The Norman Transcript

Editorials

Discussion

November 16, 2012

A chicken in every yard

The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — The local chicken lobby did its homework in educating members of the city council on backyard coops this week. It’s a movement that we are seeing in cities around the country.

Residents can now keep up to four chickens in their backyards with no roosters allowed. The eggs produced are a good source of local food. They also allow concerned residents more control over the food supply. The new restrictions seem reasonable and protect neighbors and the birds. The chicken coops must be at least 25 feet from any dwelling other than the owners, at least five feet from the nearest property line.

The birds are guaranteed to get a minimum size coop of four square feet and have access to a chicken run. They can be put in the coops from dusk to dawn as a protection against predators.

The regulation change before the city council wasn’t nearly as exciting as the case of Lewis, the pot-bellied pig. Longtime residents will recall Lewis’ plight. It was against city ordinance to bring swine into the city, and Lewis’ owner, a local business person, wanted to bring the pig to work each day.

That case occupied our council and city legal staff for months. And, for the record, outdoor slaughter of chickens (and pigs, for that matter) is prohibited under this ordinance.

For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Editorials
  • New faces on the bench

    Cleveland County is one step closer to getting another district judge. House members overwhelmingly approved the legislation moving a vacant seat from Seminole County in eastern Oklahoma to Cleveland County....

    May 24, 2013

  • The randomness of it all

    A drive through the fringe streets of the damaged areas in Moore and south Oklahoma City this week shows the randomness of Monday’s tornado. Homes that appear to have little or no damage stand next to ones that are ready to be pushed over....

    May 24, 2013

  • The Oklahoma standard

    The sight of hundreds of young student volunteers walking across Moore’s Fourth Street interstate overpass had to be uplifting to the city’s tornado victims. They carried rakes, brooms and trash bags. A few had children’s red wagons. There ...

    May 23, 2013

  • There’s no answer for ‘Why?’

    Just hours before, there was breakfast and laughter. Pictures were on the walls and memories were in every room. But in seconds, those joys of life were reduced to a concrete slab by a rage of nature that man will never fully understand....

    May 22, 2013

  • Moore’s amazing resilience

    Our hearts, already heavy from Sunday’s deadly tornado in far eastern Cleveland County, sunk even further Monday afternoon as we watched the tornado rip through Moore. The monster storm that hit Monday followed nearly the same path as the ...

    May 22, 2013

  • Relying on private prisons

    Oklahoma began contracting to place inmates in private prisons during Gov. Frank Keating’s administration in 1995. Today, more than 5,000, or 23 percent, of our inmates are in the custody of three private prisons....

    May 21, 2013

  • Thanks for warnings

    We can’t say there wasn’t enough warning this time around....

    May 21, 2013

  • Airline changes coming

    In the airlines business, time is money. American Airlines wants to try and speed up its boarding process. Passengers who travel with only a personal item such as a purse or a brief case can now get on first....

    May 19, 2013

  • SEC should act on conflicts

    Money talks. In the continuing dispute over the all-too-cozy relationship between the people who create and sell financial products and the people who rate their risk, the money says: Shut up and let us do what we want....

    May 19, 2013

  • We all deserve better

    The tough treatment of the Tea (Taxed Enough Already) party and other conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service is being assailed by leaders of both political parties....

    May 19, 2013