Petition the City!

14 Responses to Petition the City!

1. 

   admin on March 6, 2012 at 3:41 pm

   Thanks for the support! Please share this page link on your social media platforms.

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2. 

   Tracy on March 7, 2012 at 2:15 am

   You guys are awesome! Keep spreading the word and getting the petition out there. Impact!

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3. 

   CARLA on March 12, 2012 at 1:21 pm

   I want chickens in my back yard as I would love to have them to kill the insects in my garden (they love mosquitos), and the manure is great for organic gardening. I read about this in the Virginian Pilot and thought it would be great to change the law as I knew someone in Cheasapeake who had chickens in their backyard and that was back in the early 90s…I was so jealous of them.

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4. 

   Lisa S on March 12, 2012 at 10:33 pm

   I keep chickens in Suffolk and they are less noisy, less messy and much more beneficial to our lifestyle and the environment than our neighbor’s dogs. We have never had any neighbor so much as make a peep (pun intended) about our chickens. They don’t smell, their manure is wonderful for our garden, as are their eggshells and we are becoming more self-sufficient by raising the hens that lay the eggs we eat.

   Please change the laws all over the Tidewater area.

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5. 

   Tiffany Waterfield on April 6, 2012 at 8:26 pm

   I work as an animal behaviorist! I can tell you from over 15 years experience of working mostly with dogs but with some cats and birds and reptiles that chickens are one of the most benign non-threatening pets any one can own. They do not require a huuuge amount of space. They tend to be very quiet and have an almost pleasing sound to those nearby. A much more desirable sound over barking untrained dogs.

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     Debbie on April 27, 2012 at 11:38 am

     Yes and they eat ticks. They are such a wonderful pet for kids too. Our 9 yr old daughter loves our chickens and has learned alot about responsibility in caring for them.

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6. 

   Liz on May 30, 2012 at 2:51 pm

   http://tourdcoop.com/
   In Raleigh, North Carolina and in other Suburban, closely knit communities it is in VOGUE to have chickens and designer chicken coops. They have an annual Chicken Coop Tour, called Tour De Coop, raising money for charity.
   Having organic gardens and your own chickens with eggs to eat, is unbelievably healthy, yummy, and the benefits outway the negatives.
   The chicken poop is awesome fertilizer for that organic garden! Not to mention the bad bugs the chickens consume!!

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     Tracy Gugal Okroy on May 30, 2012 at 9:04 pm

     I completely definitely truly whole heartedly passionately sincerely agree with you about chickens being in Vogue, about having organic gardens with fresh eggs unbelievably healthy AND yummy and chicken poo fertilizer is healthy for your garden and the benefits FAR OUTWEIGH the negatives….(I have yet to discover any negatives….)

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7. 

   Ron McClellan on July 12, 2012 at 1:16 pm

   One thing to remember, it’s not a “benefits of chickens” issue here. It doesn’t matter if chickens didn’t create fertilizer, or control bugs, or provide eggs, etc. This is a great argument for convincing our parents to let us have chickens, or convincing friends and neighbors to give it try.

   And heck, it’s worth a shot to run it by a city council on the off chance they really are not predisposed against your desire. But AS SOON AS it becomes obvious that they simply don’t care about the benefits, you switch gears, and make it a liberty and property rights issue. They have virtually NO legally supportable basis for interfering with YOUR liberty or the reasonable use of YOUR property.

   I note in some of the letters from your officials they talk about the rights of your neighbors to be free from YOU having birds. Well . . .your neighbors rights do NOT supersede your right of liberty and to utilize you property in a reasonable manner. And there is NO legal basis in most of these town ordinances to do so. These officials ARE quashing your rights on the weak and tenuous premise of protecting others rights . . .they ain’t allowed to do that. But they do . . .because WE put up a weak, predictable, misguided front. We have to stop doing that. This isn’t a football game folks. Too much cheerleading going on, and not enough knocking heads . . .which is what it takes once officials have tipped their hands and shown you they are decidedly unfriendly to your wishes.

   I’d also suggest checking with your municipality to see what guidelines they follow with regard to validity of petitions, also. Often folks rely on them, believing they will be a powerful tool, only to find out their petitions don’t meet requirements and/or contain too many unverifiable signatures, etc, and are simply void.

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     Tracy Gugal Okroy on July 12, 2012 at 2:15 pm

     I totally agree with you in that it is NOT a benefits of chickens issue! I also agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY that it is about my rights, my liberty and reasonable use of MY property….and….I do not know how to navigate through that minefield. I am all ears, drive, determination, and certainly willing to do whatever it takes. Please call me 757-513-7825. I am excited to hear your guidance down this path!

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8. 

   George Meredith MD on July 20, 2012 at 7:36 pm

   bill@billdesteph.org; George Meredith; barrow!@cox.net
   Subject: The Senseless Slaughter of our noble Canada Geese!

   Dear City Councilman Bill DeSteph:

   Without any media advance notice, without any public hearings, the fascists in the USDA, in cooperation with the USFWS and the Virginia Beach City Manager, just rounded up many of our residential, noble Canada Geese and their flightless goslings and exterminated them!

   This is an outrage! This is fascist government at work! And except for one little 15 second TV 3 spot, this massacre went unreported. Is this the way a Democratic Republic conducts itself? Shame on Mr Spore and Colonel Hansen! Shame on the City Council for not brining this plot before the citizens of Virginia Beach! Shame on the USDA and the USFWS! And, finally shame on the Virginian Pilot and the Virginia Beach Beacon for remaining silent!

   The USDA Canada Goose Exterminations:
   Flashback to Nazi Germany’s Death Camps

   Of all the revolting documentaries that I have ever seen would be those of Hitler’s SS Storm Troopers rounding up Jews, Gypsies and other “undesirables”, herding them, along with their children onto cattle cars, with inadequate facilities, transporting for days on end in these unsanitary conditions. And then at the end of their long tortuous trip, herding these poor people, with their crying offspring, into waiting gas chambers. These unfortunates never had a chance!

   And today, all over the continental United States, this same sick drama is being played out by the USDA’s SS Troopers. Only the target species this time are not the Jews and Gypsies, but instead the noble Canada Goose along and it’s half grown, flightless goslings. What a cruel spectacle, the totally devoted Canada Goose parents, which will not leave their goslings, being herded into similarly unsanitary (turkey) crates, with barely enough room for them to breathe. And then the long, unsanitary, tortured journey to the gas chambers. With subsequent cremation just as in Hitler’s death camps. The sad part of this picture is being played out in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as I speak. And throughout Continental United States. .

   In Virginia Beach, I and other wing shooters have unsuccessfully lobbied, for years now, to open the season on Canadas. As has been done in a number of progressive North American municipalities. This way, man the apex predator, can, as is his ancient tradition….man can along with his middle and high school children and their devoted gun dogs, preserve an ancient heritage. Man, the wing shooter, preserves his ancient tradition while simultaneously managing Canada Goose populations. As he has done since time immoral.

   The geese could be allowed to grow to (young) adulthood. Early season residential Canada Goose season. So that man and his children would be utilizing almost all parts of the goose at the table and in the field. While simultaneously modifying the behavior of these magnificent birds!

   Surely we can be a better people than Hitler and his SS Storm Troopers!

   George Meredith MD
   Virginia Beach, Virginia

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9. 

   Jeanne on October 23, 2012 at 1:33 pm

   Has this been taken to the airways? Maybe get someone at Wavy TV to do a story….can you see Andy running around filming this story!

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10. 

    Bob Smith on April 17, 2013 at 5:01 pm

    You should not have chickens in the city. it devalues house value. if you want chickens, live in the country. the main problem is just a few chickens like not more then 6 becomes a flock, then we want rosters. give a mouse a cookie… Just Say No to city Chickens!

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      Tracy Gugal Okroy on May 16, 2013 at 4:50 pm

      Well Bob Smith…you are certainly entitled to your opinion, which I do not mind posting. AND…you are seriously misinformed about chickens devaluing house/property. There are countless studies and absolutely NONE support your argument. If you are aware of a valid study somewhere in this state or country that supports your argument that chickens devalue homes, please please post it. Thank you!

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