The people that know me best know that I lament about the culture of the local people here. My freinds usually here me complain about the locals' bad driving habits. For some time now there has been 'trouble' brewing in my immediate neighborhood; definitely something of a cultural clash.
About a month and a half ago I woke up in the very early morning and thought I was hearing some obnoxious child's toy. I live immediately next-door to the neighbor-from-hell. You know? The ones that have too many kids for the size of their house. The ones that whenever the weather is nice the overflow crowd is ushered outside, shattering any peace-and-quiet there may have been before. The ones who have consistently shown a blatant lack of consideration for their neighbors. Of course, I immediately wanted to point the finger at them.
A few days later, I overheard the awful noise again. This time I was able to more specifically identify what it was. I could not tell where it was coming from. It was a rooster. I was stunned. Someone in the neighborhood was keeping a rooster in their yard. I couldn't believe it. In the 'world' I come from that is completely unacceptable in a neighborhood like this.
Over the next week-and-a-half I heard the rooster crowing at many inopportune times in the early morning. One night when I got back to the office I decided to call the local township office about the situation. Certainly, there had to be an ordinance. The township office was closed, so I called the police. A woman answered the phone there. She laughed when I asked about my problem and told me I would have to ask the zoning officer. She said, 'If it was something criminal, that I could help you with. I replied, 'Ma'am, this easily could become something 'criminal.' She laughed and said, 'Please, don't do anything stupid. I promised I wouldn't and said, 'good-bye.'
I called the township office the following morning. The gentleman told me that given the suburban/rural nature of the township the odinance was specific to various lot sizes; he would require an address to know if they were in violation. I told him I would get back to him. I was having difficulty from inside the home locating the source of the wretched sound. One morning I got lucky as it was still crowing after I was showered and dressed. I immediately walked outside and to the end of my driveway. It was pretty clear the sound was coming from my neighbors' house on the opposite side of the street, a bit further down on the inside of the curve.
I noticed that they had recently put in a six foot privacy fence. From my driveway I could see slightly above the fence to notice not only a shed in their backyard but also two suspicious looking structures. Chicken coops?
I called the township guy back and provided him with the address. He advised me that he would do the research and make a phone call to them to try to take care of the 'problem.' He advised me that if he got no response to his phone call he would write them a letter. That was about two weeks ago; before the holidays. During this time the rooster has continued to crow anytime from 3:45 AM until 10AM. It is somewhat indiscriminate. It is VERY annoying. I can't believe that people would think it is appropriate to do something like that in a neighborhood like this one. There is little doubt in my mind that they were born-and-raised in Lancaster County.
On January 2, after the passing of the holidays, I resurrected my Neighbor-to-Neighbor 'public awareness' campaign. I passed out a flyer, ONLY to the offending househould that reads, 'Neighbor-to-Neighbor' on the outside. Open it up and it reads like this....
Are you--
Waking up irritated and grouchy long before your alarm goes off?
Concerned by the thoughtless actions of some neighbors?
Ready to choke the crowing rooster, too?
If so, please contact:
Since I delivered this message to them I heard the crowing the following morning but not this morning.
I will keep you posted.
Wish me luck.
Hope all's well with everyone.
Happy New Year!
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