Silent but deadly

Greensboro is assailing my senses. Specifically, my nose and eyes.  More specifically, when I'm at home and when I'm at work, which doesn't leave much time for being unassailed.

I live in  District 5 (so heads-up Trudy Wade). For the past three weeks, when I walk out my front door or try to enjoy an evening on my deck, I have to crinkle up my nose and say "what's that awful smell." At first blush, I would have to say sewage. Then again, maybe someone's fermenting sauerkraut. It's a pervasive sulfury kind of smell. So although I live in a beautiful natural setting, surrounded by thick woods and a perpetual stream, I'm unable to enjoy the peace of that setting because ... it STINKS!

On a recent visit to the farmer's market, I happened to drive by the tank farm off of Gallimore Dairy Road and W. Market Street. The smell was really bad over there. Intense. And although this doesn't constitute scientific proof, I'm leaning towards the take farm and that flare stack as the culprit.


I work in District 4 (heads-up Mary Rakestraw). As a matter of fact, I work right across the street from the Sherwin Williams Plant where some sort of noxious manufacturing goes on, spewing smells of compounds that end in the suffix "ene," also known as volatile organic compounds.  Since I work in an
uninsulated office with old leaky windows, I breath this stuff every work day. I've complained in the past about this stench because it permeates my space, makes my eyes burn, and I'm sure it's dangerous. 

What I've been told (by my employer) is that "it's okay; the air is filtered" and (by the city) is that Sherwin Williams has been "grandfathered" and thus is free to pollute. No wonder SW kicked up such a stink (pun intended) when someone tried to buy an adjoining parcel of land and build apartments.

From a business or political point of view, I'm just another local-yokel whining about my burning eyes and nose, a sore throat, and a headache. I can be dismissed because this is "just another NIMBY issue."  But, it matters to me.

I have some advice for all you stinker-uppers out there: if you want to keep spewing dangerous chemicals into the air, at least make sure they're odorless. Be silent but deadly. Then no one will know it's you.