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Show Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, June 14-17, 2008 B-13 The Park Record Backyard chickens considered in Colo. By MONIE WHALEY The Denver Post Fort Collins, Colo. - Todd Simmons believes he has seen the future of Fort Collins - and it is filled with chickens. Rhode Island Reds or Sicilian Buttercups or Egyptian Fayoumis - it doesni matter to Simmons and other members of the backyardchicken movement, who say the birds will be the foot soldiers in a growing effort to green up this northern Colorado city. "Even if I knew our oil supply was indefinite and our transportation system wasn't going to collapse, I would still be convinced this is a better way to live," said Simmons, 32, who raises 35 chickens for his family on 10 acres just outside Fort Collins. Tuesday night, the Fort Collins City Council will consider a change in the city's land-use code that will allow residents throughout the city to own up to six hens. Currently, chickens can live in only three desig- chicken ordinances thlt have drawn nated areas zoned for farm animals. praise and few complaints, said Dan Under the new code, chickens Brown, a proponent of the Fort would be considered pets, just like Collins plan. dogs or cats, and be welcome in back Brown, 41, said hens provide a yards and on patios. reliable food source that is tastier and healthier than mass-produced There are restrictions. Roosters, which make too much eggs. Chickens also eat all sorts of noise, would be banned, as would food scraps that would otherwise'go the slaughtering of chickens, f f And hens must • • Even if I knew our oil supply was be securely enclosed at indefinite and our transportation system least 15 feet from property wasn't going to collapse, I would still be lines. Two other convinced this is a better way to live," Colorado cities - Todd Simmons - Loveland and Boulder - Backyard-chicken farmer have similar ordinances. Denver allows chickens within city to local landfills. limits only on a case-by-case basis, In the Flanders region of according to officials. Belgium, chickens reduced solid Seattle, Portland, Ore., and waste by 72 percent, Brown said. Madison, Wis., have adopted pro"I'm a firm believer in sustainability and a secure food source," he said. "And this is a great opportunity for children to see where their food comes from." Homebuilders fined settlements allegedly failed to obtain permits before clearing land for subdivisions and to prevent silt ' WASHINGTON (AP) - Four and debris-laden runoff from leav• i of the nation's largest homebuilders ing 2,202 construction sites from •} have agreed to pay $4.3 million in 2001 to 2005. 1 fines for failing to control runoff at The states with the most sites • construction sites in 34 states and covered by the settlements are ' the District of Columbia, the California, Florida, Texas, Arizona •* Environmental Protection Agency and Nevada. and Justice Department announced Centex Corp. agreed to pay the Wednesday. largest fine, at $1,485 million. KB The four companies - Centex Home was penalized $1,185 million. Corp. of Dallas, KB Home of Los Pulte Homes Inc., along with a . Angeles, Pulte Homes Inc. of $877,000 fine, will complete a ' Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and $608,000 project to reduce the ' M.D.C Holdings Inc. of Denver - amount of sediment entering a also agreed to take steps above northern California stream. Federal ' what is required by law to keep 1.2 prosecutors levied a $795,000 fine ' billion pounds of sediment out of on M.D.C. Holdings Inc., the par> the nation's waterways. ent company of Richmond "Dirt can pollute. The bottom American Homes. line is this: Whatever ends up on the Seven states that joined in the ground at a construction site can be settlements - Colorado, swept into the nearest waterway," Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, said EPA Assistant Administrator Nevada, Tennessee and Utah - Granta Nakayama. will receive a portion of the penalRain.can carry contaminants ties. such as dirt, stucco, paint and other The agreements filed materials from construction sites Wednesday must be approved by a into storm drains and nearby water- federal court and undergo a 30-day ways, where the silt can clog fish public comment period before gills, smother fish eggs and block becoming final. The four compasunlight from plants, Nakayama nies, in a joint statement, said that said. they were pleased with the agreeThe settlements are part of a ments. Together, they build 100,000 nationwide crackdown by the EPA homes every year, federal officials to find storm water violations at said. - construction sites. "As leaders in the homebuilding The Clean Water Act requires industry, we share the government's builders that disturb land to obtain goal of protecting and preserving permits and minimize runoff from clean waterways," the statement rain. The companies named in the said. TAvo members of the Fort Collins Planning and Zoning Board voted against recommending allowing chickens into the city. They declined to comment. But Ted Shepard, the city's chief planner, said the two board members were worried that residents would want to open Fort Collins to more farm animals. "They were concerned we'd be establishing the same precedent for pygmy goats and cows," Shepard said. Brown said cows don't merit a place in neighborhoods, while chickens do. "Chickens have a long history of being with human beings in the city," he said. "But cows don't belong in an urban setting." Some people worry about disease. The emergence of deadly avian influenza in Asia and Eastern Europe was due in part to people living and sleeping in the same area as chickens, said Adrienne LeBailly, director of the Larimer County Health Department. Brown said if coops are wellmaintained, there is little chance the chickens will spread disease. CLOSET TAILORS organized for life. Closets • Garages • Pantries • Laundry Rooms • Offices Free Home Consultation 20% DISCOUNT WHEN YOU BRING IN OR MENTION THIS AD (435)513-0661 (801)292-3484 www.closettailors.com By DINA CAPPIELLO , Associated Press Writer I fighting cancer, \ ill!i||iere s one thing we can get back on your side: the odds. !l •:••.!!•! iiif.llllii -•. X ^ - X '• •!••••' • ' < • • H; •-••••Uib ' * ] * Ml •'^i.-!.:' NEED SPINAL DECOMPRESSION? End chronic back and neck pain without surgery! 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