowing. The citizens are concerned. They were opening up. They were showing up,” said Stand Up Bainbridge, Georgia member June Faircloth.
Opponents of primate company Safer Human Medicine say they are not backing down when it comes to bringing the community together to inform others about their progress in fighting SHM.
Recently opponents reached a one-year mark on their fight to stop SHM from building a facility that will raise primates to be shipped to other facilities. Those will be used for medical testing.
Throughout this past year, neighbors in the area have held informational meetings, questioned local leaders, and protested the pending project.
"The longer that Safer Human Medicine doesn't put a brick on the ground [and] doesn't put a monkey in Bainbridge,” according to Dr. Lisa Jones-Engle the senior science advisor for primate research for PETA, " the more likely they're going to recognize this is not the place we're going to be."
Many people in the area are under the impression that SHM will be built after the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled in favor of SHM. That ruling solidified the validation of a revenue bond for land at one of the city's industrial parks.
A spokesperson for the company released a statement;
"Safer Human Medicine is excited to collaborate with the Development Authority to advance this project. Over the next ten years, our facility will create 400 new jobs and generate an impressive $743 million for the community."
Dr. Jones-Engle said, "This is so not a done deal. This will be tired up in courts for years."
County leaders once again expressed remorse for their initial support of the project. They assured neighbors they are doing all they could to rescind their support.
During the meeting, speakers announced that the South Georgia circuit district attorney's request to intervene in the citizen's case had been accepted.
In this case, local citizens have taken city and county leaders to court for allegedly violating the Georgia Open Meetings Act.
"It makes us feel really good when we see so many of the other public servants that got us in this mess, to see them pulling hard to pull us back out of it,” said Faircloth.
A spokesperson from SHM released a statement in response to this third community town hall meeting: "Support for this project is growing, with many residents from Decatur County already expressing strong interest in job opportunities."
WTXL will continue to update this community as things progress in ongoing court cases.
