In the hot Louisiana summer, you're lucky if there's a breeze.
And when a breeze does come by every once in a while for residents in one community in Henderson, they are hit with a whiff of disposed, rotting crabs from a seafood processing plant's dumpsters.
For nearly seven years, Atlanta Mouton and her family who live across the street from the seafood processing plant Seafood International Inc. have had to experience the pungent smell of crab excess in dumpsters.
"It's to the point we can't sit outside, we can't eat,” Mouton said.
“We can't have family functions. The kids don’t want to play outside. You know they have to catch the bus in the morning for school and the odor gets on their clothes.”
She attempts to drown out the smell lingering in her home day and night.
“We use candles, incents,” Mouton said.
Last week, Mouton shared on social media a video of crabs in the open dumpster covered in maggots and flies.
She said she's decided to speak up now due to her mother's illness.
"I had enough you know,” Mouton said.
“And with my mom being on hospice and her having to breathe in that air we just had enough of it,” Mouton said.
“All our family members have worked there, we've bought things there, we just want something to be done about the dumpsters.”
Linda Alexander lives on the side of the seafood processing plant.
She describes her experience living next to the facility as “terrible” and worries about her health from inhaling the remains of crabs and crawfish.
"We really do need help,” Alexander said.
“That’s not sanitized for us to be in that odor and I have emphysema so that's not helping me at all."
Town of Henderson Council Member Jody Meche first noticed the smell while driving down Old Henderson Hwy. years ago.
"The people in the neighborhood started complaining and it was brought to my attention,” Meche said. “Nobody in their neighborhood should have to deal with a stench like this while they're trying to enjoy their life at their home.”
Meche tried to resolve the issue but was left with no solution.
“And every agency that I contacted, person or head that I spoke with, they all say that the business is in compliance. And there's no way this business should be in compliance when they're putting such a stink on the neighborhood and imposing this deadly smell.”
I tried to get answers from the owner Michelle Robert two days in a row at the facility, but she was not present. I was informed by her receptionist she was aware I was trying to reach her.
While at the site of the processing plant, I noticed one of the dumpster bins was not fully covering the garbage, and it was patched with a piece of wood.
I then called the Louisiana Department of Health and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
I found under Title 51 Part IV of the Louisiana Department of Health Public Health Sanitary Code, what appeared to be two violations.
An accumulation of over six inches of garbage and the dumpsters harboring an area for rodents and insects.
I contacted the Louisiana Department of Health Press Secretary Kevin Litten regarding the state of the dumpsters. He provided this statement:
“After receiving complaints, the LDH Bureau of Sanitarian Services inspected Seafood International Inc. in Henderson on August 20. Sanitarians cited two violations: Soiled receptacles were not cleaned at a frequency to prevent a nuisance or insect or rodent attraction, and liquid waste from cleaning in the garbage area is not being disposed through a sanitary sewage system. As a result, the dumpster is creating a public nuisance by attracting insects; LDH is requiring Seafood International to install a dumpster pad with available hot and cold water that is sloped to drain to the sanitary sewer within 30 days. In the interim, the existing garbage receptacle will be required to be maintained in a sanitary condition to reduce odors and minimize the attraction of insects or other vermin to the premises.”
