again, someone turned me in to animal control??!!

ncnurseryman · Feb 8, 2012

Having raised sheep, hogs, chickens, all near the nursery where Joe public customer can see them I can attest that the general public is clueless about animals today. All most know about animals are that all meat is wrapped in plastic from a store and eggs magically appear in cartons. Also, being a hunter is downright frowned upon today, because apparently its cruelty. I swear most people would die from starvation if we didn't have grocery stores and fast food anymore. Remember the food shortages in the former ussr?

rekees4300 · Feb 8, 2012

Soundguy said:
I'm not sure what a lawyer is gonna do for me..

You never know unless you ask. It may be worth a few hundred bucks to determine what your legal options are. This country is getting more screwed up everyday but I don't think it has reached the point yet where someone can harass you and there's nothing you can do about it.

XP14629 · Feb 8, 2012

Get a lawyer and if everything is found as harassment in court with the animal control folks, even though thy are only found their job, they should be able to instate something with the department to solve the issues.

MasseyWV · Feb 8, 2012

ncnurseryman said:
Having raised sheep, hogs, chickens, all near the nursery where Joe public customer can see them I can attest that the general public is clueless about animals today. All most know about animals are that all meat is wrapped in plastic from a store and eggs magically appear in cartons. Also, being a hunter is downright frowned upon today, because apparently its cruelty. I swear most people would die from starvation if we didn't have grocery stores and fast food anymore. Remember the food shortages in the former ussr?

Not everyone is so squeemish, I've got a freezer full of meat that never saw the supermarket shelves, but it is wrapped in plastic. However, I do tend to agree that most people couldn't kill an animal, skin it, then eat it if their life depended on it. Oh well, that will leave more for the rest of us. :laughing:

BungeeII · Feb 8, 2012

Well, since everyone else is chiming in...

I'd ask for the case numbers. Type up a letter referencing each case # along with their determination of having found no offense. Mail that back to them along with the next red tag. You can let them know what hours you're available if they must come out, but you'll not be missing any more time from work as a result of frivolous complaints.

k0ua · Feb 8, 2012

Hotlines by definition do not deliver caller-id, nor do the people who answer the hotline allowed to ask the identity of the caller. The callers of Hotlines must be assured that they will remain anonymous and confidential. If that were not true, no one would call a Hotline now would they? They would simply call the agency direct number and give their name and have a record made of their call. The crimes of child abuse and animal abuse are so heinous that it has been determined in our society that we will risk accusing the innocent while we sort out the facts before we will risk having the accuser known to the accused. In child abuse case's the accuser is often a family member or nearby neighbor or friend of the accused. They don't ever want the accused to know that they accused them. If they made a mistake and the accused is found innocent, then they can continue their previous relationship. Animal abuse is much the same. Hotlines are setup so that your next door neighbor can call without fear of being found out that they are the accuser, and will never have to face you in court no matter if you are guilty or innocent. From what the officers told you, they must investigate each and every complaint even if it was every day. The person that doesn't like you has figured all of this out. You are um.."messed with". I would engage an attorney for legal help to see if anything can be done injunction wise from a judge, but barring that you are going to have to go into politics and change the way these hotline laws work.

GPintheMitten · Feb 8, 2012

Good luck in the future Soundguy.
I hope the caller and or the animal control enforcement tire of this.

Iplayfarmer · Feb 9, 2012

Given the information I have from this thread, I think your best bet is to get the law changed. It's not as big a deal as you may think. County commissioners are people too with pets and kids. The same thing goes for Sheriffs and LEO's. I think you have the perfect test case to show the local government that the policies are out of line and unfair.

I am on the City Council in my community, and we love having input from citizens. I'd be grateful to have someone like you come before us and help us understand that the laws we have made are not working the way we wanted them to.

If a good conversation with the county commissioners doesn't solve the problem, I'd bet a nice human interest story on the local news would help change some minds. This would make a great human interest story. The spot starts with Sound Guy and his trusty old one-eyed horse, and then cuts to some little old lady whose only family, her teacup poodle, was taken away because of the over zealousness of some nosey do-gooder neighbor.

If you don't do it for you, do it for the rest of us. I'm convinced that you're not the only victim of poor policy in your area. But, you may be the best case to get the policies changed.

David P · Feb 9, 2012

Soundguy-I have had the County Sheriff's department come out to my property a couple of times last year when we were target shooting. Both times were the result of a neighbor calling the police. I contacted the office to see if they would tell me who had called as I wanted to invite them over to take a look at what we were shooting at and where. While they would not provide me the name over the telephone, they told me that they would be compelled to provide this through a Freedom of Information Act request.

I would think it would be worth it to file a FOIA to see what information is available.

dmccarty · Feb 9, 2012

You have not said, or if you have I have missed it, if this is a county ordinance or a state regulation or law. If this is a county issue then talk with your county commissioner. If it is a state law or regulation then you have to go to your representative and that is surely going to take time.

There are two problems here.

First is that they are putting up a big red sign. This is not acceptable. They know who you are and how to contact you. The red sign is bovine scat. The use of the red flag needs to be changed and to do that you have to get to the right people. See first paragraph.

Second problem is the multiple complaints. There needs to be a better way to handle them which gets back to paragraph 1.

You need to find the ordinance, law or regulation to see what it says on how to handle the situation. Either look it up yourself or get a lawyer involved. At this point you seem to have no choice if the person keeps complaining. You need to know what the "law" says. With that information you can talk with the enforcement side to see what lee way they have. Unless the "law" says they react A, B, and C, then they have discretion. The officer might be following their agency's policy but that can be modified.

You really need to know the "law" on the issue and you need to know your rights. If this continues you need to read the law and/or talk to a lawyer.

Later,
Dan