Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe ZEARING, Iowa, July 5 (UPI) -- Residents of Zearing, Iowa, are split on whether the smell of hog manure wafting from city sewers is a blessing or a curse. Some say the smell comes from a company that provides jobs. Others just notice the unpleasant odor. Advertisement "If you are on the other side, they don't talk, wave or look at you. Your name is dirt," Jo Blessing, who told The Des Moines Register she gets a nose-full if she opens her washing machine at the wrong time. Iowa environmental officials told the newspaper the smell comes from the hog manure washed off livestock trucks owned by Rick Reed, who is the son of Zearing Mayor Lucille Reed. The manure enters the city sewer and drifts past homes across Zearing, population 550, the reported Thursday. While Rick Reed's business has added much-needed jobs, it's also meant the city must expand its sewer-treatment plant, which may mean higher sewer bills, the Register reported. People fighting the smell have filed for nuisance damages. A jury trial on the lawsuit is set for February.
