For more than 90 minutes Tuesday evening, Alabama Department of Environmental Management Agency representatives heard from 14 people who registered to speak regarding an air permit sought by Pilgrim's Pride for a proposed rendering plant on Steele Station Road.
Outside the Downtown Civic Center, a crowd gathered with "Stop the Rendering Plant" and other signs, chanting "Just say no" and other slogans as people entered the back of the center for the hearing.
Opponents of the rendering plant staged another event next door at the Pitman Theatre, with the anticipation that people would address the ADEM hearing, then come to deliver the same comments to people gathered at the Pitman.