A roost of one's own

Muncie might not be a major automaker anymore, but we've established a toehold in another key manufacturing domain.

Chicken coops.

Brook Linton, who runs Solid State LLC out of a cavernous 90-year-old warehouse on the city's near south side, recently explained what got him into it.

"Nobody around here was doing it," he said. "Nobody was making chicken coops. A lot of people are getting into chickens again."

Tall and lanky, Linton was bundled against the cold air flowing through his drafty building at 800 S. Liberty St. last week. As he talked, everywhere you looked in its western end were stacks of old doors, tumbled sinks and bath tubs, framed windows reclaimed from walls and felled porch posts waiting to rise again.

All this, he noted, was salvaged from old houses razed over the past couple years.

Can't find an eight-foot door? This is your place.

"All the components of the house, we resell them," Linton said. "A lot of people who can't find anything in the box stores come here."

It was at the far eastern end of the warehouse, though, where employee John Halsey was hard at work, building a new chicken coop from recycled wood.

"We have a pretty set pattern," Linton noted, of his coops' design.

The young businessman launched this part of his enterprise about eight months ago. Halsey was working on the seventh coop, and four have been sold. A couple of the others sat outside the warehouse, looking like big doll houses, their weathered blue and yellow paint schemes determined by the color of the reclaimed wood that went into their manufacture.

"We really don't paint them," Linton said. "Whatever reclaimed color the wood is, that's on the walls."

So, what will a chicken coop cost you?

If you'd like the large coop, one that as many as 25 chickens would be proud to call home, it will be about $1,000.

On the other hand, if you are more of a 10-chicken man (or woman), that will run you only about $550.

The smaller coop, by the way, was specially designed with ease of hauling in mind, Linton said, it being small enough to fit in the bed of a compact S-10 Chevy pickup truck.

Of course, if your chicken ambitions far exceed 10 or even 25 fowl, don't despair.

"We can make bigger coops," Linton said. "It's custom sized."

By the way, each coop contains a roost inside.

"That's because chickens like to sleep up off the ground," Linton explained, just that quickly doubling the scope of this reporter's chicken knowledge.

Who are the folks buying his chicken coops? It's probably too early to have accurately identified a market demographic yet, but he said one customer was a new retiree.

"He just wanted something to do," he said.

More power to folks like that, he continued, and their dreams of raising chickens.

"We're hoping that it catches on," Linton said.

Attacks by radical settlers on Israeli army spark debate

Charred tires and boulders pushed to the sides of the road leading to Yitzhar, a West Bank Jewish community near Nablus, were among the signs that residents had made an effort to prevent Israeli soldiers and police from entering the settlement. Patches of grease stains -- remnants of the lubricants that had been poured on the narrow road to induce army jeeps, police sedans and backhoes to lose traction -- were others.

It seems that if not for the influence of the late Lubavitcher rebbe, there might have been more resistance, not just the blockades and grease on the road last Thursday night, according to an account of the events related by Avraham Binyamin, the settlement’s spokesman to JTA during a visit Sunday.

"It is not our way to stand by passively while such a brutal act is perpetrated," said Binyamin, a tall, bespectacled young man with a full beard, sidelocks and a large knitted yarmulke, pointing to the ruins of a home and a chicken coop destroyed under government orders for being built on land said to belong to Palestinians.

"But we honored the wishes of the man who owns the land here and did not attempt to resist the destruction," he added, "at least not in the vicinity of his property."

The man who Binyamin said owns the land is affiliated with a stream of Chabad Chasidism that believes the deceased Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, will return as messiah. In this milieu, it is customary to "ask" the rebbe for his advice by randomly placing a question written on a piece of paper inside a compendium of Schneerson's letters. In this case, according to Binyamin, the "answer" given by the rebbe via one of his old letters was, "Don't fight, concentrate on building."

The willingness of Yitzhar residents to respect a dead rabbi's command -- one they believe came from the grave -- but ignore an order by the government of Israel is instructive. So was Binyamin's caveat that there would be no violence "in the vicinity."

Just hours after the destruction of the house, located on a hilltop adjacent to Yitzhar known as Mitzpeh Yitzhar, arsonists torched a mosque in Burqa, a village about four miles east of Ramallah -- a half-hour drive from Yitzhar. The desecrators spray-painted the words "war" and "Mitzpeh Yitzhar" on the wall of the mosque.

It was just one in a chain of violent vigilante attacks. In the past few years, radical right-wing activists, representing a growing fringe, have pursued a campaign they call "price tag" to avenge perceived injustices meted out against them by the Israeli government, such as the demolition on Mitzpeh Yitzhar.

Mosques have been burned and desecrated with graffiti such as "Muhammad is a pig," Palestinian olive trees have been slashed and burned, and other Palestinian property has been damaged. Vandals also have targeted property belonging to Israeli security forces.

But a red line was crossed in recent days.

Shortly after midnight on Dec. 13, settler radicals -- often referred to as "hilltop youths" because they tend to be young and live on small, isolated outposts -- stormed into an Israeli base in the northern West Bank. They burned tires and vandalized army vehicles, throwing stones and paint at them.

Elsewhere in the northern West Bank, settlers also attacked and lightly wounded an Israeli army commander when they forced open the door of his jeep and hurled a brick at him.

These attacks on the Israel Defense Forces -- one of Israel’s most revered institutions and one to which Israeli families must entrust their sons and daughters -- appalled Israelis and sparked intense debate over how best to combat lawlessness in the West Bank.

Political leaders on the left and center argued that the current government's ideological affinity with the settler movement impaired its ability to crack down on the violence.

Tzipi Livni, Knesset opposition leader and head of the Kadima Party, said in a statement that “this government … is laying fertile ground for these tumors. When Netanyahu says that we are dealing with rioters and not ideological crime, it indicates one of two things -- either he doesn’t understand what is happening here, or he doesn’t want to deal with this extremist ideology because of his natural coalition partners."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government coalition members have come out strongly and repeatedly against the vigilante violence. Netanyahu said it must be combated with "a heavy hand."

However, the Netanyahu government continues to support settlement growth; just last week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved a a new neighborhood in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, near Bethlehem.

This week, the whips of all the political parties in the governing coalition except Barak’s Independence faction supported a bill to prevent the demolition of Jewish homes thought to be built on private Palestinian property, like the one destroyed in Mitzpeh Yitzhar.

Israel, wake up and smell the coffee

If I could, I'd send a modest bouquet of flowers as a gesture of thanks for the work of the rioters - the ones who infiltrated the Ephraim Brigade base in the West Bank last week. They achieved, at least for a moment, what others had failed to do: stir Israeli public opinion and maybe even the army and government against the West Bank settlers.

Good morning, Israel. You've woken up? Years of rioting against Palestinians, uprooting of trees, vandalism, arson, destruction, dispossession, theft, rocks and axes didn't cause a ripple here. But one rock to the head of a deputy brigade commander, Lt. Col. Tzur Harpaz, made all the difference.

An all-out riot. Jewish terrorism. There are militias in the West Bank, settler-terrorists in a no-man's-land. And all this due to a rock that drew a few drops of sacred Jewish blood.

Here they are again: arrogance and nationalist ideology. How is it possible that terrorism has arisen from the Chosen People? How could a few drops of blood from one person shock more than streams of other people's blood? How did the rock that scratched Harpaz's forehead reverberate immeasurably more than the teargas canister that ripped through the forehead of Palestinian Mustafa Tamimi, killed four days earlier by soldiers from the army Harpaz serves in?

No, the right wing's hilltop youth haven't endangered the State of Israel. They haven't even distorted its image, as it's now popular to proclaim. What do you want from them? They've been made accustomed to think that anything goes. Enough with the self-righteous clucking of tongues. Enough with the "condemnations" and expressions of bogus and belated shock. There is nothing new under the sun when it comes to the settlers. It's not a "new level" of activity, and it doesn't involve the crossing of "red lines." The only line that has been crossed, perhaps, is the line of apathy.

We've been reporting for years about the settlers' misdeeds, week after week. We've recounted how they have threatened Palestinians, hit their children on their way to school, thrown garbage at their mothers, turned dogs on elderly Palestinians, abducted shepherds, stolen livestock, embittered their lives day and night, hill and vale, invading and taking over. And it never touched a soul.

Now all of a sudden there is shock. Good morning, Israel. Why? What happened? You can't chastise those young people after years of not only apathy toward their parents' misdeeds but also the warm embrace of most of society and sweeping support from the IDF and every Israeli government. You can't speak about them as brother-pioneers, give them huge budget allocations, promise they'll be allowed to remain where they are forever, view them as a legitimate, not to say principled, segment of society, and then suddenly turn your back on them, condemning and attacking them. And all due to a rock.

You can't change the rules that way, one fine day. And the rules were set long ago: It's their land, the land of the settlers; they're the masters of it and can do anything there. Only a distorted double standard would permit a change in the rules due to a minor injury to the Israel Defense Forces. Only in the name of a distorted double standard could you be shocked about the recent acts, which were by no means the most serious or cruel.

Of course Israel has the right (and duty ) to change the rules, but such a change must be revolutionary and be carried out across the settlement enterprise, halting it entirely and changing the illegal, unethical and intolerable reality that exists in our backyard. The government isn't interested in such a change. The IDF isn't either, and it's doubtful most Israelis want such a change. But anything less than that is hollow lip service, nothing more than a small wave on the hull of this decades-long enterprise.

Until that happens, let's leave them alone. There's no point evacuating a chicken coop at the Mitzpeh Yitzhar outpost while the settlement of Efrat is lapping at the edge of Bethlehem. There's no point waging war against the "illegal" outposts while the "legal" settlement of Ofra has been built on stolen land. And there's no point issuing restraining orders to keep out a clutch of rioters while it never occurs to Israel to issue similar orders against all their brethren.

The violent demonstrators at the Ephraim Brigade base are the opposite of anarchists, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called them. They just want to preserve the existing order, just as most Israelis, led by the prime minister, do. Flowers for the rioters? On second thought, they haven't done a thing.

We won’t let extremists spark a war

A group of far-right activists is assumed to have targeted the mosque, near Ramallah, in a “price-tag” attack in retribution for IDF actions carried out at the same time, when soldiers demolished a home and a chicken coop at the unauthorized Mitzpe Yitzhar outpost near Nablus.

After they broke into the mosque in the Burka village, the vandals lit a fire in the women’s prayer section on the top floor. The blaze was extinguished before it spread to the rest of the structure.

The vandals also spray-painted red Hebrew words on an interior wall: “Mitpze Yitzhar” and “war.” Graffiti with the words “price tag” were written on the mosque’s exterior wall.

Later in the morning, angry Palestinians threw rocks at police who tried to enter Burka to investigate the attack.

“It was impossible to go inside,” police spokeswoman Nurit Tzemah said. “We had intended to collect samples from the crime scene.”

Police plan to either enter the village at a later date or use photos from the scene taken by the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria.

Palestinians also stoned two Israeli buses, lightly wounding two child passengers near Ramallah and a woman on a bus near Kalkilya.

Separately, a 23-year-old Israeli was arrested by the IDF after allegedly being caught spray-painting graffiti such as “Nazi” and “price tag” on concrete blocks surrounding an army position in Samaria.

The incidents further inflamed tensions in the West Bank, which were already high after three price-tag attacks late on Monday night and early on Tuesday morning, in which Jewish activists vandalized an army base, assaulted two IDF commanders and breached the security fence with Jordan.

The price-tag attacks sparked fierce debate among politicians, rabbis and settlement leaders, with Defense Minister Ehud Barak calling for the extremists to be treated as terrorists.

Netanyahu rejected that call but came down harshly on the extremists. He ordered that they be tried in military courts and that administrative detentions be used against them.

On Thursday night, the prime minister was careful to distinguish between the pricetag vandals and the settlers as a whole, most of whom, he said, were “loyal” and “law abiding” citizens.

As for the extremists, however, he was less sanguine.

“We will act with a strong hand and make sure they’re prosecuted. The law is the law. Justice is justice,” Netanyahu told the Likud central committee.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s people who attack our security forces in the Ephraim Brigade base or in [the Palestinian village of] Bil’in,” he said.

But in the Mitzpe Yitzhar outpost, located on the outskirts of the Yitzhar settlement, settlers looking at the debris of the small modular home that had been demolished at dawn said it was the IDF that had launched a war against them.

Settlers were careful to explain that they did not condone attacks on the army. They said incidents took place within a context in which the IDF was acting as if they were the enemy by destroying settler homes.

“They are trying to demonize us,” Yitzhar resident Yoel Noiman said as he stood by the debris of the home where a young man had hoped to start a new life with his bride in another month.

The people who live here are in danger from both the Palestinians and the IDF, said Noiman, who said he had been shot at by Palestinians three times as he drove in the West Bank.

When his children see a policeman, “they want to know, is this a good officer or a bad one,” he said.

After two or three nights of warnings, the soldiers sneaked into Mitzpe Yitzhar around 3:30 a.m., he told The Jerusalem Post. Activists who placed burning tires, barbed wire, stones and oil on the road leading to Yitzhar could not stop them.

Settlers learned that the soldiers were coming less than an hour before they surrounded the small caravan.

As Noiman’s daughter, Tiferet, eight, searched through the ruins, he described how the soldiers had sneaked up the hill on foot, through the adjacent Palestinian village.

Noiman had trouble reaching the home set for demolition because soldiers and border policemen kept stopping him. At one point they grabbed him roughly and in another they knocked his glasses off, breaking them.

Noiman said that he now wore a spare pair.

The security forces took almost everything out of the home and then brought cranes at around 5:40 to knock it down, he said.

According to Yitzhar spokesman Avraham Binyamin, the security personnel also destroyed a chicken coop. Roosters and chickens wandered loose through the debris.

“There were no significant confrontations or arrests,” police spokeswoman Tzemah said.

The state had promised the High Court of Justice that it would remove the two structures by the end of December because they are located on land classified by the state as belonging to individual Palestinians. Peace Now had petitioned the court to enforce the law in this matter.

The state, however, did not move against the other five homes at the outpost because, it said, they were on state land.

Chickens not allowed to cross road into Prairie du Sac backyards

The Mack family in Prairie du Sac wanted chickens for several reasons: as a source of fresh eggs, to further the family's commitment to local food and to complement their backyard garden.

"Our neighbors in Madison had chickens," said Jennifer Mack. "That could've been what planted the idea."

Allowing backyard chickens "is something a lot of metro areas do," she said, but a couple of months after the family began raising five hens in a coop on their property on Fifth Street, an officer knocked at their door telling them the chickens needed to be gone within two weeks.

In the village of Prairie du Sac, as well as in Sauk City, chickens are not allowed within village limits.

Prairie du Sac Village Administrator Alan Wildman said someone in Mack's neighborhood called the village about the family's chickens and he forwarded the complaint to the police department.

"That ordinance was recently redone in June of 2009," Wildman said. "They looked at not just chickens, but all livestock and different animals being raised."

Mack has contacted the village board about taking a new look at the ordinance, but Wildman said it will be up to the board whether it does so. Wildman said this is the first time a complaint related to raising chickens has come across his desk.

Mack, her husband and two young children have lived in Prairie du Sac for almost 18 months, and she said when they decided to get the chickens their friends told them the animals were allowed in the village.

"We kind of just went by word of mouth," Mack said. "Everyone said they're allowed in Prairie but not in Sauk."

Sam Mack, Jennifer's husband, said that from driving around and talking to people, he knows there are residents in both villages who also are raising chickens.

Sauk Prairie Police Chief Jerry Strunz said such complaints are "sporadic," and the police deal with such residential-property issues on a by-complaint basis.

Across the country, raising backyard chickens is a growing trend, especially during a recession when people are looking for ways to cut food costs and be more self-sufficient. A quick Google search reveals a plethora of resources for people interested in raising backyard chickens, and numerous national publications that have published articles about their increasing popularity.

Chickens also are allowed in nearby communities such as Baraboo and Middleton.

"We've allowed them for several years," Middleton Assistant Planning Director Mark Opitz. He added, "There's quite a bit of interest in it. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a dozen people raising chickens in Middleton."

Middleton's village ordinance allows residents to raise hens as long as they don't become a nuisance. Opitz said the only complaint he recalls is from a resident who thought his neighbor was keeping a rooster, which is not allowed.

The city of Baraboo has allowed chickens for nearly two years, and according to the city's finance director and city clerk Cheryl Giese, the ordinance hasn't caused any problems or complaints.

Under Baraboo's ordinance, a resident may have six hens. Residents must submit plans for a chicken coop for municipal review and pay $25 for a permit with a $10 annual renewal.

The village of Prairie du Sac does allow residents to have up to four rabbits, which the Macks also raise in their backyard in structures similar to their chicken coops.

Jennifer said she hopes the village reconsiders allowing chickens, in part because her children like having them, and she said she worries about integrating them into a nearby farm where they'll be at the bottom of the pecking order.

She said she planned to attend the village board meeting that took place last night after the Eagle's deadline.

"We've been here not quite 1  years, and I already feel like we're causing trouble," she said.

Sam said he'll take the chickens to a nearby farm this weekend, and if the village changes its ordinance, he said he can always get them back.

"We're not here to ruffle any feathers," he said.

Chickens ordinance approved

Chickens are officially legal in the Town of Windsor for one more year.

During last Monday’s regular town board meeting, the board voted 5-2 to approve on second reading the ordinance extending chicken-keeping in town.

The newly extended ordinance will be back up for discussion next year at this time, when it’s set to sunset again if not extended.

“I can’t support the sunset clause in this ordinance,” said Mayor John Vazquez. “That’s why I’m opposing this ordinance.”

Board member Don Shanfelt, who had concerns about the health issues potentially caused by the chickens, cast the other no vote.

“I’m impressed with the responsibility of the citizens who keep chickens, but I would feel better if we’d heard from someone at CSU Extension,” Shanfelt said.

The chicken-keeping issue has been at times contentious.

A proposal to allow the raising of backyard chickens inside town limits was brought to the board during a meeting in April 2010 by Jared and Ashley Schwader. The couple put together a packet of information that debunked myths and suggested regulations for keeping chickens.

The ordinance allowed residents to keep up to six hens, but no roosters, per property in town. Other requirements include the size of coops and neighbor notification if the coop is going to be located less than 15 feet from the property line.

The ordinance was set to sunset Jan. 1. So at the Nov. 7 work session, the town board took a look at the ordinance and agreed on a couple of changes.

The first change defined a chicken as a bird of a certain species from the moment of its birth, to clear up confusion over whether a non-laying chicken was still a chicken.

The second change dealt with coop removal if a chicken-keeping permit was revoked or the owner ceased keeping chickens for six months.

The sunset clause also was retained, meaning the board would discuss whether to keep chickens in town for another year in Nov. 2012.

However, at the Nov. 14 regular meeting, Vazquez, who was not present at the work session, became concerned that there was no provision for chicken-keepers to raise chicks. He also was displeased the sunset clause would remain, calling it unnecessary.

The board agreed to table the ordinance at that time and look at the original version again later.

The version that passed on first reading on Nov. 28 is the same as the one the board approved last year that keeps the number of chickens allowed at six. It has no exceptions for chicks and keeps the sunset clause, meaning the board will consider this ordinance again next year.

The one change made was to bring the maximum fine for violations up to $1,000, which is in keeping with the rest of the fines charged since the town made the transition to a court of record.

Three members of the public also spoke on the chicken issue.

“My wife and I got a permit this spring and have four chickens,” said Ted Hollman. “I don’t think the sunset clause is necessary because the board can address this ordinance at any time.”

Jon Bork also supports the town allowing chickens.

“I oppose the sunset but support the idea of having a greener, more sustainable way to live,” he said.

John Howton was also pro-chicken.

“I fundamentally have issues with people telling me what I can and can’t have on my three-acre property,” he said.

Polar Plunge attracts top law enforcerment

Have you ever wanted to tell a politician or police chief to go jump in the river?

Tri-Citians won't have to do that this year, but they will get to a chance to watch some top law enforcers from the Tri-Cities -- and the state's top attorney -- take a plunge into the icy Columbia River.

Kennewick Police Chief Ken Hohenberg will be in good company this year as he jumps in the river for the sixth year in a row as part of Kennewick's annual Polar Plunge fundraiser.

State Attorney General Rob McKenna has agreed to take part in Kennewick's Polar Plunge this year, Hohenberg said.

"He has a real passion for helping children," Hohenberg told the Herald. "But secondly, he really supports the Tri-Cities."

The Polar Plunge is the police department's biggest fundraiser for Special Olympics Washington. And, the Kennewick Police Department has been the top fundraising law enforcement agency in the state for three years in a row.

Last year, the Kennewick Police Department raised $51,000. This year, they almost doubled that.

The 2012 event is set for noon Jan. 21 at the blue bridge boat launch at the east end of Columbia Park.

Hohenberg said McKenna felt so strongly about participating in Kennewick's event that he re-arranged his schedule so he could make it.

McKenna will get a chance to meet some Mid-Columbia Special Olympics athletes before he jumps into the Columbia River. If the winter conditions are normal, the water temperature should be 33 to 36 degrees.

"I don't believe he's ever taken the plunge before," Hohenberg said.

Last week, McKenna made a stop at the weekly meeting of Tri-City police chiefs and sheriffs, and Hohenberg took advantage of the visit to challenge other top cops in the area to join them.

Each year, Hohenberg has asked his fellow law enforcement leaders to jump into the river with him. He hasn't been successful at recruiting them until this time.

He already has commitments from several police chiefs, a sheriff and a prosecutor: Richland Police Chief Chris Skinner, West Richland Police Chief Brian McElroy, Pasco Police Chief Bob Metzger, Connell Police Chief Mike Kessler, Benton County Sheriff Steve Keane and Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant.

"There was a little bit of arm twisting," McElroy said, "but once he made the challenge, of course we had to step up to the plate."

McElroy said he hasn't taken a plunge in an icy river since he left the military, but he was told the water temperature "will be survivable."

Franklin County Sheriff Richard Lathim said he is "going to support us in spirit," Hohenberg said.

Hanford Patrol always has supported Polar Plunge with a team of officers jumping, and this year Hanford Patrol Chief Monty Giulio also will take the plunge with Hohenberg's leadership team.

Rudy Almeida, who serves as a liaison when McKenna is in town, also will see how the icy water feels, the chief said.

Hohenberg said Benton County Prosecutor Andy Miller supports the effort but has a scheduling conflict and won't be able to jump with them. Miller recently completed a swim in the Columbia River without a wetsuit to raise money for a teen homeless shelter.

In 2007, the first year of the event, Hohenberg said Columbia Basin Dive Rescue team members gave him a dive suit to help him stay warm, but it didn't fit properly.

Icy water pooled up at his hands and feet and he had a hard time getting out of the water.

"It floated me down river like a turtle," he said.

Hohenberg said he told McKenna and his fellow chiefs and sheriffs that he now wears old shoes, tactical pants and a shirt that he can quickly take off once he gets out of the water.

A jump in the hot tub afterward to warm up really helps, he said, along with changing into dry clothes.

"So far I've never caught a cold or gotten sick," he said, but he admits "it takes your breath away. Once you get it, you definitely want out."

Hohenberg said people tell him he is crazy or stupid for going in the icy water every year. Then he pulls out a laminated photo from the Tri-City Herald that he keeps in the visor in his car.

"All you've got to do is point to the smile," Hohenberg said as he shows the picture of Chief Joseph Middle School student Matthew Bumgarner with a huge smile on his face as he crosses the finish line at a Special Olympics race in May.

All the money raised by the Polar Plunge goes to help local Special Olympic athletes compete at events around the state. It costs about $650 to support each athlete.

"I tell people it's not only a great cause, but a noble cause," Hohenberg said.

Anyone can take the plunge as long as they raise a minimum of $50. Those who want to support Special Olympics but don't want to jump in the water can donate to someone who has signed up, or they can register with $50 in donations to stand in the Chicken Coop -- a joking reference of those "too chicken" to brave the frigid water.