Farmers protest fine

BY SUSAN GIBBS Record Reporter
Published: April 3, 2008

Greene’s Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected a proposed change to the County’s code that would fine those responsible for livestock running loose at its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, March 25.

“I’ve received many complaints from the Sheriff’s Office that they’ve had numerous calls regarding cattle … loose in roadways,” County Administrator Barry Clark told the Board.

The Code of Virginia contains enabling legislation that makes it unlawful for owners or managers of livestock to permit those animals to roam past the boundaries – fenced or not—off their properties. If they do, the owners or managers can be found guilty of a Class IV misdemeanor and fined up to $250 for each occurrence.

But that doesn’t mean that Greene County has to abide by that legislation.

County Attorney Ray Clarke explained: “Many of the statutes in the Virginia Code are enabling statutes that simply empower counties to enact ordinances.”

“We could adopt it locally … (and utilize it) for repeat offender situations,” said Clark.

But representatives of the County’s agricultural community objected to Clark’s proposal.

Former Greene County Farm Bureau President Bob Burkholder said, “I don’t believe we’re ready to add this to the County code because there’s not enough information here as to how to handle the situation.

“Yes, there is (a part of the) farm community that is not keeping their fences in order … and it’s a problem to the farm community as well as to the neighbors that we have around us,” Burkholder said. But, he added, “Most of the farmers in the County take care of their fences and their livestock.”

Burkholder argued that those whose “livestock get out for some reason” whether it be by an Act of God or due to utility or survey crews going on the property, might end up being penalized. “How (would) you administer the code and be fair to everyone?” he wondered.

Former Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Henshaw said when, “people are not feeding their animals properly or they are just not keeping the fences up properly, whatever the case may be … the sheriff should have conversation to work something out. It would be cheaper to fix the fence than pay a $250 fine.”

Vice-chairman of the Culpeper Soil & Water Conservation District and Greene County resident Robert Runkle called for the Board to “reject this ordinance.

“The intent appears to be to make it easier to fine farmers who are already a group of people that probably has a lot of problems anyway and not too much money,” Runkle continued. “All of the highways in the County originally belonged to the farmers. The farmers gave the public the use of their land. Now we could have a situation where a farmer would have a cow on the road bank grazing his own land and be subject to a $250 fine.”

Former Board of Supervisors Member Mickey Cox, who says he has “over a mile and a half of fenced land on the road,” also spoke against adoption of the ordinance.

“I try to keep the fences up,” Cox said. “To my knowledge I haven’t had a cow or calf out on the road yet … but people crawl over top of fences, break them … you have cars running through them. 

“Keeping fences up the way (they used to be kept up) in this County is totally impossible in this day and time,” Cox continued. “I don’t like to see anybody’s cows out on the road, but they get out there. Don’t approve this (ordinance).”

And President of the Dyke Volunteer Fire Department Richard Herring agreed with others who spoke against the County adopting the legislation.

“Occasionally everyone has something that gets out,” Herring said. 

Burkholder reminded the Board that “the County Constitution says that Greene County is first and foremost an agricultural county. It does seem that we’re growing more houses than we are livestock than we are livestock.

“However, you haven’t changed your constitution,” Burkholder continued.

“I sympathize with the Sheriff’s Office or whoever is making that call. I sympathize with people moving in (who) don’t understand the farm community. They are here because they love the community and the view and all the farming, but they’re coming from non-farm communities.”

The Board requested that its staff explore ways to deal with those whose livestock repeatedly get loose through the County’s Animal Control office.