Hickman's horse, Peter Rabbit
The Yahoo! odd news feed today brings up a touching story of an old horse in a pasture and a cruel town being inflexible and unfeeling. Fortunately, the story also included a link to the town's website.
I'm guessing that Hickman, NE has been inundated with inquiries about the situation. Somebody intelligent took the initiative to turn their city's homepage into "The Rest of the Story".
The rest of the story is...the 1988 ordinance wasn't applied until now because that land wasn't part of the incorporated city until 2006. That answered my first question - why was this just now happening?
More of the rest of the story...after incorporating the land, the city immediately began dealing with the livestock issue with the owners who, it appears, intransigently refuse any compromise whatsoever, no matter how reasonable. For example:
City Council discussed options of allowing Harleys Horse to stay but to require the Horse Owners to have a Certified Veterinarian perform a Annual Health Checkup and present the findings to the City Offices along with a licensing and processing fee, similar to the ones required by dogs in the city limits. This solution was not acceptable to the Scotts who voiced their intent not to comply with any such regulation.
Numerous other properties in the area, outside the incorporated area, have offered to give Peter Rabbit (the horse) a home, so I have to hope that when the Scotts lose their battle, they relocate the horse properly.
I was going to email the city council in Hickman to thank them for "the rest of the story" but they've disabled "Contact us" for the time being -- I don't blame them.
posted by Schaz @ 8/14/2008 04:49:00 PM
2 Comments:
Well, I blame them. The horse was born there, and at 32 years old, is unlikely to live much longer. It seems to me that there could be an exemption made in such a case. As I read the city's (if you can call it that) "explanation", the city annexed the land and changed the rules for an unproblematic horse that had been there for 30 years. I hope the owners pursue the case through all levels of the courts, which will take longer than the horse's expected remaining life.
I think you missed the line, "Cheryl & Jack Scott Submit a written request signed by Jack D. Scott, requesting VOLUNTARY ANNEXATION into the City". In other words, the property owners ASKED the city to make their land part of the city limits.
Post a Comment
<< Home