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RE: [RC] : What will they think of next (Poop Patrol) - kssnodgrass

I board my mare in a Cleveland suburb.  We are about as urban a stable as
you will get.  Before the grade railroad crossing behind the barn was
removed, we used to ride over the tracks, through a housing development and
into the Cleveland Metroparks.  Some of the people in the housing
development complained to the city if the horses pooped in the street in
front of their houses and we were told we needed to pick it up or we could
possible be fined or lose access (mind you we were riding in the street and
have legal access there according to the state of Ohio).

We decided to create a "Poop Patrol" and after a trail ride, one or two
people would drive back with a shovel and muck tub and clean up the streets.
Of course this assumed that the folks that wanted the manure for their
compost piles hadn't already taken it or a car hadn't smooshed it flat on
the pavement.  Although the poop might have been there for a few hours, the
fact that we made the effort to come back and clean it up safely was
considered a fair compromise.  Hopefully folks will be able to work it out.
(I have never understood why people would move to the country and complain
about the farm smells, or move in next to a railroad track or interstate
highway and complain about the noise.)


-Karen (in VERY cold NE Ohio)


-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Jeannie Gillen
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 10:25 AM
To: ridecamp
Subject: [RC] Fw: What will they think of next



----- Original Message -----
From: "Elin Motherhead" <doublemelin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Ginger VonAchen" <GVonAchen@xxxxxxxxx>; "Dan and Cheryl Searer"
<DLSearer@xxxxxx>; "Jeannie Gillen" <Jeanniegillen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Dave
Drefchinski" <davesbarn@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 1:26 AM
Subject: What will they think of next



POOP SCOOPING MANURE - "hay goes in - hay goes out"



I'm passing this on:

Dear Horse Lovers,

Any horse owner or enthusiast would be aghast to learn about the
current movement against equestrians in Newport Beach, CA. The
enforcement of an ordinance requiring horse riders to PICK UP AFTER
THEIR HORSES on the trail illustrates the ignorance of

non-equestrians

towards the animals that we love (See the article below).

This sounds

like a joke, but it isn't. In crowded Southern California,

the rights

of horse owners are quickly being eroded. We are constantly fighting
to ensure that our trails are not demolished for golf courses, that
our horse properties are not rezoned to bar horses, and NOW THIS!!!!

HELP STOP THE MADNESS! PLEASE SEND THIS TO THE HORSE LOVERS YOU KNOW
AND URGE THEM TO CONTACT THE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH.

CITY MANAGER HOMER BLUDAU
EMAIL: hbludau@xxxx
PHONE: 949-644-3000

ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER DAVID KIFF
PHONE: 949-644-3002


LOS ANGELES TIMES ARTICLE, JANUARY 2, 2004

Cleanup Rule Is a Bur Under Their Saddle
 Enforcing Newport Beach's scooper law pits residents, who

recoil at

the mess, against equestrians, who deny the manure is a hazard.

By David Haldane, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, January 2,

2004


Santa Ana Heights is a horse lover's dream.

Several miles of bridle trails meander through idyllic terrain. Most
of the houses sit on lots large enough to accommodate animals and
corrals.

Recently, however, the dream has been marred by an argument over
biological realities. New signs posted on the trails warn of $100 to
$500 fines for owners whose horses leave a mess. And,

adding insult to

injury, several houses along sidewalks and trails now sport shovels
with cans.

"It's just a good-neighbor issue," says Barbara Venezia, a
non-equestrian resident of one of those houses and organizer of what
she calls the "adopt-a-poop-can" campaign. "The bottom line is: If
you've got an animal, take care of it."

Local equestrians say they certainly don't mind taking care of their
animals. But some are incensed by a municipal ordinance that treats
them exactly as it does dog owners who don't clean up after

their pets

on the street. And in what may be the first case of its

kind anywhere,

horse people say they plan to show up en masse at a city

hearing later

this month to protest the law.

"We're challenging not only the enforcement of the code,

but the code

itself," said Tom Anderson, president of the Orange County

Equestrian

Coalition, which recently paid the fine of a woman cited

for allegedly

leaving her horse's manure on a sidewalk. "We've always

believed this

to be a nonissue. It shows a complete lack of understanding by urban
people about what it means to have a horse as a pet."

Countered David Kiff, an assistant city manager in charge

of enforcing

the ordinance: "I can't just look the other way with horses."

The conflict has recent roots. For years, East Santa Ana Heights - a
194-acre area made up of about 400 homes just northeast of Newport
Beach - was an unincorporated Orange County island zoned for
equestrian use. Last July, in keeping with the county's

efforts to rid

itself of unincorporated areas, it was annexed by Newport Beach.

As a result, according to Kiff, "the community is subject to all of
our ordinances," including the one requiring pet owners to clean up
after their pets. Though the law is aimed primarily at dog

owners, he

says, "it would apply to any animal, including a horse."

The city posted the "no manure" signs almost immediately. Then it
shelled out $89 for Venezia's cans.

But things really heated up a few weeks ago when Cheryl Skidmore, a
horse owner who lives in Costa Mesa but frequently rides in

Santa Ana

Heights, was cited and fined for allegedly leaving a mess.

"I did clean it up," she said later, "but [the officer]

said it wasn't

cleaned up to his satisfaction."

City officials argue that the horse manure is an

environmental hazard

that can seep into storm drains, ending up in Newport Bay.

"There are

certain parts of the bay and many tributaries that are way

above state

standards" for fecal bacteria, Kiff said.

The city, he said, is under court order to keep those levels low.

Equestrians, on the other hand, maintain that because horses are
herbivores, their waste is benign. "Hay goes in, hay comes

out," says

Jayne Jones, a member of Back Bay Equestrians, a local riding group.
"You can use horse manure for compost - a lot of people put it in
their gardens. It's practically the same stuff you can buy at Home
Depot - it's actually good for the environment."

Besides, they argue, cleaning up horse droppings can be

dangerous for

riders. "There's a considerable difference," Anderson said, "between
picking up your dog's droppings in a plastic bag and getting off a
thousand-pound animal, scooping up the droppings, putting them in a
bag and remounting on the trail. That's a serious public safety

issue."


The two sides may collide during the Jan. 20 hearing at City Hall to
consider Skidmore's appeal of her fine.

"We're going to make this a test case," Anderson said. "If the city
wants to make it an issue, we'll go to the wall on it."

ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE LET THE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH KNOW HOW RIDICULOUS
THEIR LAW IS!!!!! TODAY IT IS A CITY IN SO. CALIFORNIA - TOMORROW IT
MAY BE YOUR CITY!!!!


CITY MANAGER HOMER BLUDAU
EMAIL: hbludau@xxxx
PHONE: 949-644-3000

ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER DAVID KIFF
PHONE: 949-644-3002





Here is a letter written to Newport Beach by one of my friends in
Bonsall to the council.


I cannot believe you are going to make horse-riders dismount from
their horses, to pick up manure while they are riding the Back Bay
Trails.     Since Back Bay is a sanctuary, or was, when we lived
nearby to there, natural horse excrement should actually be

of benefit

to the soil.

As was reported in the L.A. Times, horses do not eat any kind of
meat...... only hay, grass & nutrients ......therefore the manure
which they produce is not offensive in odor..... I do not

see what it

is that is bugging the non-equestrian homeowners, as they must have
known when they moved there, that there were going to be

horses using

the trails, and possible manure as a result.

Horses do not often poop when they are ridden  -   they

mostly do this

when they get a sudden fright, or if  "it is time", but most horses
refrain from doing this away from their homes, so there must be very
little manure of which to speak.

This seems to me to be a totally frivolous subject, and I think that
anyone who is objecting to the equestrian riders and their steeds'
normal gastro-intestinal functions, is in need of some psychiatric
therapy, or a hard-working job, as they obviously have too much time
on their hands to let others enjoy life.

Fiona Kennelly


Visit the Corral 20 web site: http://corral20.kc6hur.net
Visit the ETI Natioanl web site: http://www.eti.av.org
ite: http://corral20.kc6hur.net
Visit the ETI Natioanl web site: http://www.eti.av.org








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Replies
[RC] Fw: What will they think of next, Jeannie Gillen