Barre Town chicken farm dispute goes to mediation
Toolbox
By David Delcore TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: October 23, 2009
BARRE TOWN – A retired Rutland judge will try to help an embattled East Barre chicken farmer mend fences with officials in her town during a court-ordered mediation session next week.
However, if Richard Norton needs any expert assistance an Atlanta man who calls himself "The Chicken Whisperer" says he'll be just a phone call away.
Don't laugh.
Andy Schneider, host of the daily radio program "Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisperer," has been following the dispute over Kathy Rubalcaba's chicken-and-egg operation, "Layed In Vermont," with great interest .
Rubalcaba has been a guest on Schneider's online radio program several times in recent weeks, while Town Manager Carl Rogers made one brief appearance and recently asked his intern, Kelly Houston, to pick Schneider's brain on all things chicken-related in preparation for next Tuesday's mediation session.
"I've been communicating with both sides," says Schneider, who has dutifully "cleared his calendar" for Tuesday just in case he gets a long-distance call from Vermont.
Make no mistake, Schneider is an outspoken advocate for folks, like Rubalcaba, who raise chickens in otherwise residential areas, like the Atlanta suburb he calls home. However, he sounds like a pretty common-sense fellow, who understands there's a right way and a wrong way to raise chickens.
"I wouldn't want my neighbor's rooster crowing at 4:30 in the morning," he says. "Heck, I wouldn't want my rooster crowing at 4:30 in the morning."
Crowing roosters are just one of the issues in play as Norton, a retired superior court judge who once served as Rutland's city attorney, attempts to resolve a dispute that has bitterly divided a neighborhood and is currently pending before judges in two different courts.
One of those judges — Geoffrey Crawford — ordered the two sides to call in a mediator before he considers the lawsuit Rubalcaba recently filed against the town in Washington Superior Court. The other — Brian Grearson — strongly hinted during a status conference in Vermont District Court in Barre earlier this week that he would be happy to see Rubalcaba's challenge of a municipal ticket involving several chickens who flew her coop earlier this year go away.
Grearson suggested it might make sense to consolidate the pending appeal with the more recently filed superior court case, and told attorneys for both sides he expects to see a motion to that effect if mediation fails.
Town Attorney Michael Monte told Grearson he wasn't certain the town would want to consolidate the cases if medication is not successful, but indicated the ticket in dispute, as well as several others like it, will likely be discussed next Tuesday.
"I would certainly expect the defendant (Rubalcaba) wants those tickets on the table," he said.
Rubalcaba's lawyer, Daniel Richardson, said he expects the town probably feels the same way about the complaint he filed in superior court earlier this month. Among other things the complaint alleges town police and an unnamed "chicken expert" came on to Rubalcaba's property despite her repeated objections, searched her chicken coops and drove off with four young birds they believed to be roosters.
The event, which Richardson has characterized as a "warrant-less search and seizure," occurred less than 24 hours before Crawford was scheduled to consider Rubalcaba's request for an injunction that would have, at least temporarily, prevented the town from enforcing a selectboard order limiting her to a single rooster.
Rubalcaba, who had more than 30 roosters on her quarter-acre lot for much of the summer, claims she needs at least three — one for each of the breeds she raises.
During a brief hearing on the matter, Crawford told the town to bring back the birds that it took, granted Rubalcaba's request for an injunction, and ordered the two sides to call in a mediator.
Richardson said Rubalcaba was optimistic heading into what could be a day-long session with Norton.
"She (Rubalcaba) wants to make a good faith effort to resolve this and I think the town does to," he said. "The judge (Crawford) gave each side a great opportunity to sit down and make peace."
Richardson said that means addressing both past and pending violations of the town's animal nuisance control ordinance, dealing with Rubalcaba's concerns about how she has been treated by the town, and agreeing on what she should do going forward.
"If we leave lingering issues on the table, whether its prior violations or civil rights issues, we leave the job undone," he said. "No one wants that."
Norton is expected to visit Rubalcaba's Church Street home first thing Tuesday morning with Monte, Rogers and Selectboard Chairman Jeff Blow. From there they'll all head to Monte's office in Barre to see if they can find some common ground.
After talking to both sides, the Chicken Whisperer says he's hopeful and ready to be helpful.
"I can speak from experience," says Schneider, who raises 39 chickens on a third of an acre and has had roosters in the past.
According to Schneider, he used to bring his rooster in at night, place its crate inside a large plastic doghouse, cover it with insulated moving blankets and put a piece of plywood in front of the door to keep the light out and the sound in.
"If he crowed I couldn't hear him," he says of an inexpensive solution to roosters crowing at night.
Crowing during daylight hours is another matter, according to Schneider who says while persistent crowing may be a nuisance, occasional crowing is not.
"If a rooster crows a couple times an hour every hour through the day that's not a nuisance," he says. "It's kind of like a dog … if it barks non-stop for 15 (to) 20 minutes you might have something to complain about."
Schneider said he isn't a fan of surgery designed to keep roosters from crowing. The procedure doesn't always work, he says, and it is difficult to find a veterinarian who doesn't think it is inhumane.
As for setbacks and other restrictions the town might impose on Rubalcaba?
"All that's irrelevant if you have a responsible owner," says Schneider, who claims he knows of what he speaks.
"I don't have a PhD in poultry science and I'm not an avian vet, but I do know a thing or two about chickens," he says.
Schneider also has a sense of humor, which might come in handy if talks get tense on Tuesday.
"My show is probably the only fair and balanced radio show out there because chickens have a left wing and a right wing," he says.
david.delcore@timesargus.com
39