Henry's Turkey Service is denying allegations that it employed the mentally retarded men who lived in an Atalissa bunkhouse for most of the past 35 years.

The company filed court papers last week arguing that the Atalissa men "were all employees of West Liberty Foods while working at the West Liberty plant."

Henry's Turkey Service, a Texas labor broker, sent hundreds of mentally retarded men to labor camps scattered throughout the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. One of those labor camps was in Atalissa, where Henry's placed at least 65 men in a bunkhouse rented from the city.

The men worked at the West Liberty turkey-processing plant. Henry's kept most of the men's wages as compensation for room, board and care, which meant the men's net wages often averaged 41 cents an hour. The bunkhouse was shut down 11 months ago, with state officials citing fire-safety concerns.

In November, the U.S. Department of Labor sued Henry's Turkey Service; an affiliate, Hill Country Farms; and one of the companies' two owners, Kenneth Henry. The department alleges violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and seeks back wages for 37 workers plus interest and damages.

The attorney for the defendants, David Scieszinski, did not return calls to his office this week.

Henry's also claims in its response to the lawsuit that the Atalissa workers were "residents of the state of Texas" even though they lived and worked in Iowa for decades. In its court filing, the company did not make clear why residency was a relevant issue.

The company's claims about employment aren't consistent with other federal and state records.

The workers' W-2 forms, obtained by The Des Moines Register last year, list each man's employer as "Hill Country Farms." Each Atalissa worker's address is the same on all of the W-2 forms: Route 3, Box 240 in Goldthwaite, Texas - the home of Jane Ann Johnson, co-owner of Henry's Turkey Service.

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