MOORHEAD, Minn. (AP) - Kathleen Pettis-Smith said she and a handful of other rural residents were seen as just another group of outraged neighbors when they started coming to Clay County Planning meetings.

"At first we were just the latest NIMBYs," the rural Hawley, Minn., woman said, using the acronym for "not in my backyard."

But the group's members didn't disband after a feedlot operation they joined forces to oppose received approval in April 2007.

Instead, their group, the New Alliance for Quality of Life, evolved into the Hawley Area Rural Neighbors Association. They say its focus extends beyond their backyard.

"We just want to see sustainable growth," said Mark Olaf Altenburg, another of the group's core members.

Pettis-Smith put it this way: "We want to make people aware of the forces that affect how they live."

Armed with research and the county development code, members of the Hawley Area Rural Neighbors Association are working to insert themselves in Clay County government.

They're regular and often vocal attendees at county meetings. Altenburg, for example, has asked several times in recent months whether a citizens' advisory board would be established to provide input for the county comprehensive plan.

The core committee members listed on the group's Web site, Pettis-Smith, Altenburg, Barb Gilson and Doreen Gwin, were among more than 30 people who signed a petition that circulated asking the state of Minnesota to decide whether a recent application for a feedlot needs an environmental assessment worksheet.

"I think there are people in rural areas that have always had an interest in some of the more controversial items," Clay County Planning Commission Chairman Greg Anderson said. "It looks like now they're starting to organize into more of a structured setting."

Along the way, Altenburg and Pettis-Smith said, members have learned a lot about the issues in the county, how county government works and how to present their case.

"I think we're coming around to a much more productive, friendly situation," Pettis-Smith said. "I think they know we're serious; we really do want to do the right thing."

Hawley attorney Zenas Baer said he sees the same faces lodging similar complaints each time he represents a client who is applying for a feedlot.

Baer has represented several clients, mostly his family members, in several feedlot applications over the last year.

Currently, Baer is working on an application for a 2,400-hog finishing barn in Skree Township that has received fierce opposition. His nephew, Benedikt Baer, would run the facility.

"If they raise issues to the extent that the County Commission is convinced that it is an issue that needs to be addressed, that's democracy in action," Baer said.

But he is concerned that the existing feedlot regulations could be ignored because of vocal opposition.

"All we want from the standpoint of the law and also the applicant is to know what the rules are," Baer said. "Once the rules are in place, if you meet the rules, you should be able to play the game, to use a sporting analogy. We don't want to have the rules changed in midstream."

Anderson, the chairman for the planning commission, said Baer has raised that concern many times.

"We have to look at all the facts before us and make our decision based on the facts," he said.

While groups or people with a special interest pick out the parts of the law that best suit their argument, the Planning Commission has to look at the whole ordinance, he said.

Anderson said he hasn't had much contact with the Hawley Area Rural Neighbors Association outside of meetings. But he'd be willing.

"If these folks want to sit down and visit, I'm more than willing to do that," Anderson said.

Pamela Anhorn, a planning commission member, said she's encouraged to see people taking an interest in government.

"The more people involved, the more chances we have for ideas to fix things," Anhorn said.