WHERE HAVE OUR LIBERTIES GONE

Would you be surprised to find our that carrying a box of tissues between 11:00 and 6:00 is illegal in Bountiful? Title 8 Chapter 7 Section 102 (8-7-102) of the Bountiful City Code states:

The Following Acts are unlawful between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 am:
(a) Loading Operations. Loading, unloading, opening or otherwise handling boxes, crates, containers, garbage containers or other objects;

Ok, maybe carrying a box of tissues may not get most people fined by the City of Bountiful but don't even think about taking the garbage out to the curb before you leave for work at quarter to six.

So why is the City Council Chickens?

The above law is the perfect example. Easily offended citizens, finding no solace from right thinking individuals often run to the city and bemoan the hardships they endure when their neighbors do this at the wrong time or that in the wrong place. The City Council, only all to eager to create a beautiful city where all can live in harmony and happiness, ban this or that until it becomes impossible to know whether blowing your nose and other, seemingly unoffensive activities, just might give your neighbor reason to 'turn you in'. It is a chicken that throws away the liberties of it's citizens to preserve 'harmony' within a community and it is a chicken who insists government ensures his harmony among neighbors.

Of course! there is a place for restrictions and laws and codes within a community. Without law there is no order. Of course! harmony within a city is desirable, who would hope for anything else? Since the Days of our founders Americans have fought for liberty yet set in place mechanisms to preserve order. Its a balance that is delicate. It's a balance that can't be left in the hands of individuals that substitute God given rights for a false sense of wellbeing.

Whats the point!

So what liberty has been taken away that's gotten me all bent out of shape? Well there are many but this blog is dedicated to one in particular. The right to keep and bare chickens. That's right, CHICKENS!

You've got to be kidding, Who cares?

I wish I weren't kidding. Currently only a handful of Bountiful City residents have the right to keep chickens but, believe it or not, there are A LOT of Bountiful City residents that defy city ordinances and harbor chickens illegally on their property. This is a big enough issue that the cities of Centerville, Woods Cross and North Salt Lake have taken action. Their action? to repeal ordinances that prohibited their citizens from keeping chickens in residential areas. All of Bountifuls surrounding cities have instituted common sense restrictions that maintain the beautiful balance between the rights of individuals and the rights of their neighbors.

"But I don't want those noisy, smelly things living next to me."

If you are like a couple of the clerks at the Bountiful City offices who try to discourage discussion with city officials about chickens because they don't want them living next to them, then your reasons are probably pretty typical. If you say, "They smell" and "they are noisy" then you might as well just admit that you've never lived next to or know much about 'Urban Chickens'. Upcoming articles will contain everything from City Council members reasoning for voting against/for chickens in Bountiful, to testimonials from the neighbors of chicken raisers, to proposed ordinances that will keep chicken lovers and chicken haters happily living right next door to one another.

I hope you keep reading and don't forget to "like" us on Facebook at Bountiful Citizens For Chickens.

Sincerely
Josh Holdstock