After doing a bit of homework, this newspaper got on board early with the recruitment of Sanderson Farms to Robeson County, even after a newspaper to our north effectively put out an “Unwelcome” mat in Fayetteville. We have even been told that our “friendly” approach helped bring the company, which felt pretty beaten up after the Fayetteville experience, to Robeson County.

Our endorsement was based on two things: Firstly, we believe that there are sufficient environmental safeguards in place to ensure that Sanderson Farms’ chicken-processing plant and the chicken farms that huddle around don’t pollute the local water supply.

We also recognize that Robeson County, one of the poorest counties in the state and saddled with a high unemployment rate, desperately needs the 1,100 or so jobs that Sanderson Farms has promised, including about 75 of the white-collar variety at the hatchery that will be located just outside of Lumberton, at least until it is annexed. There will also be support jobs, primarily in retail and restaurants, that pop up to serve what will amount to another small town just outside of St. Pauls.

In addition to putting people to work — jobs, by the way, are the county’s best defense for our crazy crime rate — Sanderson Farms will pay property taxes to St. Pauls and the county that will surpass $1 million a year, helping those local governments provide services and delaying future tax increases.

We have also been told by Kinston officials that Sanderson Farms, which has a feed mill there, has been a wonderful corporate citizen, especially in its support of the local United Way chapter.

All good.

But we know there are those who are skeptical, and believe that Sanderson Farms will dirty our water or worse. On Monday night, the Lumberton City Council for a second time approved rezoning the N.C. 41 property where the hatchery will be built in order to duck a lawsuit.

And tonight the North Carolina Division of Water Resources will hold a public hearing during which concerns can be expressed. It begins at 7 p.m. in the R.E. Hooks Center at 176 N. Third St. in St. Pauls.

Christine Ellis, with the Winyah Rivers Foundation, has been urging people to attend.

“We are very concerned about the potential impacts on water quality in the Lumber River watershed,” Ellis said in a statement. “Our main concern is that no comprehensive environmental impact study has been completed for the slaughterhouse and the 100 plus new chicken ‘farms’ that will be needed to supply the slaughterhouse.”

The hearing is required before the company can receive a wastewater irrigation permit. The draft wastewater irrigation permit and a fact sheet can be found online at portal.ncdenr.org/web/wq/aps/lau. The information is also available at the Division of Water Resources offices at 512 Salisbury St. in Raleigh and 225 Green St., Suite 714, in Fayetteville.

We are convinced the plant and its suppliers can blend in nicely in this county, the largest in the state and one that has historically depended on agriculture. But we would make a 180-degree turn if convinced that Sanderson Farms is an environmental threat.

Those concerned about Sanderson Farms aren’t Chicken Littles. But to be concerned and not to speak up, would be Chicken Little like.