Heh. Let's see if we can make a little girl's day and give some closed minded township leadership a hard time.
In a fairly conservative area just a few minutes drive South of where I live, in Grand Haven Township, a little 11 year old girl named Hannah Fidelman was denied her request to keep a chicken on her family's property. Take 30 seconds to send a quick email, let those silly township leaders know they're being ridiculous. Fill our their confusing form or use this email bcargo@ght.org
David Kohlb, a local columnist puts it best...
You could have knocked me over with a feather.
How shocking that anti-big government forces didn’t storm Grand Haven Township Hall recently when it chickened out on the "chicken ordinance."
At issue before the board was a request from 11-year-old Hannah Fidelman who, with her parents’ support, sought to enact an amendment to the township’s laws that would permit homeowners to keep chickens on residential lots under an acre in size.
[snip]
Unfortunately, Hannah’s best efforts came to naught when the showdown at the board produced an unfavorable split against township chickens.
Obviously this has farther implications reaching beyond one little girl and a single chicken. The townships decision is a kick to the shin of a fundamental part of the locavore movement. A jab in the ribs of the urban farming and urban homesteading movements. It's one more chip in the ability for Americans to produce their own sustenance.
Not to mention free range chickens are living a far more humane life. And they're healthier to eat without all the antibiotics.
The case against chickens...are they unsafe? Are they particularly dirty? How about loud? My neighbors beagle yaps day and night. And I've had a neighbor whose dogs terrorized me every time I came home to my apartment, one even nipped at my leg...and yet we let dogs be in peoples' homes. They don't really produce food. We don't really eat them...
So come on, what's up with the No Chickens thing...
What could be more harmless?
Unfortunately, Hannah’s best efforts came to naught when the showdown at the board produced an unfavorable split against township chickens.
Four out of seven members felt they might be opening the doors to pet pigs, the family buffalo or other exotic food sources too numerous to name.
"I’m very disappointed and upset," Hannah told the Grand Haven paper. "My family really likes chickens. I really can’t believe that they did that. Chickens are really good and they’re not seeing that. They’re only looking at the negatives. They’re looking at it at a barnyard standpoint."
The jackasses worried about a health care reform government takeover don't even lift a finger or make a peep when the issue and right the government is encroaching on is the ability to control your own means of food production.
It really is time to bring in a new era where we take up the means of production. Not the full-on barnyard of the old times, and definitely not the plastic, manicured lawns of a more recent old era. But a hybrid of the two. An era of urban farming and homesteading. My neighbors don't complain that I chop wood at my home, or have an ever-expanding organic garden. Though they themselves prefer to have a manicured lawn, they accept my eccentricities and exchange pleasantries and conversation over the fence frequently when the snows thaw and the spring allows for more comfortable Outsideing.
Good grief. All this little girl wanted to do was keep some chickens, some safe, harmless chickens on her family's property for pets, and eggs, and possibly meat if it came to that.
And The Man said NO.
It will take all of 30 seconds to give the leaders of Grand Haven Township a hard time. Give 'em a good jab. Maybe it might even change things. Again...fill out their confusing form or just use this email bcargo@ght.org
"I’m very disappointed and upset," Hannah told the Grand Haven paper. "My family really likes chickens. I really can’t believe that they did that. Chickens are really good and they’re not seeing that. They’re only looking at the negatives. They’re looking at it at a barnyard standpoint."
C'mon man...it's just a chicken. Let the little girl have her stinkin' chicken on her parent's property if they say it's okay.