| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Missus Miranda |
Posted - Nov 20 2011 : 1:08:36 PM
My home town (about 15 minutes from where I live, and where I still work) is such a non-sensical place. I saw this story earlier when me and the old man were trying to find a place to go watch a movie.
http://www.statesman.com/news/williamson/chickens-stir-up-legal-trouble-between-round-rock-1981980.html
Even though Round Rock is not involved per se, I guarantee you they would take the side of the HOA. I grew up on the edge of town and one farm left still raised chickens and guinea foul. We LOVED having them around! But now, apparently it's a crime to raise hens in your back yard, but not to send out spies to take pictures of people IN THEIR PRIVATE FENCED IN YARD!
Honestly, hens cause a LOT fewer problems than most people's dogs in Round Rock, but apparently dogs are family members, and hens are not. ('splain that to me, Lucy!)
If no one made any complaints and no one cares, why does the HOA? I MISS having chickens run around the yard, and they weren't even ours! This is the reason I LEFT Round Rock to begin with... For as long as I can remember, they want to put on airs that they are some sort of perfect place to raise a family. In reality, they don't have great schools (though they would LOVE the world to believe that) and they have watered down history and culture so much, it's depressing! The last straw for me, when I decided I did not want to live in Round Rock any more, was the way my mother was treated over feeding feral cats. I won't get into that, takes too long, but I will say this. It ended with the City being SO embarrassed that they ended up firing or asking ALL but one Animal Control officers to leave.
Anyone else have frustrating things like this happening aound their area?
"I'm not trying to be mean or cantankerous. I just wish people would do the right thing, and use a little common sense." ~ Farmgirl 3535
Pflugerville, TX
http://www.tawnycow.blogspot.com/ |
| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Missus Miranda |
Posted - Nov 23 2011 : 10:00:05 AM
My apologies in advance for this long post!
Momma's situation dealt with her feeding feral cats. A small colony, but it was a colony. Her argument was that, if she didn't feed them, they would be digging in the garbage, killing birds & lizards, etc., generally running amok. Back when I was a kid, the city wouldn't do anything because the feral cats took care of the rat problem. But, the cats had to have a place to stay, so they stayed around houses where people did not mistreat them.
Long and short of it, they never openly admitted to that rat problem thing, and when the cat problem got out of hand, the city punished the citizens who were trying to care for the cats.
They came to our property uninvited. Our neighbor was trying to help us trap the cats, and somehow got the city involved. Momma had already had a run-in with them a couple of years prior, thanks to another nosy neighbor.
Animal control walked into her fenced and gated back yard, and entered an enclosed court yard where we were keeping plants we'd been given when my father died. It was cold, and she would allow some of the more tame ferals to stay in the court yard with their kittens. Well, as we all know, feral kittens die easily, and one or two of them had, and animal control found them.
Again, without our permission, animal control entered that closed room, and took pictures. Momma confronted them about it, and the head of the department smugly told her that there was nothing she could do about it because her landlord had let them in. Momma scoffed and informed the dept head that we did not HAVE a landlord, she'd owned that house for 20 years. Thats when the dept head threatened to have my mother arrested for animal cruelty, and that she'd file a report saying that Momma had trapped the cats and was holding them captive in a storage shed. Imagine the terror they put my then 60 year old Momma through!
They came back a few days later, and I spotted them taking MORE illegal pictures. I flew out of the house like a bat out of Hell and promptly ordered them to leave. Instead, she called a cop on us, and acted like she had the right to be there. As the cop stood by my truck, she began filling out citations, and I told her she had no right to be on my property. I began quoting our 4th amendment rights, which she ignored. I glanced at the cop, who looked at me like "crap... what have these idiots DONE to this woman?" and never said anything to the affect that I needed to calm down. He knew that I was in the right, but his hands were tied.
This went on for MONTHS... from early April 2009 to late July of the same year, till her court date came up. 9 charges, some criminal, and up to $1300 in fines. And possible jail time!!!
Finally, that July, the City Attorney took a look at the paperwork at her court date and nearly pulled his hair out. He made a deal with Momma. She felt that she had done wrong in not coming clean with her feeding of the cats, so she wanted to pay SOME restitution. He wanted to make it so that Animal Control could not come after her again. He dropped all criminal charges and all but one of the fines. That way, Momma had her concious cleared and the Animal Control department could not come back and re-charge her.
By that fall, all but one of the animal control officers had been asked to leave or fired by the city. The one officer that remained was the ONLY one who complied with my demands to heed our rights. I told her to put the camera away because she was in violation of our civil rights, and she did. She was terrified!
Oddly, the day they came out and ignored my demands for them to leave, I got a phone call 15 minutes after they left from a police department number. Someone had butt dialed me, and I could hear a woman's voice in the background saying "we ****ed up.... we ****ed up bad.."
Yep... they did!
"I'm not trying to be mean or cantankerous. I just wish people would do the right thing, and use a little common sense." ~ Farmgirl 3535
Pflugerville, TX
http://www.tawnycow.blogspot.com/ |
| magnoliakathy |
Posted - Nov 23 2011 : 05:35:58 AM
All of you ladies are right, there is too much local/federal govenment and just plain nosy, bossy people trying to tell us how to live our lives. Check your county laws, we are allowed to shoot animals that come onto fenced property and kill livestock. Dh hated to do it, but 12 ducklings and 6 chickens dead in one day were good enough reason. If there is no law or restriction against what you are doing, scream at the top of your voice, be respectful and loud at any meetings, get the local press involved. We have to stand up for our rights or we will loose them. When we bought this property back in 1990 we knew there were deed restrictions and have abided by them, we will be moving to unrestricted land in 5 years when DH retires, because the deed restrictions are a bother to us now. I served ont the HOA directors board for 2 years, I refused to vote on any thing in a gray area, I kept pushing for less restrictions and I pushed for change. Also, we had a dog problem with a county sheriff, calls made directly to his supervisor and fileing of civilian complaints have gotten up under control.
When you free your mind your heart can fly. Farmgirl # 714, |
| batznthebelfry |
Posted - Nov 23 2011 : 02:27:30 AM
It seems the simpler we want to live the more we have to fight for it....In my area we have a animal control person who would rather let a dog kill chickens, bare its teeth at people/children than do the right & legal thing of taking the dog...but we all suffer...I have lost 5 chickens to this dog who is allowed to run where it wants...I put up a fence to protect my backyard & the dog still climbs it to get to my chickens....dogs are pets but my chickens aren't or so is said all the time.what gets me at one time the gov't encouraged Victory gardens & raising of chickens to help the american people thur tough times.....By doing this we put less stain on the economy & helped ourselves...but now helping ourselves is taking away from big business & it seems they come before us....This may seem wrong to day but I think alot of towns/cities/states are becoming dictatorships where you either go with what they want or they will punish you at every turn.....Its where if you don't fit what they want they will run you out one way or another....I can understand that for drugs, hookers, gangs ect but for the rest of us who pay our taxes but want to have simpler life its gotten to the point where you can't be anywhere....Now when you buy a house its not all about whether you are in a safe area but what rules do you have to follow to live there....Can your wood pile for the woodstove be in certain places, can you even think about planting a garden & lets not forget composing...that one can cause big headaches of where it can & can't be...or even exist...Can you have an american flag on you property/...it goes on & on & is just too sad that we have gotten to what other countries have had to deal with.....Michele'
Chickens rule!
The Old Batz Farm
Hen #2622 |
| Missus Miranda |
Posted - Nov 22 2011 : 07:28:56 AM
There's been a lot of scary stuff going on in Austin for a long time. Things that take away property and personal rights so everyone is protected. That's why we have the third amendment, though! People forget this!
It just frightens me and makes me sad that people are falling victim to fines, lawsuits, and in some cases, criminal complaints/charges for things this assinine. Don't people have anything better to do??
When I was a kid, an HOA tried to form in my folks' neighborhood. People had begun switching to a sattelite service, and antennae were popping up everywhere. That's the whole reason the "HOA" came about. One or two people didn't like the antennae and said it was against the rules. We all came out of the woodwork and told the self proclaimed HOA to get out of Dodge because we NEVER signed any agreements, were NEVER told of any HOA and were NEVER made aware that sattelites and antennae were "against the rules".
"I'm not trying to be mean or cantankerous. I just wish people would do the right thing, and use a little common sense." ~ Farmgirl 3535
Pflugerville, TX
http://www.tawnycow.blogspot.com/ |
| FarmDream |
Posted - Nov 21 2011 : 6:58:29 PM
Yes, Miranda, I think we are on the same page. I read a story yesterday about a couple being fined $7000 for having a sign in their yard, even though they went around the neighborhood and took pictures of signs in other neighbors' yards, including the HOA president. Their sign just happened to be a political sign that the HOA didn't agree with. Besides HOAs and chickens there's a big fight going on in central Texas (Austin, Lockhart, San Marcos) over Smart Growth, or Envision Central Texas plans (under a variety of names), which is really about UN Agenda 21. After you look that up you will see that HOAs are only the tip of the iceberg.
~FarmDream is Farmgirl Sister #3069
Live Today, Cherish Yesterday, Dream Tomorrow
http://naturaljulie.etsy.com
http://julie-rants.blogspot.com |
| Missus Miranda |
Posted - Nov 21 2011 : 1:52:32 PM
Amen FarmDream!
Working in the financial industry, I hear this CONSTANTLY. Whether it's HOAs, municipal governments, or banks, people have had enough. If the chickens aren't getting out and being a nuisance, who cares? ESPECIALLY who cares enough to go spy on a mother and her babies in the privacy of their back yard?
If my garden is well kept, providing food, and not a total eyesore (dead corn stalks can get pretty sad looking...) who cares?
I also believe you are right in that people are beginning to stand up for themselves. ESPECIALLY those of us who are just quiet, simple people who want to mind their own business and do the right thing. My future brother in law and his wife have a garden in their backyard to grow treats for their son. He's not hyperactive like most 4 year olds because he eats what comes from the earth. He also occasionally gets to help around the garden and it's taught him responsibility. I kid you not, when it came time to clean up after supper, he was nearly in tears because he had to finish dinner before he was allowed to help! I was so happy to hear him say "Mommy, can I please help?". I wanted to HUG my future sister in law for that!
And she didn't have anyone TELL her she should raise her son that way. She just does!! 
"I'm not trying to be mean or cantankerous. I just wish people would do the right thing, and use a little common sense." ~ Farmgirl 3535
Pflugerville, TX
http://www.tawnycow.blogspot.com/ |
| FarmDream |
Posted - Nov 21 2011 : 1:27:30 PM
I think we're being regulated, not protected, into oblivion. There is hope. More and more people are starting to "wake up" and I think a lot of this will eventually stop. People have to stand up to the bullies and use their rights, not just keep taking abusiveness.
~FarmDream is Farmgirl Sister #3069
Live Today, Cherish Yesterday, Dream Tomorrow
http://naturaljulie.etsy.com
http://julie-rants.blogspot.com |
| Missus Miranda |
Posted - Nov 21 2011 : 08:18:22 AM
Brightmeadow, you actually hit the heart of my post spot on. I have a feeling more and more local politicians and leaders (more likely leaders, as they don't care for the term "politician" it seems) will be fighting for the underdogs in cases like these.
I'm seeing more and more local governments use tactics to try and take away real property rights. Granted, we had a guy in Austin who was building a bunker under his house with combustible (sp?) fuels in containers under his house. It put others in immediate danger. The ground around his house could collapse at any moment, and the chemicals could ignite and blow up the neighborhood. It was akin to the Unibomber, only in an urban setting!
But, bunny rabbits? Chickens? VEGETABLES!?
A few years ago, a fellow at a duplex down the road from my childhood home had a garden growing in his front yard, complete with the BIGGEST cornstalks I'd seen since the high school was built where the Selstrom farm used to be. It inspired everyone ELSE in the neighborhood to do the same thing! It was fantastic, and brought everyone together to share tips on how to get rid of this pest, and how to grow that fruit, etc. It brought the community together!
But nowdays, it seems that anything can get you in trouble, if it doesn't fit the "norm". Not sure if y'all have Johnson grass, but we get it real bad in south central Texas. One of my clients and his wife had ARREST WARRENTS put out on them because the small town they live in issued a ticket for their Johnson grass being too tall. He went out and cut it down, but it grows so fast that, by the time the government officials came by again, it was already grown back up. So, he and his wife (who was 7 or 8 months pregnant at the time) got hit with arrest warrents, and fines up to $700!!! It just seemed WAY overboard to me.
To be completely honest, I miss having chickens around, wandering down the street to watch the Duarte boys try and break the Appeloosa (which, they tried for several summers and never quite got him broken!) and breaking other horses. All of us kids would go down to the farm and wait for the horses to come greet us and none of us got hurt.
It just makes me sad that we're being "protected" into oblivion 
*steps off soap box, dusts off apron, picks up soap box and sighs* I think I just needed a rant. Thank y'all for listening! Maybe, if we all keep talking, we'll be like the Whos in Whoville and find our Horton!!!
"I'm not trying to be mean or cantankerous. I just wish people would do the right thing, and use a little common sense." ~ Farmgirl 3535
Pflugerville, TX
http://www.tawnycow.blogspot.com/ |
| Dusky Beauty |
Posted - Nov 20 2011 : 7:30:10 PM
The gal from Oak Park actually posted a blog update saying she got a letter the DAY after election day with some complaint, delivered to; get this, her SEATTLE address. She didn't say what it was about, just that she was forwarding it to her lawyer and that she was confuzzled as 1.)the yard now has a grass lawn. 2.)her dogs are licensed, and 3.)She sold the house and now lives in another state.
The family with the rabbits live in Missouri and one of their state politicians (I didn't catch which branch, I read it in one of their local papers and it was assumed the audience of the article knew the name)interceded on their behalf and had the USDA drop all charges and fees.
"The greatness of a nation and it's moral progress can be judged by the way it's animals are treated." ~Gandhi
http://silvermoonfarm.blogspot.com/
"After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.” ~Will Rogers |
| brightmeadow |
Posted - Nov 20 2011 : 5:22:41 PM
and then there is the guy whose kids had rabbits as a four h project, sorry, i have broken keyboard and numbers don't work, being sued by USDA by a supposedly progressive government..
Come on, this is ridiculous, I don't even know what political party I belong to any more.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com [ or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
| brightmeadow |
Posted - Nov 20 2011 : 5:17:13 PM
Well the whole Oak Park Veggies controversy might meet your criteria, but I'm not sure what you are asking. That ended up with the non-conforming person leaving town and moving to Seattle where more progressive intentions might prevail....
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands - You shall be happy and it shall be well with you. -Psalm 128.2
Visit my blog at http://brightmeadowfarms.blogspot.com [ or my homepage at http://home.earthlink.net/~brightmeadow |
|
|
