The State : Turkey Suit Seeks Millions

Complaining of unbearable stench, flies and noise, residents of Wilton have filed a lawsuit to shut down four turkey farms they say are plaguing their small rural town near Sacramento. The suit asks for $50 million in punitive damages from Foster Farms, one of the nation’s largest poultry marketers; Roxford Foods Inc. and Henry M. Suckle and Norman Nilsen, owners of adjoining turkey feed lots. Residents claim the farms, which raise more than a million birds a year, have failed to live up to assurances that they would be kept sanitary. The cluster of farms--one of the largest in the country--was built in 1983 on 716 acres of land.