Free the chickens!
You go, Jim Tucker!
Tucker, a former Fort Walton Beach city councilman, has run a-fowl (sorry, couldn't resist) of city law because he has a few chickens wandering around at his business, The Boat marina.
So, Tucker's planning to ask the city of a change in its land development code, which he hopes will allow the city to grant him an exception to the no-chicken rule.
Everyone should get behind Tucker on this one. The city ordinance is antiquated, unnecessary and an intrusion on Tucker's property rights. It's what happens when the bureaucrats get to make the rules. Yes, we don't want a chicken farm to spring up in downtown Fort Walton Beach. But a few pet chickens pecking around a businessman's lot won't hurt anyone.
The number at City Hall for the mayor and city council is 833-9510.
posted by Patrick Rice @ 1:10 PM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
It’s hard to believe a story with less relevance than Paris Hilton would actually get more press than Paris Hilton, but this one may do just that. It won’t be long before PETA get’s involved and it ends up in the courts for a few years. Then there’ll probably be someone calling it an anti-redneck racist issue so we’ll have to sort that out too.
I think these guys need to figure out how to live within a budget without cutting firefighters and police officers before they worry about trivial, nonsensical issues like this. Of course the way these petty politicians are they’ll confiscate the birds in the middle of the night and claim it was a bird-flu national security issue, of course they’ll destroy everything before anything can be verified, but that’s politics.
I do not know the exact working of Ft Walton Beaches ordinance. You do not want an ordinance that would allow chickens or other potentially fowl (I could not resist either) smelling or noisy animals or in a residential environment.
In Tuckers particular case I see absolutely nothing wrong in allowing him to keep his pets.
It makes one wonder why this is suddenly an issue. These birds have been at The Boat for many years. Now that Tucker is no longer a councilman it is suddenly being challenged. Some sour grapes from a city employee or another councilman?
CitizenX
You know, I was thinkin about gettin some baby gators to keep me company. I mean, gators are amphibians - which are the same as turtles.
A few pet baby gators nibbling around my lot won't hurt anyone, right? Well, at least for a little while.
*end sarcasm*
But seriously, It'd be funny if this sparked a trend of having chickens and ducks as pets and having them wander the streets. Before you know it, we'll be back in the days when cattle roamed downtown Camp Walton.
Chickens are illegal to have in the City Limits, but Bit Bulls are ok. Whats wrong with this picture?
Oh yeah! This is Fort Walton Beach. I'll bet the real estate and tourist industry don't like chickens.
I have a strong feeling that the recent crack down on the birds is related to Avian Flu prevention measures, unless the neighbors were previously bothered by the birds. I still think that the birds could live there and serve as sentinel chickens for the Health Department, and since I am not sure if that is a lethal assignment, I can't say that that would be "killing two birds with one stone".
It used to be that we had to curtail the keeping of livestock for health reasons, but modern veterinary medicine has made it so that it is safe to live in close proximity with our animal friends, so long as we maintain good sanitation. I think it's time to lighten up on the old animal restriction laws, but only so far as allowing the animals back into our neighborhoods is healthy (for both the humans and animals), not bothering neighbors and it is practical!
More information on Avian Flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/gen-info/spread.htm
Nothing is better than a fresh FRIED CHICKEN dinner. Looks like the City Of Fort Walton is ringing the dinner bell......?!?
Look,
Chickens are a lot better than the not so rare tatooasauruses found in abundance down town. No one comes down town except to get a tatoo. Nothing left but vampires. Indianapolis had a similar problem when it's downtown started to perish. Fort Walton may be too far gone though to do anything, but Indianapolis had a roof put over it, added air conditioning and became a huge mall type complex. We are located right next to a vacation haven in Destin. Destin has unparaleled growth in an era where the rest of the area is dead or almost dead. With a catchy name, a little bit of structure and air conditioning, maybe............ That would also tend to make a bypass seem doable with all the revenue generated by a perpetual FEST type scenario and atmosphere. The right name should be chosen to point it up. Thinking outside the box saved one town. What might happen if a new planned scenario could be made to happen in our town.
This is so silly!! Leave Tucker alone and let him have his chickens. They have been there for years without any problems so why bother them now?
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