Ms. Bertram never contacted me about any issues before she passed this law. I was contacted once about the chickens. I said I would put up a fence and the town, through zoning officer Mr Ennis, told me I could not. (hear it for yourself at http://www.eichybush.com/e.mp3)

I have had a fence up and the chickens were contained many months before the law was passed. The problem was long solved. In your article representatives of the town continue to maintain the position that they were forced to take measures to address a serious problem.

My impression however, is they were upset about being proven wrong last spring on a matter of zoning, and since the existing laws did not allow them to stop me from operating a farm, they decided to tailor a new one to the situation. They passed the law and made it so harsh with a 15 day jail sentence and no sunset clause on the offense. No one that has seen the DVD of the January 9 town meeting questions the intent of this town board. Councilman Webster makes it plain when he calls for satisfaction against me. Contact me stonepound@yahoo.com if you want a copy of that dvd.

The town government is trying to save face by saying they never meant to harm farmers and that we forced their hand. No one familiar with the facts can take them seriously when they say they had to pass law with a 15 day jail sentence to force me to keep my chickens in. I have a fence up. Countless town residents and other interested parties have come by to see it for themselves. Strangely enough, only those denying its existence have not bothered to take the short drive from town hall to Eichybush Road and find out. Clearly the town is determined to ignore the facts in this matter and have a poor (if any) understanding of zoning laws. I'm in an agriculture district. That means I can own livestock and put up a fence to contain it. That is all there is to it. This smoke screen about not claiming an agriculture exemption just proves they don't have any clue about zoning. This government has publicly admitted that they made a law without any thought to what impact it might have on the people it is applicable to (what intelligent person can in all honesty say they never thought farmers would be affected by a law concerning livestock?) And now as their excuse they confess to trying to solve a problem they have never investigated. Credibility, anyone?

It is time the law was repealed, with no further posturing and manufacturing of silly excuses. I think Stuyvesant residents can have respect for a town board who are humble enough to admit they were misinformed and acted hastily, and then promptly fix their mistake (an apology to the slandered parties might be truly classy on their part, but let's not get our hopes up.) Farmers and non-farmers alike are having less and less patience with elected officials who pass a ridiculous law for a bad reason, and then hang on to it under the foolish impression that 1) they have any chance of that law ever being enforced and 2) they have anything to gain by hanging on to it. By now the town board and I probably do have one thing in common: we just can't wait for this whole sad farce to be over.