MADISON (WKOW) - Imagine buying the house of your dreams and then a few years later a factory goes up in you your backyard. It happened to a woman in Montello who gave Call for Action a call to see if there was anything we could do.
Welcome to Camela Sell's world. It revolves around nature. She's a wildlife artist and landscaper and practically lives in her backyard.
"It's full of tad poles its full of toads," she said.
It's a world in stark contrast to Tom Talbot's. He owns a factory, making wood products and turning wood residuals into animal bedding. He does it all just behind Camela's house.
"It's distressing. I just want to move," said Sells. "It's noisy. I have people come over and ask how can you stand that? I'm like 'I have no choice. I don't know what else to do."
It wasn't always this way. Camela bought her place in the mid 90's as a peaceful retreat in the town of Montello. Tom only expanded his wood business a few years ago and recently added this: An enormous wood drying machine and smoke stack.
Tom says what comes out of it is mostly water vapor..
"Hardly any smoke," he said.
Camela says her eyes and throat tell her something different.
"It's such a thick dust cloud, people in the neighborhood can see it come through," she said.
Call for Action contacted the Department of Land and Natural Resources and an official there says since Tom's drying machine is new, it's not yet running as efficiently as possible. Tom says he's actively trying to work out the kinks
"Things are improving and we are constantly trying to make it better," said Talbot.
In the meantime, a fix can't come soon enough for Camela Sells, who is having to share her world with a factory next door.
